Building the greenhouse

You'll see a series of about 8 pictures of the greenhouse from foundation to almost finished.

Cement for the foundation.

This is 2 inch foam board, blue board has better insulating qualities than the white kind.

Rock was added to make a floor that will drain well. Here you see the pieces of walls laid out and my DH (white t-shirt) and our friend are connecting everything with nuts and bolts that came with this kit from Charley's Greenhouse. My hubby is a perfectionist and was impressed with the quality of the kit.

Wall frames going up.

Looking more like a greenhouse all the time.

These tripple wall panels fit between the ribs.

Here it is as it looks right now. We still need to add hardware to the roof vents, and our friend is doing the wiring inside. There will be 3 circuits to handle lighting, furnace and fans, and lots of wall plugs for things like heat mats.

What a nice thing to do... posting sequential photos for us to see! I'm nearly as thrilled for you as you must be yourself! :)

Looks like quite a professional job with the foundation, too. Is there a floor drain, or it it deep enough that watering in the GH won't be a problem?

Wow Mary that looks great! I can't wait to see it in person.

Don't forget to put in a GFCI for all the electrical stuff so you won't get the shock of your life in there! I would HATE for that to happen and so would you I am sure. grin

It looks like you will be planting things soon. Have fun and don't forget I need some room in there for a couple of years. lololol

Congrats!!! Doing the happy dance for you!!!
I went back to the top & read the whole thread again. I have one question. What size is it? Looks to be, 12 x 20'?
Sure makes my little one, that is WIP, look 'cheap' or maybe 'flimsy' is a better word. Guess you could say we have cheap or flimsy winters! :~)

It is 12x20. We live in a very windy location so it needed to be securely anchored and also very strong. We chose triple wall construction since it has 2 air pockets between the layers of polycarbonate to help insulate it against our cold winters. It will be heated with a propane furnace and of course heated and overheated by the sun. I will have a real learning experience on my hands, but hopefully I won't have too many cooked plants. The wiring will have some of those shockproof things built into it. We built it on a slight mound and the rock layer is pretty deep so drainage won't be a problem. The hillside naturally slopes away from it in 2 directions. I'm planning to lay some railroad ties along the sides and make some flower beds so it won't look so bare.

Congratulations.......it looks absolutely wonderful. May you start a lifetime of happy gardening memories in there!
I bet that this will probably be your best winter ever!!
SL

Mary this looks like my dream greenhouse. I'm very interested in how it works out for you in zone 5. I hope you'll continue to keep us updated this winter while your using it. I really, really want something than can be heated for most of the winter and not cost a fortune. I bet you'll really enjoy it!

YAY!...Folks, Mary has been wanting this for quite some time, way over a yr and possibly 2 (?). Sure is great to see a plan come together!

Great pics, Mary. Looks like a ghouse you'll love to work/grow in. Methinks you'll be eatin' out of it all winter now, as well as starting your seedlings and such in there!

Mary, it's looking so wonderful. I'll be interested in your heat bills and how the triple walls work. I have an 18X24 Quset with double plastic,,and I'm in zone 5 as well. I can't afford to heat mine all winter and usually turn on the heat Feb 1st. I heat with natural gas and it runs around $250 a month, but that's the worse winter months too. Propane in my area is $1.04 a gallon, summer fill...which is the highest its ever been around here. I hope the triple wall does well for you and I'll be interested to know how it does.

I've had my gh about 6 years now, and it's still a learning experience. If I had it to do over I'd do lots of things differently. I'd make sure there's shade for the summer months as it gets to 120F easily. Did a shade cloth come with yours?

What sort of shelving are you planning?

Thanks. Mine will be heated with propane. I think I will curtain off a section to keep just above freezing for a couple of the coldest months, then warm it up for seed starting. We get a lot of sunny winter days here so that will help, but most winters we also get a lot of wind and blowing snow. We think the insulated foundation will be a big help. The shade cloth we bought is the shiney aluminum looking woven cloth called Chill Out. The last photo shows the stand off kit which is on the ridge beam, allowing use of the shade cloth and still allowing the roof vents to be open. We bought some black plastic grids for bench tops, so far just enough for one side. Hubby will build the bench frames. I would like to have some metal shelves above them that attatch to the side of the gh. On the south side I would like a raised planting bed sitting right on the ground, and down the middle another bench with enough space around it to run a wheelbarrow around the far end. My door is centered on the east end so we think about 10-12 ft would be long/short enough for that center bench. Just inside the door on the north side I want to set an old kitchen sink down into the bench to use as a tub for potting, it would have a bucket under it to catch soil and water for reuse. It's exciting to see this project comming together after all these years of wishing. The past couple of years I've been talking to Shoe about greenhouses but really I've been drooling over other people's greenhouses for about 25 years now, so this really is a dream come true!

You're gonna love it, I tell ya!
Tell hubby that for your next birthday you want a heat mat for propagating...that'll get your seeds up and going without having to heat the entire air in there.

I was wondering what the offset on top of yours was! That's a great idea, plus those top windows will sure let the heat out!

Mary, if you can tear yourself away you still need to come over and we can take a trip to that greenhouse with the moving benches so you only need one isleway and can reach easily all the plants.

I'd like to do that and bring my camera.

Mary, that is just wonderful! Now I know why you had the link to Charley's so quickly. LOL The land there is just beautiful! I kind of expected horses to walk right through the pictures. ;) That is really an awesome set up you have there. Now I know where to send all my plants that are not hardy. giggle

Mary i hope you enjoy your new green house as i set here
drool have fun I already know you will never be with out one again ask any one that has one we aren't giving them up even if you don't use it year around

Oh, Mary - I'm so thrilled for you! It's bee-yoo-tee-ful!

I bet you're gonna have a lot of fun this winter - hope you'll post more pics!

Talk about wide open spaces! I love the view you have.
Your greenhouse looks great too. I'm so jealous.

Mary so glad you are getting your dreamed of GH. Nice that you sent pictures so we could see how it progressed. Did you install an exhaust fan and the louvers that go opposite near the floor. I got mine from Charley's. I don't try to keep any plants in the GH over summer, just toooooo hot here. I am now in the process of moving plants back into the greenhouse for the winter. Know you will love it. I have an old sink on garage side of my GH that i keep tender plants from my lily pools in. Have fun. Donna

Mary, now you can stop droolin', and start growin' happy days,..........I wouldn't want to be without my ghouse! Elaine

MaryE, Great pictures. I want to see pictures of all the plants you put in there!

It is wonderful - you are lucky to have so much space to put on in that size, and a hubby willing to do it for you!

If you haven't bought your fan yet I got a 22 inch louver mounted one at Johnstone Supply in Seattle.

Cost including a commercial thermostat and a speed control was about half the price of a fan from the green house supply companies.

They did not at that time have motorized shutters but did have the shutter motors and the shutters which you could install. Regards Ernie

The fan is installed the far end, it was part of the kit. The white patch you see in the last photo is one of the intakes, it has louvers and a little motor that opens it when the fan comes on. The opposite side has one too so the cool air is pulled in at the bottom of one end and exits out through the gable on the opposite end. I put some plants in it last night to keep them from freezing, left them in today because it was cloudy all day and the gh didn't heat up. I'll have to watch in the daytime because I don't want them to get too hot or sunburned, many of them have been on the porch all summer and aren't used to the sun. No shadecloth up yet.

MaryE you have just gotten my dream come true and the view you have is spectacular. Congrats on the GH its beautiful and I know you will have many happy times getting dirty.

Mary, it's beautiful!!!!! I'd never come outta there if it were in my yard!