BC or Charlie's Solar Gro GreenHouse

Hey Keywest5: just had a brainfart. I bought my Solar Gro from Charlies 6 years ago. But when I had technical questions about installation, I was referred to a Canadien outfit who actually manufactered the greenhouse. In British Columbia (BC?). It's very rare in the business world to see a manufacturer compete with a prime distributor, but it HAS happened. If that's the case here, go strictly on price. They were BOTH a delight to deal with...and the quality of the product made me feel all warm and fuzzy!

I have not been around here lately because my Dog who was my closest budy died last week and I have been next to useless.
We did everything together for 14 years and I am lost without him, my wife too.
I just started to kick around outside on good days & I finished up the Sono tubes & ordered the stone to build the outside walls.
My heart just isn't in it too much right now. Everything seems to be a chore & no fun.
I hope & pray it gets better.

See ya guys & good luck in your projects.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. My heart is out to you.
Hugs, Donna

I am so sorry to hear that, Keywest. I have also lost some great dogs ( and cats) that were good pals-it is so hard when you get close to them, and yet impossible not to get close to them. Our dogs and cats are part of the family-and they know it. It usually takes me about 3 years before I can replace one of them- Sounds like he had a good life with you though-thats all that they want to do is hang out with you.

Sorry to hear about your pooch. That is a long time to have a dog so I do feel for you. It is tough to lose an animal, I know.
Hope you feel better soon so you can finish your greenhouse. Maybe keeping your mind off will help? But you do need some time to grieve tho.
Carol

Hi everyone,

I'm still working on my greenhouse foundation, slow going because it has been so wet here.
Ground dries out a little & it pours some more. That's ok it's all fun.
I have a couple pictures showing the progress of the foundation. This first one is of the inside showing some double alum. bubble Ins. I buried uder the dirt just for some added protection. I can poke holes easily for drainage.
The sides are now 5 1/2" thick w/insulation. Under the 4x4's there is some 3 1/2 " foam ins. that my son the electrician brought home from the dumpster @ a beer warehouse. It was used in the big coolers & has fiberglass panels on both sises & just about fits under the 4x4's.
Then I added 2" of reg. building foam insul. to the outside of that. I am now in the process of building a stone wall all around to hold the panels in place and to also hold all the dirt inside the base.
I'll post some more pictures.

Keywest

Here's another picture of the inside. This shows the dbl bobble under the floor.
On the left will be stones on the floor & a potting bench and shelving eventually
In the middle a brick walkway.
On the right the dbl. bubble is deeper and that will be our planting bed, it will be about 18" deep x about 30" wide & 14' long.

Keywest

The next picture shows the stone walls I am attempting to build....First time for everything, right.
We have a front and back door on the greenhouse and I also have to build stairs, that should be an interesting project.
While I'm doing this I am also resituating my outside gatdens and planting new fruit trees and installing drainage ditches to dry up the back yard.
It's all fun.
The greenhouse was shipped from B.C. , Canada on thursday 4/5 & should be here within a week. I had already put off shipment 2 weeks already & decided to just have it come, I'm gettin- there.
Still got lots to do before that but Miller's nurseries sent my apple & peach trees now - so I had to do all that other work before they died. Trees are in but another 100' of drainage to finish.
Temp here in Mass has been cold 30's & 40's most days w/ an occasional 50 thrown in. 48 tomorrow. I'll work on the walls tomorrow if I wake up.

Keywest

This is the last picture for tonight. I have bored you enough.
Remember,... I lost all interest in working on this project & just about everything else when my dog, my best friend died in Feb. I still miss him wicked.. My wife was concerned about me & my lack of interest in everything and she said that - "we can-not...be dogless"!!!
We have always had a dog with us for the last 38 years!!!
So, in this picture you will notice ( I ), am in the picture and the picture was taken of my best side!
Also, in the picture you will notice we have a new helper....He is making the whole process that much easier as you can see.

All for now, when I get something else done I'll post some more pictures now that I've figured out how to do it.

