If there’s one thing that our team at Smith Quality Buildings is known for, it’s our greenhouses. We have extensive experience in designing and building these structures, and we want to help you get the best possible results from yours. Over the years, we have noticed a few design flaws in prefabricated or DIY greenhouses that seem to pop up again and again, and we want to help you avoid these same mistakes.

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Here are a few common design flaws in greenhouses and what you can do to avoid them:

• Orientation- One mistake that we see a lot in the design of greenhouses is improper placement or orientation. In other words, the mistake is putting the greenhouse in the wrong spot on your property and/or facing it the wrong direction. The best placement and orientation for a greenhouse in North America is in the south or southeast, as this allows the greenhouse to capture the most sunlight. In addition, your greenhouse should always be positioned so that the long sides face east and west, as this allows for greater solar gain.
• Insulation- In order to be effective, your greenhouse needs to be insulated to keep in the heat. In particular, you should insulate the north wall, as that will get the least sun exposure. If any of your greenhouse walls don’t have windows, you should insulate those walls too.
• Paths- A third mistake we’ve seen in the design of many greenhouses is making the paths too wide and wasting valuable growing space. People usually do this in order to make room for carts or wheelbarrows, but that’s typically unnecessary, as after the initial construction, there’s usually not much reason to bring a lot of material in or out all at once.