Insulate a shed for winter growing?

Hey everyone,

I live in a place where we do get some snow from time to time. It's never much, but temps do drop to and below freezing.

I was wondering if it is possible to get a shed from on online store and insulate it? Then maybe use those heating coils for tile floors to keep things warmer at night and avoid exposing plants to light?

If you think I can do this, what kind of shed/insulation set up would be best?

I am talking about maybe a 10x6 to 10x8 shed, and thinking about going vinyl.

Any ideas or past experiences with this kind of weather you are willing to share are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

You will need to seal it up well and line the walls, ceiling and floor with rigid foam insulation.

Yeah, Foam insulation is exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking about using the stuff at Home Depot that has reflective material on it. I figure why not get the best of both worlds right?

If anyone has a thread on a grow done in a shed throughout winter I would love to see it.

Thanks.

Also depends on the type of shed. A lot of sheds from the home centers are actually made from 2x lumber. Most of these sheds only have sheathing on the exterior (the wood panel siding) while leaving the interior side exposed. You can use batt insulation in between the stud cavities as you would find in a regular home. And then as the above poster said, could go rigid on top of that. Remember, that insulation will help keep cold out but will also keep warm in. Depending on size and how much lighting you use, then you may come to a point in which you will want to vent out of the shed, especially the lights.

i was in your same position last year. i live in the south island of new zealand and it gets very cold here. what i did was glue pink bats onto the the walls and then glued my mylar over the top. i also had 2 small heaters in there just i case but i think they only came on once or twice.

happy growing

I would insulate the roof, sides, and floor with fiberglass then put up white plastic.

To get a free winter air conditioner I would sacrifice two feet in the back--put up a wall--then insulate the new wall. The two foot dead space would stay cold and you could pull cold air in from there.

This way you could maintain a closed shed for c02.

Keep the ideas coming guys, thanks for all your input.

If you are a member of Costco or Sam's Club these may be useful:

Sam's Club:

Sam's Club - Outdoor Storage

Costco:

Costco - Outdoor - Sheds

Then I would go with Little Tommy's advice on sealing and using rigid foam insulation.

Hope this helps.

P.S. - My experience with most of these prefab structures is that you will be doing some if not a lot of extra reinforcement on doors and walls, etc., to make them sturdy enough of daily in and out use. So, if you intend to go this way budget at least 20% more for that and insulation costs. Oh yea, most of the economical ones don't have floors.

I was thinking something more along the lines of this: Arrow Vinyl Northfield 8 X 6 Premium Outdoor Storage Shed - EliteDeals.com

As far as if it does not have a floor....I was thinking about digging and embedding some wood palates as kind of a foundation to prevent erosion....then use the empty slots in the "floor" to put compost in for extra heat source. Thoughts?

c02 burners are nothing but heaters. set the thermostat on it--and c02 would just be a little bonus. Seal it up tight. Sheds are perfect for growing in the winter.

look up Astro-foil, its used to wrap hot water heaters and insulates and is 90% reflective i put that under my panda film in my outdoor shed garden.

statik said:

I was thinking something more along the lines of this: Arrow Vinyl Northfield 8 X 6 Premium Outdoor Storage Shed - EliteDeals.com

As far as if it does not have a floor....I was thinking about digging and embedding some wood palates as kind of a foundation to prevent erosion....then use the empty slots in the "floor" to put compost in for extra heat source. Thoughts?

Click to expand...

You could build it out of lumber cheaper.
The thing about vinyl for me, or at least from this site/ad is how easy will it be to attach things to the wall/roof for mounting of lights, fans, electrical timers etc. in addition to the insulation you wanted.

flamdrags420 said:

You could build it out of lumber cheaper.
The thing about vinyl for me, or at least from this site/ad is how easy will it be to attach things to the wall/roof for mounting of lights, fans, electrical timers etc. in addition to the insulation you wanted.

Click to expand...

Okay, building from lumber would be cheaper huh? That's the way I want to go, I have been trying to figure out how to mount everything actually. Hadn't come up with much except maybe some big Eye Bolts, nuts, and washers.

I'm not really the carpenter type though is my problem. I guess my good friend google can help me out with that....

Yeah, if I went lumber I could do the bats and the rigid foam. Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions guys.