Keywest

LOL I just love that pic. What a cutie you have now to bug the heck out of you! Am glad you have a new companion.
Your greenhouse space looks great. What a lot of work you are doing. I am impressed!
Carol

Your wife sounds like a very wise woman!
You are doing a huge amount of work - it's going to be awesome when it's done. And congratulations on your new helper

Hi,

This is the second day now without rain here in Mass.
This is our progress so far. The walls are a little bigger and today we were able to get part of the frame up..
I had a problem with the vent frames so I thought. My wife bailed me out telling me I had it right I was just holding it upside down!
Two hours of frustration gone with her help, ha.
Again today I put up the gutter upside down..? BC bailed me out of that one, telling me it was upside down.dah.
Boy, do I feel stupid today!
It's all fun but it sure takes a whole lot of time.
Everything all of a sudden nedds to be done, now! The garden which I completely tore up needs to be re bedded so I can plant the strawberries, onions & potatoes I have waiting for me.
A litle 3' fence needs to go up all around the garden to keep my "lil" helper, puppy out of it for a year or so.
The green house needs to be finished. I have 6 sections of stockade fence to replace so pupppy doesn't get out.
Lastly? the tomatoes, peppers, mums, etc. we started all need transplanting.
This is all a Real Rush...But it is all just fun, nothing serious!

Good luck guys and have fun,

Keywest

Progress report,

This picture shows the Polycarbonate on the roof, everything went together pretty good.
Reaching thru the vents to get all the screws etc. was just do-able. Nice material to work with. Hope the quality of my work approaches the quality of the material.

Looking good, KW5.

One more,

This picture shows most of the Poly up.
I had fits with the ends, both are the same. Both have a door in it.
Anyway, I had the whole thing together but I could not for the life of me get the caps on the panels. The screw holes were much bigger in the end pieces.???
I had a real challenge getting everything to fit on the ends also.

Well, I called BC and they had me send a picture of the bars that were giving me trouble.
Wrong bars..ha, ha. At least it was not ME this time. yea.
They are sending the 6 bars I need from Brittish Columbia in 2 days, pretty good. Should have them tomorrow.
The people at BC Greenhouse have been are exceptional with the support that I have received.
Anyone can make a mistake - it's all in how the mistake is rectified.

I also planted my strawberries today and onion plants are now in.

Its all fun but a lot of work.

Hope all is well with all of you and thanks for all your help and support.

Keywest

It looks great KW ! Looks huge with you (is that you?) in the last pic, I know you must be disappointed about the bars being wrong and the delay it's caused. You could have been finished!
You are nearly there!

Looks great Keywest. I recently put up a BC greenhouse as well. I thought the workmanship was excellent. I had a problem with the ends also, but it was my problem not theirs. There support was great, new exactly what I had done wrong as soon as I described the problem.

I love mine, and I am sure you will feel the same. Good Luck.

nautical99

Hey, that greenhouse looks great!!!
Cool that you are almost done. Feels good, huh? I bet you are excited to get more plants growing.
I am glad that they are sending you the right bars. I can imagine your frustration. I went thru that too but all in all, at the end, is well!
Take pics of how you do the inside too please.
Carol

Ok Daisyruffles,

I will indeed post as I can show some progress.
The bars arrived this morning UPS, just as promised.
I was busy today w/ other little items that needed me more.
How's your greenhouse? After all this work & planning and trying to do the best you can is it really a lot of fun???
I hope so!... I hope it's not just another project I've finished.

Speaking of completely finishing, I bet it's a long time before I am really finished. There are just so many details to attend to, wow.
I give you all credit.
Is it all worth it?

keywest

Oh, yes. It sure is worth it!

You can't see it now but just wait. When it is all put together, you have shelves up, and then you have plants growing. Yes, it is worth it all the work and frustrations!

I am enjoying my greenhouse tremendously. I haven't been able to do as much do to attending to my mother, who had cat. eye surgery, then just got a new job so am fazing out the old job duties, and now am getting a few plants in the ground before I start the new job.
So............................I just water and make sure all the plants are still alive right now, LOL

Next week, I will be back in the swing of it all tho. I need post some more pictures too.

A greenhouse is kind of like a house. You are never really done fixing it up, I think. I want to get water more accessible to my greenhouse so this summer I hope to work on that. Like with PVC pipe.

So you will get there. Just keep cracking on it little by little.
Carol

Hi all,

A short progress report with a few pictures.

The GH is up and weather tight but loads more to be done.
My wife and I got 3 shelves up. Two over where the planting bed will be
and one over where the bench will be.
It's a start!

keywest

My wife put a couple plants in to protect them from our ever-changing weather.
Just having those two little plants in there helped me to realize the big picture a lot better.
It feels more like home.
I placed some paving blocks down just to see what it will look like and to check the fit.
I'm putting a couple pieces of pvc fence rails down to separate the planting bed from the rest of the floor.
We originally planned to have the bed, a walkway and an area of stones on the other side.
We changed our minds and now the whole floor will be bricks and a planting bed.

keywest

Last one for tonight kids. I don't want to bore you too long.
I'm just a little excited and want to share as so many have been willing to do for me.

