I wasn't looking at foil on the north wall, but my potting bench is behind my GH (north wall) so I was looking at bags of potting soil, pots, and just in general - a mess showing through the poly. I went to Lowe's and bought a roll of bamboo and covered the outside (and some of the inside as well)north wall with that. On the inside I have been getting old cypress boards out of the St. Johns River, cleaning them up, and putting them on the inside north wall. They are heavy so they are just leaning against the wall. My husband is going to run a 2x4 across the back so I can secure them a little better. I intend to cover the entire wall with the old boards. I've done more to the wall since this picture was taken.....
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Here is a further away shot...........
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I don't see why your idea wouldn't work And look really cool.....give the GH a homey feel, warmer feel.
Maybe you could run the slabs vertical and make them easier to secure. I can't tell you if it would interfere with keeping the heat in, cold out. But, I would think the thicker the N wall the better. I better let the northern folks speak to that......Good Luck!!!
Pat

((BTW - I live in a log cabin my husband and myself built 25 years ago ;0))

Pat,
That is downright perfect..... I was hoping you would show pictures of your wall. I saw your other pictures but I did not know what you did. bamboo I never thought even thought of. Plus with some slabs. (I have to find out how heavy they are) I was thinking maybe I could order them as thin as I want. (NOT SURE). Your gh is nice!........ Thanks for the help. Barb 27 degrees this morning. BRRRR

Lowe's or HD (can't remember) one also has a bamboo roll that looks like a slat type (bamboo cuts in small strips). Mine is the small round bamboo canes. First thing my husband said when I came home with that and told him my intention was "that's gonna rot in no time flat". Well I knew it wouldn't last forever, but I just needed *something* cheap to last until I could drag the boards out of the river (not an easy thing to do)clean them and affix them to the inside GH wall. I'm, oh so slowly, collecting up the boards I'll need to cover the north wall completely. But the bamboo has really held up very well in the meantime. It still looks nice although it has been soaked daily (overhead watering) thru the entire summer. Even that on the outside still looks pretty good. I was wondering, if you go with the bamboo, would that bright silver still show thru ......to much....because it is not so tightly woven that it blocks everything out, just most everything. Maybe an in-store test is in order before you buy..LOL. Anyway good luck, let us know how it goes.................
Pat
((PS.....79* here.........;o))

Looks good Pcan.

27 degrees yikes!

NASA space shuttle here too. With a north wall of foil faced polyisocyanurate insulation and aluminum tape, and Aluminet shade cloth on the roof and walls...Houston, we have an aesthetics problem!

I found posts saying that painting the foil would negate the benefits of the foil facing, but since the material is designed to be installed inside house walls, I canÂt understand why putting it behind other materials would prevent it from slowing heat loss through the wall. I would LOVE to know if others think covering it adversely affects the insulating effectiveness.

One benefit of living with some foil may be increased light levels. I feel like itÂs bouncing some of the light coming in the south wall back into the GH interior. I donÂt know how to prove it, but it seems logical. Most of my succulents like high light levels, so IÂm trying to look at that as a plus in the winter time.

Here is how we attached boards through the foil insulation (to mount shelves.) We cut holes in the foam to get access to the studs, then put bolts in the tracks. We didnÂt have T bolts so we cut the heads on ¼" bolts with bolt cutters, they grabbed OK once they were inserted in the track and turned:
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We put large washers and nuts over the bolts, and I used aluminum tape to patch up any big tears we made in the foil face:
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Then we slipped the pre-drilled board over the bolts, and attached the board with more nuts and washers.
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The shelves sit on the top edge of the board, and are supported by wooden posts going down to my benches. I painted the bolts brown (aesthetics, ya know.)
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Working through the foil insulation to get to the studs is kind of a pain. Our insulation is ¾" thick, and some places in the wall required 2 ½" long bolts, but other spots close to diagonal wall braces (behind the foam) required 3" long bolts to poke through the insulation and the ¾" thick wooden board. Still, itÂs doable. Just don't underestimate the length of the bolts you'll need, or you'll make a zillion trips to Lowes like we did.

I think the bamboo is a great idea because of the weight. Any kind of a twig-look trellis would be cool too.

If I find the foil insulation has any kind of heat-increasing "broiler oven" effect in our hottest summer months, IÂve thought about just adding a fabric drape over it...white or even coarsely woven burlap in a natural color.

Thanks Mudhouse for the information. We put up a board before we did the insulation to run electric boxes on the north foil wall. I didnt think about the intensity of light. I did tell my neighbor I could stand in there and get a tan from the sun bouncing off of it. Barb

That was my understanding too about the foil-sided insulation on a North wall....that you face the foil side toward the interior of the green house so that it will reflect light coming in through the Southern side in winter. Covering that up I wouldn't think would hurt the insulation value any....would probably improve it to some degree but you would lose alot of light reflection.

