~o~
Monday 20th 40F/4.4C [7.30] A sunny, but windy morning. Clouding over later. With rain by this evening.
Up at 6.40 after an unusually quiet night.
It is much more comfortable in the kitchen and bathroom now that the heaters are on. It reached 74 in the room by bedtime thanks to the stove. It is still 67F/19.4C this morning. Yesterday's sunshine raised the temperature in the greenhouse. Though I did not open the doors to the house. The higher temperatures out there must have reduced heat loss through the southern wall, doors and windows. Which was always my plan when installing the 7m/22' long, lean-to greenhouse.
It was sheer luck that we saw the first half of the greenhouse. For sale in a nearby village. Somebody was having a proper conservatory built. So they sold the greenhouse cheaply. With a little research we were able to discover the Hall's dealer in the nearest city. Where we bought a discounted model and a connecting profile. This avoided having to use internal partitions. The two greenhouses could be neatly joined in the middle. To form one twice the length of either.
Sadly the greenhouse was never used to its full [thermal gain] advantage over the years. Due to summer overheating and winter shading from tall hedges and trees. We tried to combat these problems with internal shading. Mostly with white shower curtains and lightweight, white tarpaulins. However, once the sun's rays get through the glass internal shading is a complete waste of money. Except for the greater levels of comfort from no longer being under bare glass. Which is intolerably unpleasant in hot sunshine.
Once my wife died I was able to greatly reduce the shading for greater winter gain. With external shade nets for summer comfort. Which have to be dragged manually from tension ropes along the ridge. While balancing on stepladders. Ideally there would be external roller blinds available. Which could be pulled down in seconds on hot days. While being easily retracted to taste on cloudy days.
I can open the internal doors. To share the warmth out there with the indoors. Though fans, to push the warm air indoors, would be far more efficient. I could improve the greenhouse's sealing with the house walls. The foam strips have broken down over the years. However the leaky, curved plastic shoulders of the greenhouse all need to be replaced. At considerable cost and labour. The decades of algae build up on the roof framework could be removed at the same time.
One should never be under the illusion. That these are any more than sturdy, lean-to glasshouses/greenhouses. They are not comfortable conservatories by any stretch of the imagination. Not without serious attention to shading and sealing. Wall insulation would be more efficient but you can't sit outside an insulated wall. Nor grow tomatoes or other plants.
8.15 Time for my walk. It's light but blowing a gale out there. With the trees rocking.
8.45 Back again. It took ages to walk off my aching back. The close-fitting, recycled jacket was not windproof. While the GripGrab cycling gloves were crap. My hands were cold within a few yards and never warmed up. A bird of prey was foraging for breakfast out on the fields but quickly moved away.
The traffic was very busy this morning. The huge tipper lorries were back. As was a 6-wheeler, earth moving, tipper truck. Even a large excavator went past on a low loader. It's all happening.
11.30 Back from a 16km ride to the village. Against the strong wind on the way. So I returned by the long way through the forest. With the tailwind helping me reach 45kph on the long lanes and descent heading west. The Ryet saddle remained reasonably comfortable without padded cycling shorts.
Now I am going in the Morris to fetch some kindling from another village.
12.25 I have returned with two sacks of kindling and some grocery essentials. It was spitting with rain.
I was being tailgated by a car spares delivery van. So I drove closer to the speed limit. Rather than slightly below. Unfortunately the van driver wasn't up to driving at the speed limit. Except along the straights. So that I left him behind on every single corner. Only to have him speed illegally along the straights to catch me up again.
6.00 I have lit the stove as the room had dropped to 65F/18.3C.
Dinner was sardines on toast with halved tomatoes.
~o~
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