A special thanks to my little buddy in this picture. Without his help I would be lost.

keywest

Your gh is beautiful! And your little helper is pretty cute too!

Yep, what a cutie! He looks sad. Why? LOL

You will like the brick pathway. I really am glad I did mine with the 12 x 12 bricks. I am so happy with them!

Your gh does look homey now with shelves and plants. Are you going to have 2 layer of shelving? High and low?

It all looks great. Almost there!

Carol

hello all,

A couple pictures of the progress with our greenhouse. We have most of the stone wall's in place. Now you can see the big difference in elevation in just 15 ft.
All filled with good earth and insulated 18" below. Also behind those walls in another 5 1/2" of insulation.
Now I have to make the rest of it tight.
It seems amazing looking at that thin, little, 6 mm polycarbonate that I can keep the inside temp. up when it's 10 degrees outside... I'll have to do a LOT of insulating I guess.

It's a pretty little thing and we are really happy with it. MY wife is happy that makes me happy.
I am building a couple benches to work on and have the first one almost ready.

I have some Thuja Giants & sm. roses and raspberries in the planting bed inside waiting to go outside to their permanent homes soon. Great to have a place to plant in the floor, you guys have some great ideas.




kw

hi,

This is of the floor & bed. The floor was done with those Techo-Bloc's and went in pretty easy. I just seem to make everything harder than it has to be. It's all fun.
We have 2 doors in this little greenhouse, this one faces our house. The other faces the garden.

kw

Hi again,

This is the last one of my pictures tonight. Don't want to wear out my welcome.

This shows the back door going out to the garden and back yard.
You can also see some of the electrical outlets we put in. Oh the Inspector General is also in this shot, it shows him inspecting some part of the work. Hope he approves!

That's all the news for now. Everything is sure expensive! Boy it all added up so fast. I don't have a real heater yet or a ventillation system but we did get the Aluminet shade cloth yesterday.
Sure hate to cut it to make it fit the vents but guess I will.

If any ideas pop into your heads tell me all about it, that's how I've learned what I know now...From you!

Thank you all for your help and ideas you have helped make this a lot more fun.

kw

Keywest5, I really like the looks of that stone work. Are they just dry laid or did you mortar them all in? Could you tell me the dimensions of them? Are they available at HD or Lowes? I have not seen anything like that at our local building centers. I have not finished that part of my GH yet, and I think that look is perfect!

Your GH looks great, I am sure you are going to enjoy it for years to come.

Nautical

I think it all looks great.
I love your floor. Yes, I would like more information on it too.
The brick tapered wall looks so nice. You did a good job on it.
You have quite a set up both inside and outside. Love the shelves. I like the wire ones since the water can drain thru it.
What are you going to to insulate it? You mean caulk it? Like in the seams of the metal and poly?
Carol

Hi Guys,

It's fun to see other work & get ideas...I thrive on that...I get so much fun out of the planning stages.... I see 10 different ways of doing something and pick out parts of every plan and create your own little idea that suits you just fine. Lots of Fun... Ideas from Your greenhouses are in This little GH, thankyou for your great inspirations, everyone.

My rough work is still not done Nautical and daisyruffles, the walls need the caps finished and the floor in the picture is covered with sand to lock them. The floor still needs a few pieces of stone cut to fit the tight, irregular spots.
I take a long time to finish Anything... I always get it workable and seem to move on to something else big that needs doing. Later, I come back & finish the small stuff. I like to get something up & running but never finished, ha,ha.

I used a product called Techo-Bloc, website - www.techo-bloc.com they are not cheap but less than some others. They go together pretty easily, the floor is built like a standard paving bloc but has different sizes (5 in this style) to work with. You don't have to follow any patterns just lay them out the way they fit best & in a pattern you like best.
The bloc's have tiny spacers on the sides and keep them spaced automatically as you lay them. The color is called Sandlewood. I used for all the earth brown in it & the GH frame is a brown color also.

