Yah, you can grow in that.

Looks clean. Shade cloth, white poly for spring and summer a must! Little thing as you realize. You can bake cookies in these things. I know because I have one.

Dax

hehehe...so true Dax!!! By all means get some shade on that baby right away! It was a mistake I made by not shading immediately and had a lot of burning from solar gain. But, all in all, nice job.

Dave
Milwaukee

Yes, we need to shade it. Right now all the plants are enjoying the beautiful great outdoors. We're anxiously waiting for our new Rion to arrive. They shipped the GH and it should be here in about a week - but not the base?!?!?! We can't do anything until the base gets here.

This little GH will be turned over to the cacti and succulents of which my collection seems to keep growing,... somehow. Those darn plants just jump into my shopping cart at Wally World and Lowe's and Home Depot and end up coming home with me. :-) Sometimes an orchid jumps into the cart as well.

It's an addiction I keep telling my husband. A terrible addiction. We need to start a 12-step Plants Anonymous Group.

I have the same addiction...LOL. But I grow orchids in mine as well. I am looking at the 10x12 and trying to decide how I would modify it to attach to the south side of my home so I can have access to the Kitchen water and heat supply. It would have to be a major modification. Can anyone tell me how tall the doors are in the 10x12?

Dave
Milwaukee

That Rion is pretty darn nice. Congrats...

Dave you see is the "creator" of all things ever thought about Harbor Freight's. The guy in case you aren't aware, moderized the constructing of the two of these 6 x 8's together before anyone else thought of doing so. Now he wants to tear a hole out of his home! lol

Dave, I mentioned at one time a while back that I was getting (soon) a Fartek sold one called "The Elite." It's an attached with dimensions of 6 wide x 16 long. It's tight. I've decided to begin to take my grafts and I'm going to train them for bonsai. I'm going to fill all but a little portion with bonsai's. Forget all this grafting...

My home is being built right now:)

See ya guys,

Dax

We didn't consider the HF 10X12' because of it's height. Too much wasted space overhead to heat in winter. Of what use is that overhead space?

As for attaching it to your home - that's a serious undertaking so you may want to talk to a buildings expert. You may also need a permit. The electrics may have to be inspected. Get all info possible before you purchase the GH.

You're building a new home, Dax? AWESOME!!! I had heard you had moved.

Greenhouser: All of that is taken care of...I'm just puttering around with ideas right now. Planning is half of the fun.:) What use is that overhead space? More place to hang orchids, of course. :)

Dave
Milwaukee

You have a point there. :0) I was thinking of having to heat all that space!

I just bought a 10X12 HFGH I don't have it up yet. I wanted the extra ceiling space, I plan to grow containter citrus and banana plants.

As far as heating it, I plan to just heat about half of it. I can hang some curtains and only heat small areas.

It certainly would be good for that. And hanging baskets.

What do you hang the plant from???? Do you make some sort of rack to hang from? I have a 6x8 and there isn't anywhere to hang plants. Nancy

Milwdave, you asked about attaching it to your house. Well, from my experience there are two things you will want to consider; 1) what is the type of construction your home is and 2) how do you want to orient it. If your house is frame, with sheet siding you are looking at a very simple install, but yet it might be more complicated because of the insulation and waterproofing materials that you will need in your house. (You have to remember that you will not only have heat gain coming back into the house in the winter, you will also have it, as well as increased humidity, in the summer.)

If you have a patio slab outside of the house where you want to attach the GH you can use an existing exterior door or window to provide access. ("Window? What's this nut talking about? I don't want to crawl through a window!" A window, unless it is either too narrow or is not set high enough to have the bottom of the header at 6'10" can be removed and replaced with a door. Wiring and plumbing might complicate this, but if there is nothing in the wall to get in your way it is clear sailing!) Now you have to decide, do you want it to stay a gable roof, or do you want to adapt it to being a shed roof, and do you want to be 6 or 8 foot (or maybe longer if you decide to use the extra panels to extend it or even widen it)? If the height from the base to the ridge is low enough to be below the overhang or soffit then all you have to do is cut some of the siding with a circular saw and make a channel wide enough to nail a treated 2x4 onto the boxing of the exterior wall. Before you nail it on, you should put either flashing under the end of the siding or J channel if it is vinyl siding. Now take a piece of waterproof membrane and stick it in the channel, and against the flashing or J channel. Take the 2x4 and nail it into the channel with the waterproof membrane folded back under it so that you now have a waterproof seal between the wall, the falshing and the 2x4. Now you can erect the frame following the instructions with the only change being that you screw the end studs to the 2x4. Take silicone caulk and seal the joint between the end studs, rafters and the 2x4 before putting on your poly sheets, and do this on the inside as well.