I've been debating if I will use the foil insulation trick or not. Will just have to see how annoying I find looking at that wall for a couple months out of the year.

Danielle

I suspect this is one of those questions where we all have to find our own way (seem to be a lot of those with greenhouses!) Whether or not the reflected light/shiny look is really beneficial or annoying may depend on our GH orientation, surrounding trees etc, and what we grow. I figure I will learn more after going through a hot summer with blazing sun. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who struggles with the NASA lab look though!

Barb, you were smart to put a wooden board up behind the insulation...I had no idea where my shelves needed to go at that point, so decided to deal with it later...thus the struggles to reach the darned studs behind the insulation.

I hope you'll post pictures of what you decide to do ...Pat's pics have been an inspiration to me and I'm looking forward to your solutions too. Another year or so and maybe we will all have this stuff figured out, eh? Two years? Three?
Sheri

SHERI before you tear down your foil read more about it.
I understand how you lady's don't like the looks but tearing it off or covering it is a HUGH Mistake.
You can do a google for radiant barrier or reflective insulation anything like that will pull up a lot of info.

Here is a link that might be useful: radiant barrier

Hi there gardenerwantabe. No, if I gave you the impression I'm tearing down the foil insulation, sorry...that's not right. It's staying! In fact it's staying up all year in my GH. And, so far I'm not even covering mine...although I may next summer, if it starts to cook some of the plants on my shelves right in front of it.

You touched on a major point of confusion for me though. This foil-faced polyisocyanurate foil-faced foam insulation is sold for use in homes. Well, I understand not to paint it, and I'm not. But people don't have this shiny foil face showing inside their dining rooms; it's used behind sheetrock (I guess) or other materials, right? So, except for the reflected light issue, I can't quite grasp why covering it with another material prevents it from insulating against the cold, or is otherwise a bad thing.

If you or others can help me get my brain around this, I will be eternally grateful!!!

PS Good luck tomorrow too, speedy recovery. :-)
Sheri

Hi gardenerwantabe and sherri,
Thanks for the link. I think I will be okay with it now. Sherri you made a valid point I would like to know this too. My neighbor lady said not to cover it so my fiance is all against covering it now. She is a wonderful gardner and person but not a professional greenhouse person. Thanks Barb

The only theory I can think of (so far) is that leaving it exposed will provide a higher R-value than covering it with anything, even normal building materials. I don't see why that would be, but I'm no builder. Maybe it would provide a higher R value in homes too it if was left exposed, but nobody will live with the foil look in their dining room!

Is that it...leaving it exposed provides more insulation against cold that putting another material on top of it? I'm still flummoxed...

The heat gets reflected back into the room. That's why you can cook meat in one of those foil-sun-ovens.

SHERI
Did you read the link that I posted.
Here is a Illustration that may help.
You can hang something over the wall to hide it but you must leave air gap do NOT put anything on the wall.
THANKS for the good wishes I'm leaving in 1 hour for the hospital will be back to posting soon I hope.

Here is a link that might be useful: Illustration

Gardenerwantabe, I read your previous link, but I didnÂt follow the other links in that article. I went back and did so, and found some really helpful information, thank you! I know youÂre off for your back surgery adventure, but maybe youÂll find this post when you return.
From the Florida Solar Energy Center, I found this quote:

"Remember, to be a radiant barrier, the aluminum foil must be installed facing an airspace. If there is no airspace, the foil acts as a conductor and quickly passes heat by conduction from a hot surface to a cooler one."

And, from the US Dept of Energy radiant barrier fact sheet:

"For example, if a one-sided radiant barrier is laid on top of the insulation with the reflective side facing down and touching the insulation, the radiant barrier will lose most of its effectiveness in reducing heating and cooling loads."

(and) "Radiant barrier materials must  face an open air space to perform properly."

So, apparently the air space in front of the foil is the critical feature; we could possibly apply other materials over the foil faced insulation, but weÂd need to install spacers of some sort, to ensure that an air layer remains between the foil and whatever we cover it with. If I understand this right, putting a material smack up against the foil in the winter might cause the foil to conduct the heat of our greenhouses outdoors, instead of helping to retain it indoors. Not what we want.

This also helps me understand why previous posts have talked about how painting the foil would negate its ability to stop heat transfer.

This is really helpful!! I need to do some testing next summer to see if the south sun hitting my foil-faced north wall might actually be increasing summer temperatures in the greenhouse (I sure donÂt need that!) But if I find that to be the case, now I know what IÂll need to do to cover it with something during the summer months that wonÂt damage it for the winter months, when I probably will want the extra reflected light. IÂm thinking a fabric drape of some kind might be something to try for the summer.

Barb, maybe you could show your fiance and neighbor these websites, to regain some ground in your efforts to work on your end wall! ;-) And, thank you for starting this thread, it has helped me a lot. (This stuff does not come intuitively to me at all.)

THANKS Gardenerwantabe! Hope you're back and feeling well soon.
Sheri