One of my favorite and most successful projects here at Sola was the building of a greenhouse. While the project idea had been floating around my head for a while, I was spurred on one day when I came upon a bunch of used windows for free. A husband and wife couple in the nice resort area of Greenwood Lake, NY were getting new windows in their house, and they posted the old ones for sale. They said there were a lot of people interested in them, but I managed to be the first to arrive. I actually drove through a freak summer hailstorm on the way there. While these windows had some age on them and minor damage, they came out of a nice place and were cedar framed quality windows. They must have cost a good amount decades ago when they were first installed.
So I designed and built the greenhouse around these windows. In the collection were actually sixteen of the same dimensions. So I laid out a pattern of 4 wide by 2 tall of the windows for the two longer sides of the greenhouse. On the back end I used other window sizes, and on the front another size of windows and a door I got for free out of a friend’s barn.
So my price of windows and door was totaled zero dollars. Most of the cost in DIY projects of course is “sweat equity.” It costs time and energy to do a project. But there were costs as well with the lumber. I frankly don’t remember the total. It might have been $1,000 in lumber, maybe more. I went with all pressure-treated lumber for outdoor use.
I really like the choice of how we did the foundation. Since our yard is sloped, we paid to have a slab leveled and covered with gravel rock. Then, I used four large pressure treated beams to be the base of the design. I notched the corners so they would overlap and made an 8 ft by 6 ft greenhouse. This is a pretty good size for us. We’ve not felt the need (yet) for more greenhouse space. The bottom timbers were big, 8” x 6” I believe. Something like a 6” x 6” would probably work. As I’ve learned on other projects, it is nice to have that solid foundation “rim joist” so you have no sagging later on. And I anchored it all to the ground by drilling holes through the beams and hammering in 4 ft pieces of rebar. That, plus the weight of the building should keep it in place against any normal wind and weather.
I was stressing about my greenhouse design until one day when my uncle said to me “when it comes to a greenhouse you can do whatever you want.” So I encourage you also, just go at it. Add window here, a door there, shelves inside. Paint it the colors you want, or stain it, or don’t paint it at all. You’re free to do what you want.
You might consider using clear plastic panels on your roof as we did, and get a couple beeswax-powered automatic vent openers for the roof or windows to get some airflow when it is extra hot outside.
When you get the whole frame up, that is the time to stain the wood, before any windows are added. And I highly recommend added angled cross-braces for structural stability in your design.
Watch out when your greenhouse is built because you will find snakes enjoying the heat in there.
We built two levels of shelves on three sides on the inside of the greenhouse. You’ll want to design the shelves so that some light can get through them. I made structure for the shelves and then put down cedar paneling as shelves with space (an inch or so) between each piece. The floor of the greenhouse may then still get some light to it and plants can be grown there, but we find it to be a handy place to store garden tools.
Picture, as requested:
Great project- some pictures would be nice!
I just added one above! Thanks.