I know there have been more than a few folks here who have stated that they would like to build a greenhouse in the future. Please take the following experience to heart and let it guide you to wiser decisions.

Most of you know that my GH is attached to the back of my home. Great benefits as the back of my home faces south. I can take advantage of the thermal properties of the house and no wind from that direction sucking out the precious heat in the winter time. I also benefited in not having to purchase a fourth side or second half of a roof.

Ahhh....but somewhere amoungst all of these benefits lies the hidden turd to stink it all up. Moisture and water infiltration. Yes gentle readers, I f'd up and f'd up good. No where in my grand plans did I take into consideration just how easy it is for moisture to seep thru just about anything and everything. Believe me, I caulked every obvious spot that you could point out and then some. I thought all bases were covered. I also had Tyvek and insulated vinyl siding put on out there to match the rest of the home. What could possibly penetrate all of that? Right? Unfortunately and obviously, wrong.

Did I consider what might lie beneath my kitchen bay window roof? Nope. While heavily insulated, the inside was still "open" to the rest of the home. Insulation itself does nothing when it comes to stopping moisture. So this gave moisture an unhindered entrance into the home. What about all the electrical wires running in and out? Thought we took care of that, but not enough. We ran wires thru the walls into the basement. Those holes were not sealed properly. Water followed them right into unprotected wood.

The hard lessons learned too late here are that moisture WILL find a way into the home...especially coming from an environment that is pumping out high humidity 24x7 with a dew point in the winter time to be constantly condensing. Water will wick in every direction imaginable and then some. Every tiny crack or small hole is begging for disaster to happen...let alone cracks and holes that you could stick your fist into!

By far the worst damage comes from up top where I extended the cantelevered portion of my home further out to accomodate the width of the GH and support the header board. This little box was hastily constructed and seriously underdesigned...under everything really. And has obviously been leaking like a torpedoed ship for the last couple of years. We also ran a ton of electric from out in the greenhouse into the cavity of the cantelevered portion and run into my box. A big gaping hole inside there.

Not proud to admit it...but all of these troubles were the result of my own negligence. Houses must breath and are not designed to be "tight". Houses were not designed to have freaking greenhouses attached to them either. High moisture/humidity invading a home causes other unfortunate consequences as well. Our attics are damp and in some places wet(above porch) due to this...places that never seen dampness before. We have soffit/ridge vents for our roof...which is considered by many to be the best ventilation system for your attic. But even the best system cannot keep up with the moisture I'm pumping in there. The inside of our home right now averages 50-55% humidity when, like everyone else during the winter, we should be bi$ching about how dry the house is at 25% humidity!

All of this could have been prevented with a little more knowledge on the science of moisture, a lot more patience, more time, more effort, and money certainly. It would have been a heck of a lot more simple then as it is proving to be now. I had no plants in the GH then to have to work around. It wasn't winter. That exterior wall was bare.

There are products out there designed to completely and totally waterproof structures and such. Not only would it prevent obvious water infiltration, but would stop any water vapor/moisture as well. This will have to be done...once all of the siding has been removed and damages repaired. Everything must be coated...including the inside the bay window after closing up the huge gaps in there. Extra care will need to be taken to ensure water can no longer follow the electrical wires into the basement. Lest I forget...we will also need to redirect the downstairs bathroom vent elsewhere instead of the greenhouse where it is now. That is just another hole leading into the house begging moisture to follow.

There's nothing worse than being one's own worst enemy. It sucks being the sole person to blame...and believe me, right now I would love to have someone else taking the heat for this!! I have a ton of crappy work ahead of me sealing that wall up. The construction repairs are well outside of my expertise, time, and strength(mentally and physically), and abiility to accomplish. Finding the right people to tackle this has proved more difficult than you could believe. I'm hoping that just getting the walls repaired and getting rid of those moisture laden areas will improve the other areas of concern...even before sealing off the wall. Those areas definitely are a source for a lot of moisture coming into the home. It is possible that fixing them could fix it all. Can't bank on that so I will continue the task of sealing the wall.

So for anyone out there with a GH in your future, please use the above as a warning.