Bob meets with HVAC contractor Dave Talbot to discuss the heating and cooling of the greenhouse. A system of thermostats, blowers, vented windows, and boiler has been designed to maintain ideal temperatures in the greenhouse.
Bob tours the Indiana Limestone factory with Dave Kern, who explains the fabrication process for the limestone columns being used in the greenhouse.
Bob checks on the progress of the greenhouse construction and examines the framing of the pergola roof.
The architect pays a visit to check on progress, while Bob and contractor Bob Ryley begin installing the Paralam rafters. Ryley goes into depth discussing these manmade rafters.
Bob interviews Don Burton from Indiana University as they tour a 1955 greenhouse. Bob then tours a modern state-of-the-art greenhouse under construction at the University.
With the bricklayers on hand, Bob discusses the techniques being used, and explains the “anti-freeze” that has been added to the concrete to retard the cold weather’s effect on the material.
Bob and contractor Bob Ryley insulate the foundation of an attached solar greenhouse.
Bob takes a walk down Boston’s Commonwealth Avenue for a look at an upscale solariums from the last century, that of the Burrage House.
The structural steel supports are delivered and while Bob discusses the supports’ unique construction, contractor Bob Ryley drills the necessary holes for the supports to be fastened to the foundation.