Nautical, I don't know what you are refering to - the floor or outside walls. They are both from the same Co. & same color.
The walls are a split-faced, aged bloc very rough texture that hides defects in the stone & your own mistakes at cutting etc. pretty well. They are not "perfect" looking, more natural & rough. The walls go up either straight or can gradually slant backward to act more as a retaining wall. You get the straight or slant shape from two grooves that are cut into the top & bottom of the bloc's and you insert rugged plastic spacers/holders into the slots and lock them in place to they one below and to (the one next to it - sharing the same spacer).
They are laid Dry but the Caps are cemented in place with a concrete caulking bond like Liquid Nails. So-far this stuff seems to be holding very well. They are Heavy & well made & stay there in place.
I have fun doing it - I'm just slow.
I can give you sizes on either. They are available around here at Farm Supply co's & Landscape places. I found the Farm Supply more fun to deal with & less expensive. But, that's here in Mass. I'm sure they are avail. all over as well as other brands that are similiar.
The only real hard time I had was building the back yard stairs from this stuff. It was a PIA to figure it out. Trying to make it all fit & lock & look decent. I've pretty much got them workable, sturdy & safe but not entirely wild about them yet. Let me know buddy & I'll give any info I can.
Daisy, yes, caulk everything & any spaces, leaks, etc. but also I'll have to put up some dbl. bubble foil faced all over too. I've got some time before cold again so naturally I'll put it off till then. I don't want it up in summer anyway.

kw

This is the floor without so much sand on it.

The palm is a winter survivor. Kind?

kw

Sorry I did not make it clear. Yes, I was reffering to the walls, I really like the way they look. I have not seen that style block anywhere in the Conway area. They do have a lot of natural stone, that is very colorful, but hard to find shapes that will stack well without a lot of cutting, or using mortar. I like the dry stack look.

But as you say, you can get a lot of ideas here and I think you have given me one that will work. Lowes had a stone I would like to use, but they are two wide. I will just split them down the middle and have two good outside edges from one stone.

The steps look great.

Nautical

Carol's first 6' bench with a little removable, potting tray built-in.
kw

Oh my, that looks great!!!
That potting tray is what I have been looking for. That is a cool sink/tray tho.
Very nicely set up and built!
Carol

Carol, It's just a potting tray that I got last year from Charlie's GH on sale.
My wife Carol, has another potting bench outside that this was on but she does'nt use it much now?
So, I built it into the bench. Instead of sitting flat as it's designed to do it now angles down & looks a little like a sink.

Whats "growin" now in your new greenhouse Carol?
kw

Well, I did see that potting tray in that catalog and was going to order it but forgot after the deadline. So maybe this year?

In my greenhouse, I still have some annuals/perennials in flats to get in the ground.
Then I have my begonias in pots being happy there, growing like weeds.
Not much really going on in my greenhouse right now. I did clean it up and reorganize it better this past weekend.
Carol

Hi gang,

We have been busy playing outside in the yard and have neglected the computer an awful lot.
I finally finished the stone walls, back steps and front and rear landings. I am pleased with my first attempts at doing this kind of work.
Anyone who does stone work for a living has my blessings and admiration. I found it enjoyable because it was ours but extremely tedious work for sure. That's why it took me as long as it did. My wife loves it!
Thank you God.
This is the front facing east. This door opens toward the house. My vegetable garden is to the left and I added a lot more flowers also this year. You can just see the little yellow dot of a "sunny smile" sunflower among a group of different sunflowers I started in the house this year.
We hope to start most everything in the GH this year instead of all the confusion I make growing in the house.

KW

Hello again,

One more picture. This is the back door & it makes it very convienient to go right to the backyard and garden with plants & stuff. I guess we will just block off the door this fall & cover most of the inside w/ bubblewrap, etc.
You can see part of the shade cloth, the one SB recommended, aluminet. It works great and glad to have it.
My mess has been cleaned up since this photo and I attempting to replace the grass that was all torn up during all my play.
I still have not finished caulking the bottoms of the polycarbonate as yet & naturally still a few odd jobs to finish too.
There is a cherry tomato plant just inside to the right of the door that's about 6' tall now, it's called "sweet baby girl" & has a lot of green things growing on it.
The light fence in front of the garden is for the new puppy,captain. He's pretty good in the GH & garden if he's in a quiet mood but sometimes he'll sit down to watch me weed or something & sit on a plant once in a while but he's well worth it. He loves srawberries & cherry's & peas & eats them as fast as U can pick-em...

Hope everyone is happy & well and thanks again for all your good ideas and advice.

Oh, Nautical, I ordered a Davis Vantage Pro 2, for our aniversary present? That's what she wanted! & I'll need some advice.

Talk to you later guys & girls...
KW

Wow, KW, that GH deserves some new plants. Dmail me your address. Seriously.