I'm going to build a greenhouse

[hayu]

Great GH Daiv.

[ihc6480]

Looks good with some cacti in it Daiv. Glad your finally able to at least get them outside

[daiv]

Thanks everybody! It has been a long project, but I feel good about it now that it's all done.

Harry, if you go back to page 2 in this thread and scroll way down, you will see that the 4 side panels can swing out for venting or come off completely.

The other key design change was adding the eaves. Here you can see when I first finished:



I found that the rain came right in at the top and so added the eaves that you can see in this pic. I had to raise the entire roof two inches. I am extremely pleased with how this came out. The side panels tuck up perfectly under the eaves. There is no way that rain can get in there.



Here you can see the one over the door better:


Here is a pic from a distance to give a feel for the area. Note the young Ash trees around that help protect it from the wind, but don't block out the sun.

[daiv]

Note also in this picture the steel fence post. I drove these about two and a half feet in and then used giant wire ties to attach the corner beams to the posts. It is very stable. So far it has survived 25 MPH wind with no trouble. Time will tell if stronger winds can also be tolerated....

[mendel]

daiv, id recommend using the screw in type trailer house anchors to hold yer gh down. I have these every 4 feet on both sides of my house and it has sustained winds in excess of 80 mph.

[daiv]

I'm not familiar with those. Where do you get them?

Do you have a picture of your setup?

[mendel]

here you go daiv. They are attached to the frame with galvanized turnbuckles.

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/Pr ... ctId=18252

Ill snap a pic of the setup today when im working out in the 'house.

[daiv]

Intersting. Then you must attach I-hooks to the house and wire them down, eh?

[Lewis_cacti]

Looking good Daiv.
Im going to need a proper greenhouse myself soon judging by the rate at which my collection is growing. and nice to see some happy cacti too.

[iann]

Its a whole different life when you have to worry about it raining

[Bram]

I'd love to see a greenhouse not made of steel and glass and surviving the wind

But what kind of weather do you expect in a year?
Here in The Netherlands we have a few broken windows every year due to the wind. But the winds can sometimes be up to 50 MPH (90 km/h, 9 bft)

[daiv]

Its a whole different life when you have to worry about it raining

So I'm learning...

Bram - The "protected spot (low and surrounded by trees) should help. Also, my brother has rolls and rolls of the plastic that I can use to replace damaged pieces in the event of storm damage.

I'm sure 50 MPH winds are possible. I've been pondering ways to secure it better in the event of a storm. I thought about putting tie straps around it which would help reduce potential damage.

It is a temporary setup - not ideal, but better than soaking rain and cold temps. Even if I have to fix storm damage to the plastic.

[süleyman]

very good work, Daiv
It looks like my old greenhouse for 2004-05 winter.
I had left my greenhouse some obligatory reasons a few years ago from this one

[daiv]

Ha ha! Well Sulleyman, your collection is proof that you don't have to have a fancy greenhouse to have marvelous plants!

[daiv]

Ok here is an update on my homemade greenhouse. As seen earlier in this thread, I used construction plastic sheeting to cover the greenhouse. Since it isn't UV protected it doesn't last more than a year.

Well I couldn't affoard to cover the whole thing in Polycarb, I did get some for the roof. Here is an overview of it now:


From the inside:


Each side is 5' from peak to eve and 14' from end to end. The sheets come in 10' x 3' lengths. So I used 5 sheets to cover the roof with a 6" overhang on each end. This worked out extremely well.

Now there is obviously a gap where the two sheets meet at the peak. So I bought a 6th sheet and cut lengthwise strips to cover the gap.

The next two pictures show me installing this piece. My brother got me up in the bucket of the Bobcat in order to reach the top of the roof.




Here you can see the strip that runs along the peak to cover the gap. A nice thing about the way this worked is that it adds ventilation all along the top.


I also moved my cactus into it for the year. I snapped a pic as I was being lowered in the bucket. You can see the cacti on the shelves. You'll have to excuse all the junk around it. I still have to put the film around the sides and will clean up after that. Then I'll post new pics.


As a final note. The polycarbonate material is hard to find around here. I ended up puchasing it from an Amish dude down the road. He had it in stock! The sticker on it said "Made in Northern Ireland".

Who would ever think that someone would buy a product of Ireland from an Amish guy to grow cacti in Minnesota?

Anyway, I really wanted the twin wall stuff that has the little squares when viewed in cross-section (like Darryl'), but that stuff is hard to find around here and I didn't feel like paying $130 just for the shipping. So I went with this stuff. It is practically indestructable. You could drive a truck over it and it would be just fine.