I can give you some idea of costs of the HFGH. Can't tell you how much time to put it together -- we're retired and work at a slower pace. Reading posts here on how others put their together will definitely be helpful. I didn't document the details of building because it had already been done so well. We did put the roof on piece by piece rather than as the instructions directed. Can you imagine two old people on ladders struggling with an unwieldy aluminum structure eight feet in the air? Additional purchases for HFGH reinforcement: Spring Clips -- $10.95 Bolts -- 15.96 Bolts -- 24.27 Aluminum tape 19.94 Aluminum piece 10.98 Straps 9.44 Wafer Screws 7.97 Clamps 4.67 -- a cost of about $105.00 US. The following would be necessary for any greenhouse set up that we might have used, not just the HFGH: Treated lumber for base and hardware for assembly Ground Fault outlets Water pump Drum fittings and hoses Hoses Elec. Box and Breakers Wire -- we already had wire -- that's another hundred. Outlet boxes Duplex boxes, recept. covers Conduit Water Valve Pipe and fittings Temperature Gauge Water Drums Adding this doubled the cost of the HFGH. I have not included the cost of buying or building benches, patio pavers for the paths and barrel support, nor the cost of a heater (we already have heaters), nor the cost of shading. Everybody's mileage will vary because of regional differences, personal needs and individual ideas on how this should be done. I hope this gives you a general idea of what to expect. Nell Here is a link that might be useful: Greenhouse

Vicki, tell your hubby not to be such a nitpicker. The guy who levels the area can go a little bit over sized, and then it can be taken care of when you back fill to the size of the foundation. As far as the need for a true foundation, it looks like to me that this GH does not really require it. My recommendation is, unless you want to put it onto a poured concrete or laid concrete block foundation (which might require you to have a building permit) just dig holes at the corners, and about every two to three feet along the sides (on the inside) and set treated wood posts at least three feet deep. Then attach your treated two by eight base frame to it. I don't have one of these GH's yet, but hopefully someone who does will send you the dimensions from thiers. If not, open the box and find the instruction sheet. (If worse comes to worse, you may have to measure your base plates. I've bought Harbor Freight stuff in the past, and know first hand how "good" thier instructions are.) Kevin

Hi Willa, To work well, the top and bottom tracks need to be parallel and solid. I do have a wooden base under the steel GH base, and that might provide some stiffness to the bottom track. One idea is adding an extra brace to the frame right over the top of the doors, to stiffen up the top track. That seems to help the doors operate more smoothly too. We just added a piece of oak we had, but others folks have used a piece of EMT or aluminum angle in the same spot. The idea is to help prevent the top track from sagging at all if possible. (click to enlarge) Also, this is a good thing to check...there's a small illustration at the bottom of page 15 of the manual, labelled Side View. (Shown below.) This shows you that the small black plastic clip Part 51 has to be guided onto the bottom door track so the small vertical part of the aluminum track is actually threaded up into the vertical gap in the center of black plastic part 51. If you do it right, the bottom leg of the black plastic "L shape" goes down the front and under the L-shaped aluminum door track, as the illustration shows. If you don't install it just like the manual shows, it's actually possible to install the doors so that the black plastic part 51 is just sitting on top of the door track, sliding along in the small valley there. Although your doors can function (sort of) this way, they can also fall off, since they're not truly captured at the bottom in the manner the kit intends. My doors can't even be pulled off the track, top or bottom. I've honestly never seen anyone comment that the wheels can be pulled off the door itself, and there really shouldn't be that kind of pressure on the door to cause that at all...it makes me think something else is wrong with your door tracks (problem with your bottom track rising up?) or, with the black clip not being installed quite right, as in the illustration above. I'm kind of scratching my head over what would possibly cause that. :-( This part of my blog talks more about the doors, in case there's anything helpful here to you: Assembling the roof, windows, and doors

Marcie, your question came at a very fortuetous time.. I just today finished installing screens on my Clearspan Prostar 12x24 Ghouse. I too was baffled on how to do so until I visited my local LOWE"S store. They have this porch creening "system" that I found fits the bill just fine. it is a plastic "profile" about inch and a half wide with two channels to hold the screening and the spline. The instructions in the link below shows an installer using wood screws to attattch to a porch BUT I had very good luck using selftapping sheet metal screws (#10-3/4") to attach the system to the aluminum frame of my intake vent( which is aluminum ) the system also includes cap strips of assorted colors to cover the screws. System also works best with the .175 inch screen spline. Here is a link that might be useful: porch screening how to at Lowes