homemade greenhouse

spider · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject: homemade greenhouse

Was thinking of building a green house .2.4m square .using ply for floor and .75mm upstand all round perimiter ,and fill floor with pea shingle. Have 2no windows for south wall and can aquire enough perspex for rest of walls and roof, so really all materials are free except the frame which i might make out of wood.
MY question is
1 -is size good enough 2.4m sq and 1.5m walls 30 deg roof pitch
2- pea shingle laid .75mm thick on floor ,acts as heat source at night iam told
3-perspex is old gone sort of yellow , will it be all right to use
dont want to spend much money on greenhouse just yet . really only want it for raising seedlings ,and maybe more in winter months if possible/
Take a look at pict ,know its big but cant see detail if smaller
thank you

Sb · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:13 am Post subject: Re: homemade greenhouse

verge · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:22 am Post subject:

Have a look at this thread http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1260
Member AJ on it has a 6ft x 6ft glasshose he uses pictured. I suggest you make a new post on that thread linking to this topic and you may get a few replies as well.

cooler · Ash Tree Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 239

Make the base concrete if you can. Avoid wood in contact with soil. Lay blocks or else frame and pour a base.

spider · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject:

thanks people for your advice. just wasnt sure , know concrete base would be right, but not 100% sure where i am going to site it .so perfer option of moving it .

spider · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:09 pm Post subject: nearly finished

well took a while but still at it , my homemade greenhouse .Question for the board ,as i already said ,using old perspex , but after i put the roof on ,there is no sunshine coming in ,plenty of light .
Now what sort of ! light ! is important for a greenhouse , do i have to have direct sun of just plenty of daylight .
have a look a photos please

goreygreenhouse · Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:40 pm Post subject: a recent job

heres one my dad and i built recently

we built the back wall, 9" cavity blocks, poured concrete foundation along front, 2 high 4" block wall to front and on e to the side where the door is, 2x4 treated timber frame and 10mm twin wall polycarbobnate as the glazing material

pretty happy, used up a lot of left overs from the business, only had to purchase some PC for the roof. alomost finished when these were taken. I know he cant wait to get stuck in this year and plant all sorts of everything!!

Nanonano · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:03 am Post subject:

That's looks great. Well done. If I could only get my husband to do that. Do you get the polycarbonate sheets in the dimensions you used or do you have to cut them to size? Any advise on where to get them?

goreygreenhouse · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:21 pm Post subject:

hi, thanks.

the polycarbonate we get from a company in Dublin, Williaam Cox. It comes in sheets 2100mm wide x 3500mm high, or full sheets (210mm x 7000mm) BIg sheets!!! its twinwall 10mm, clear.

2m x 7m is hard to work with, but depending on cuts, if worked out rightly, this can be the best to get , if you have an area to lay it flat and cut it up.

the overall size of the roof is 2 sheets wide, so 4200mm , and the slope is a full 3500mm, so the frame underneath then can be smaller. this will allow for very little offciuts and wastage. We decided to go witha lean too, as the concerte blocks offer good heat insulation and retention in the summer, the PC is a fantastic insulator, and very strong, even kicking balls against it wont barely scratch it

ill take some more up close dtailed shots soon to show more details of fixing etc.

for example on how good these are for growing,

07-05-08

2 months later and these Ildi tomatoes are freaken out!!!

13-07-08

Nanonano · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:56 pm Post subject:

Keep those pics coming! I don't believe the tomatoes.. .
The reason I'm so interested is that I want a lean to as well but the size is not standard. I would like to see the fixings cause I can't see how you attach the polycarbonate to the timber.

Just thinking if I could do it myself ( with a diy book and your pics) and get the hubby to help me.. Confused

Just thinking out loud now.

But your pictures are very encouraging to see how it grows.
Thanks,
Nathalie

nemo · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:25 pm Post subject: beautiful greenhouse

would TeX screws fix the PC sheets to the frame.did the suppliers of the sheeting deliver it .roughly how much is the sheeting.is the sheeting guaranteed against getting cloudy UV resistant.
thanks for putting up the photos
regards
nemo

goreygreenhouse · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:34 pm Post subject: Re: beautiful greenhouse

PennyG · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:10 pm Post subject:

Looks great and i sure hope that my Ildi do as well as your;s, and i LOVE the little claypot person sitting in the window.....very cute Very Happy

Organicgrowingpains · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:30 pm Post subject:

I don't have the benefit of a greenhouse but think this idea for greenhouse staging is fantastic! How many times have we seen these discarded and look what can be made from them. Reduce reuse recycle. it is a fairly new blog and if you visit it is nice to leave a comment!
http://vegandflowertime.blogspot.com/2009/02/greenhouse-staging.html Surprised

michelle M · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:00 pm Post subject:

I have just added a lean-to glasshouse to my wish list which is getting longer every time I look at this site, but anyway a few questions Rolling Eyes

1) For a lean to glass house, should it face directly south or is there such a thing as too much heat?

2) goreygreenhouse, what size is yours? It's probably there already, but I've missed it Embarassed