The Build Of Acorn Forest Greenhouse's UPDATED 5/11/2013

Do-it-yourself projects such as greenhouse or shadehouse builds and related topics.
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*Barracuda_52*
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The Build Of Acorn Forest Greenhouse's UPDATED 5/11/2013

Post by *Barracuda_52* »

8) Well its not spring 2011 to be building yet, but we have some nice indian summer days and im taking advantage of it, working on marking out where the 2 GH's are gona be and digging out my frame boarder, but i know it will get some what filled back in durring winter so we will have to re-dig alittle and level it out befour building come spring, heres just a pic of where its gona be and what trees im taking out which are marked with arrows. :P Im gona also post drawed out on paper my build plans and post that tonight, this will give you all a idea of whats to come spring 2011.. Yes that little baby pine tree is now gone and moved to a new spot. The main GH thats gona be all cacti & succulents is gona be 8x12 and the smaller tropical GH for my AV's, Begonias and orchids will be 7x8 or we may go 7x10. There gona be end to end with space between incase i need to service the end of the GH's, both will have electric run to them. I will post more info when i post the drawings..

Come on winter hurry up and leave so i can get to building come spring.. :D

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just a quick pic of a layout i did on paper, i have many many more drawings.. :P Gona have a patio area, also the pond will be close by and a walkway from one GH to the other with some landscaping.
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The next several months are just not gona go by quick enough for me.. LOL!! :D
Last edited by *Barracuda_52* on Sat May 11, 2013 6:05 am, edited 29 times in total.
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

:P Broke ground WOOT!!
View from the back deck
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one end view
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and another end view
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started to get to drak for pics. Now for the long winter wait for leveling and building.. :(
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John C
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Post by John C »

Awsome! Can't wait to see it progress! Very nice drawing too!
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

8) Thanks John, the build wont happen till spring but till then atleast you will know whats going on and everything i do will be posted here, still gona get some more build plan drawings posted later tonight and will explain each one and what we are gona be doing..
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Post by dustin0352 »

bare trees??!! nope to cold for me to be outside :lol: Aswome tho cuda cant wait to see more!!
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Post by daiv »

Well you have to start somewhere! It will be fun to see this progress.
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

8) Ok heres some build doodles i did while sitting out in the garage talking to hubby, i didnt use a ruler this time to make my lines straight. :roll:
I will try to explain each one the best i can.. :D


First up this is sorta a layout of how everything is gona be, the pond next to the patio, then the patio with a back pannel of lattice so i can grow wisteria vine on it and place whicker chairs and table on the patio, then the greenhouses with landscape around them and patio walk way stones from one greenhouse to the other.
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Next we have just the big greenhouse, im going to have a propane heater at one end corner and the other corner will be my small work table, shelf/benches will have 2 levels, there will be support beams thruout for better stablity/strenght and electrical outlets at the end where my work table will be.
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Next is just a fast doodle of how the frame and floor is gona be, on the top is the frame/deck, its gona be 1-4x6 frame then the deck floor on that, then another 4x6 frame as sorta a riser to give me more head room in the GH, the ground will be coverd with weedblock, then a layer of pink foam insulation, also pink foam insulation tacked onto the inside sides of the all frame work for better insulation, will rebar the frame to the ground.
The secone drawing is how we are gona do the heat cable, its gona be under the deck floor and ran to the electric outlet, so i can run it when i need it.
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next is just alittle doodle of the smaller tropicals GH, i had messed up a few times on size calculations so thats where the scribbling came in as hubby kept saying write this down do this and so forth.. :x
Was gona go 7ft wide by 8 ft long but i think im gona redo my size and go with 10ft long, have to incorperate some exhuast fans up top, the tropicals will come back into the down stairs grow room for winter, we are gona have a high pitched roof just like hubby did with the mini GH and we are gona go with a triple layer 4mil plastic, i have had very good luck with the double layer 4mil plastic hubby used on the mini GH and has lasted several yrs now with proper care durring the winter months. Gona go with a dutch door or get a regular storm screen door. Wasnt sure what size i wanted my side walls so for now i just wrote down 6ft plus a extra 3ft for roof pitch but that will prob change and be bigger. Gona do the same with the frame/deck with the weedblock and also insulation.
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Hope that helps you get the idea of what we are doing.. 8)
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Harriet
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Post by Harriet »