A wide open bedroom in a house where it doesn't matter about smell and you have central heating and air is just too convenient. I live in a much smaller place now and don't have room indoors anymore.

If anyone one comes up with some bright ideas or other suggestions I am all ears.

Thanks again.

EDIT:

I found this link in another thread: http://www.allgreenhouses.com/Finley-19020-YR1012.html

This would give me a good frame and plan to go off of (get the rest of the supplies at home depot) and then I could insulate like we have been discussing and have places for all my equipment. Awesome.

statik said:

Keep the ideas coming guys, thanks for all your input.

Click to expand...

Ok, I have some knowledge about cold weather, I live in Micigan, we have to know a little about insulation, and I have a fair understanding of construction. For insulation to be effective you want to stop air from blowing thru it, you want the rigid insultation on the outside, not the inside. Do not use the product you are talking about unless you just like spending money, it is not a good product. See it supposed to be a reflective vapor barrier, they found out it caused problems with getting condensation on the inside walls so they poke holes in the surface to let it breath. Since moisture in that type of foam will make it deteriate it will lose its insulating quality and reshearch done at Michigan State's Agricultural College indicated it would eventually collapse a building because of the mold etc.
A closed cell formula like Dow Styrofoam (reg) or Formular are impervious to moisture, it doesn't penetrate the product, it doesn't deteriate that way. This is what they use under runways in ALaska.

They plastic product will not be a good choice because you would have to build a wooden structure inside of it in order to insulate it properly, might as well get the wooden one and make allowances for the insulation you should add to the outside of the structure.
FRame it, and then wrap it in a rigid closed cell formula insulation and tape all of the joints to stop air from blowing into and out of your grow room. In my area the rcommended r-value for sidewalls is r-19, not sure what it is for yours, the store you get the building from will know. If...you use the Rigid etc with r-13 batts ( the size that fits in a 2x4 wall you will have it, yours will be much better because you have stopped the air movement which is exactly what you need to do if you want to control your room.
Get one with a peaked roof of some sort, popular ones in my area is a dutch hip, my mom has one of those, it will give you room for air handling, I would be inclined to run 2 by fours across the inside width, make an attic space. The recommended r-value for attics in my area is r-38. Let me know if this is going to help. VV

Just remember that most carpenters here in America are just latin run aways standing around to be picked up for work by the contractors. So if you can follow instructions, check out the books at the home depot etc. They have decent framing books that would be more than sufficient to teach you to build a shed. They are around 20 bucks. Better yet, your library will have these books too and maybe videos too depending on your library. I used a lot of these books before entering trade school, and learned a lot from them.

I really don't think you can go wrong with any way you choose to do this. But you are taking the correct steps though in thinking a head. I'm still in this process myself. I'm having my morning coffee, and then going back down to the basement to work on mygrow room some. Finishing up all the concrete repair and waterproofing before I start my framing down there. I can't wait to get these vegging mums out of my closet and into their new "day spa"

Im liking this


Sam's Club - Backyard Hobby Greenhouse - Silver - 6' x 8'


Im getting this instead of the 3 from e bay ..Oh yea .. nice shit there .. Fuck those bugs next year

I like the wooden plans much better. Here you can see that the framing is at 4 feet. To put regular size batt insulation in there if you want, you would need to add an additional 2x4 in between those main studs so you can attach the batts too. Typically, when you have construction like this that is insulated, it is done by blown in insulation. This will actually create a higher effective R value because you have less wood transferring cold from outside to the in etc....Remember all materials conduct heat/cold. So a larger cavity of insulation will be more effective than a regular sized one. but that is more for educational purposes only. This would not be practical because of cost.

My thing about these plans, especially when talking about sheds, is why bother buying them? If you have 50 bucks ( i think was price for your 2nd plans that you found (included the brackets though which is good) is that if you have enough skills to build the thing, then you should have enough skills to be able to sketch it your self.

I'm losing focus on my thoughts....still waking up. It's not my business to know your money situation. Bottom line I guess: If you are tight on the money and can use the 50 dollars elsewhere, then go look at these same sheds at the home centers and you will see how simply they are built. You can draw it out and build it yourself. If you have the budget for the plans/fasteners, then go for it.

ack, coffee refill time! Sorry if this post was a waste. Best of luck!