I'm sorry if it seems a bit much, but while it seems like it might be more than you bargained for, it really isn't that hard. If you aren't sure about how to tackle it, see if you can hire a carpenter or handyman to help you. In about one day they can help you remove the window, if necessary, install the door and set things up for you to start installing the greenhouse. If you decide to build it with a shed roof or if the ridge would be above the overhang/soffit the carpenter/handyman can help you to build an "eyebrow" to tie it in, or give you assistance in modifying the design.

From the looks of the one in the picture I don't think you will need to do anything special to use a normal patio slab. Most of them are at least 4 to 6 inches thick, and while they usually lack reinforcement, they should have enough strength to support the GH.

Hope I was some help.

Kevin

Sorry, I boo boo'ed, in the second par I said "do you want to be 6 or 8 foot..." that should have been 10 or 12 feet.

Why not either drill holes through the rafters and use S hooks or use self tapping screws and attach a piece of 1/2 inch conduit to them.

Kevin

You can get hangers at ACF.com 20 hangers $12.94 most anything that fits Juliana will fit HF.
Also Charley's Greenhouse. Most anything that fits English Greenhouse fits HF.
That is if you don't want to drill holes in your greenhouse.

Who are you replying to? What are the hangers for? ACF.com took me to a anti drug abuse site.

Thanks for your ideas Kevin. I am intending it to be a shed roof lean-to. But I have a few other ideas as well. I want to take two of the kits and attach them end to end. I also want to preserve the 10 ft width. So I would like to discard the ridge beam from the kits and somehow splice the two rafters together to make one long span...with appropriate support, of course. I have two patio slabs. One faces east and is not as convenient to utilities as I would like and one that faces south which is my favorite for this project as it would have prime access to water, electric, and gas lines. Both patios are accessed through sliding patio doors so that's not a problem.

How do you think I could splice the rafters together? And what would be an appropriate support system for them?

Nancy, funnylady is quite right...almost anything used in the Juliana line is usable for the Harbor Freight. I found the hangers and t-bolts at Charley's MOST useful. Also the bubble wrap insulation clips. Just one thing though, order MORE than you THINK you need.:)

Dave
Milwaukee

Dave,

I don't have that much familiarity with the HFGH, other than seeing the pictures, but if it uses a tube frame you could use a piece of conduit or other galvanized pipe slightly smaller than the ridge beam and slide it into it. Then secure both ends by either drilling through it and using carriage bolts, nuts and washers to secure it, or by using self tapping screws. If it is a piece of angle or square galvanized tubing you might be able to do something similiar with materials you could buy at a welding shop.

Hope my ideas can help.
Kevin

Dave,
It also hit me that you could use galvanized steel studs to make the new ridge beam. You can get them at either Lowe's or Home Depot. They are also going to be available at most larger lumberyards. Just make sure that you get the studs, as the top and bottom plates for steel stud walls lack the turn back on the sides, which help give them extra ridgidity.

If you want to use the parts in the kit, you might also check with a metal supply company. I am sure that there ought to be at least one in Milwaukee that supplies metal both to industrial and retail purchasers. Kansas City has a number of them, just check in the Yellow Pages.

It also hit me, if you are going to retain the 10x12 footprint, and change the roof to a shed type/lean to roof then you will need to have additional poly to enclose the ends. I don't know if HF offers replacement panels at a reasonable price or not, but that is one thing you will need to consider. I did read on one of the other topic lines in the forum that someone had replaced some damaged panels with ones from Charley's, although they were 6 mil instead of 4. The prices at Charley's, when you add in the S&H, make me feel like you might want to look locally for them though.

Ninjabut/Nancy
I checked on the HF site the other day and it brought up the plant hangers and the hanger bars on the same page as the Greenhouses. They seemed reasonable enough to me, so check them out if you want to see if they are what you want.

Kevin