Why not extend the heating into the tropicals greenhouse?
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

Harriet, i wont be able to keep the temp high enough for the tropicals in our winters.
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Post by iann »

But you're planning to heat for the cacti? How warm do you think you can maintain in there?
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

Iann, we are shooting for keeping the cacti and succulents in the 60's or warmer, thats not warm enough for most my tropicals, the first winter is gona be a learning curve for us to see how well we can keep the cacti & succulents at temp durring the winter months with floor heat and propane heat, will do/adjust things as we need to. Gona see how much over the winter months its gona cost us in propane, as propane for us aint cheap. If i find i can afford and keep the tropicals GH at the right temps we will do so the fallowing yr.



We are gona get to building the smaller GH over the next 2 months in the garage, gona build it in sections so all we have to do is screw all sections together come spring and anchor it down to the 4x6 and plywood frame/deck thats gona be rebared into the ground. Will be using triple layer 4 mil plastic for covering unless i find cheaper 6 mil and just double that. All wood is gona be poly coated. We know what we are doing as we have built a gazillion things over the many yrs, we know what will last thru our crazy weather and winters and what we can do on our very tight budget each month. :P

The larger GH i already have will be built/put together in spring. :D
Will post pics as we build the smaller one in the garage. Hopefully we will be starting that within the next few days.
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

8) Ok picked up some things yesterday to start building the smaller GH for the tropical, today we cut all the outside frame molding and are now gona start with building the side & end wall pannels. First you save a ton of money by getting 2x4's and cutting them into many strips for your frame molding that gets tacked to the outside of your frame work over the plastic to hold it into place much better.
First pic bundles of wood and some old leftovers.
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then hubby cutting the 2x4s into the frame molding strips
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the strips are alot thicker than what we used on the mini GH which we used old lattice pannel strips for that back then.
the frame molding strips
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here you can see how thick they are
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and then this pink foam, we are using that to place over the plastic once in place then we screw the molding over that and into the frame.
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will make for tighter fit, stop the wood from ripping the plastic. Here you can see how thin that is.
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All wood and frame molding will be painted and coated 2 times with polyurathane or how ever ya spell that word :P befour covering with the 4 mil plastic which we are gona double layer it and not tripple layer it. Money is tight and have to get this done on a budget. :oops:

Ok i have to get back out in the garage and help hubby will post more pics as we go. :D
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

8) Another update, got ALOT of pink foam strips cut yesterday after cutting frame molding strips outa 2x4's, hubby worked on some of the wood frame, sides and back and it just got to cold outside for our hands, so we quit and are now back to work, hubby is finishing up all wood frame sections, building the dutch door and then it all goes down to the basement to get painted befour comming back out to the garage to get put together and plastic & molding put on, each section will get put to the side and then hubby will work on the roof sections and suport beams. Come spring all we will have to do is screw all sections together and attach it to the base frame/deck. :D
Will update with pics as soon as i get the frame sections back outa the basement probably sometime tomarrow.
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Post by daiv »

Very interesting. Keeping it at 60F or warmer is some goal. I will be learning from you on that too!
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Post by *Barracuda_52* »

Daiv, yes its gona be a goal to get the big GH to stay at those temps durring winter. :D

Ok update heres the side and end walls in the basement ready to get painted. Yes we have super high basement ceiling.. LOL!!
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All walls and door way are all 6ft tall the ends are 7ft wide and side walls are 8ft long. The door way is 32 inches wide. Tomarrow we build the roof frame with air vent and also the ducth doors as we didnt get to that today hubby got cold and wanted to get in to eat dinner and watch his sports. :x
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