That's the single most fantastic move I have EVER seen!

What a GEM of a greenhouse, I'm green with envy.

I had no idea that my Kodak picture site could post pictures like that. I will have to look into that too.

Your pictures are wonderful, but the greenhouse is just "OUTSTANDING" make sure you post the finished pictures OK?
I can't wait to see it finished the way you want it.

WOW!!!!

Amazing ! Thanks so much for the time it took to take and post the pix. I would have been one of those who would have agreed that you'd break many (if not most of the glass) but clearly your guys pulled it off. That's SOME forklift work.

Thanks, Sheila, some people on GardenWeb really discouraged me from moving it with glass in it, and I had my doubts this morning when they were ready to lift it, but I had to just trust my husband and his plan worked wonderfully.

This is a labor of love and I'll be posting more pictures when we have it finished. I'm just so thrilled to have a real greenhouse. I've been using a Harbor Freight portable 6X8 which is packed full, and I'm thorougly tired of worrying about it blowing away in 50 mph winds or overheating when it's 70 degrees outside! Now that I'm addicted to greenhouse gardening I will truly enjoy a permanent structure. I'll still use my HF portable inside the glass GH at the beginning of the season until the end of Feb. for seed starting so that we only have to heat a small area in it until we have enough flats of plants growing to justify heating the whole structure. The HF portable doesn't hold heat but I think it will do well inside another structure in Jan. and Feb. I have many plans for the new GH right now but we have another project going on as well so the GH won't be finished until this summer.
Thanks again,
Lynn

Lynn,

What a beaut you have. I'm sure it was exciting watching it be loaded and moved. I know the guys loved doing it (they usually get a big enjoyment out of doing the impossible) and you benefited. Lucky girl!!

Keep showing pics of your progress.

Cindy

Lynn,
Congratulations on your gorgeous greenhouse. I'm so happy for you. You are really going to enjoy it. I look forward to seeing more pictures in the future.
Dawna

Excellent job! Hard to believe those guys were able to lift in unison!

Great Job. We moved a 12x20 wood frame polycarb house 3 miles the same way with out any damage too! It can be done. But it sure makes you nervous driving down the road!

A stroke of absolute genius, awesome!

Congratulations on the new GH and my compliments to your husband and his team for their flawless execution.

You guys have to be in the running for Garden Webs recyclers of the year award :-)

SH

Thanks, everybody! I still can't believe it's mine and finally here. It was moved three and a half miles and over railroad tracks to boot. I guess the GH did rock back and forth on the trailer when it went over the tracks, luckily I wasn't there to witness that little scene. :)

Lynn

Hurrah! Glad to see how successful you were at moving your greenhouse. You are going to have such fun once you've finished the restoration!

Great Job!

Glad it worked out.

M

Thanks!

Boy, concrete is expensive. Thinking we'll do kneewall in cement blocks and face it with a thin layer of stone for the stone look. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Lynn

I read (somewhere in a post or a link on gh) that someone in a cold climate filled the spaces in cement block with some kind of granular insulation material.

You might think about that..or applying rigid foam insulation to the inside (up front cost vs return on heating bills later)

I did my (much smaller) gh with a block knee wall and put a layer of stucco over the outside face.

Here is a link that might be useful: stucco over cement block

polystyrene foam or SIPs are fairly cheap, and give you better insulation to boot! SIPs are very strong.

Here is a quote from the U.S. Dept. of Energy:

"Installation

Concrete block insulation is typically installed for new home construction or in homes undergoing major renovation. Since installation involves masonry skills, it's best to have a certified cement mason do it.

When using masonry blocks for a foundation wall, filling the block cores with high-pressure foam works better than most poured-in insulations, like polystyrene beads or vermiculite or perlite pellets.

Note that even though filling the block cavities and special block designs improve a block wall's thermal characteristics, it doesn't reduce heat movement very much when compared to insulation installed over the surface of the blocks either on the exterior or interior of the foundation walls. Field studies and computer simulations have shown that core-filling of any type offers little fuel savings since the majority of heat is conducted through the solid parts of the walls such as block webs and mortar joints."

In Wisconsin a common construction method is to place a skin of foam insulation on the outside of the wall, whether it is made of concrete, concrete block, conventional or steel framing, then a layer of expanded metal lathing, held on with lath washers and fasteners that extend through to the base wall and finally a layer of stucco. The stucco layer is put on in three coats, a thick base coat, a thiner "primer" coat and the final color and texture coat.

The joints between sheets of foam are sealed before covering them with the lathing by using drywall tape (the sticky fiberglass mesh variety) and conventional drywall compound.

In order to maximize your ground contact, you should also extend the sheets of poly foam below grade at least 16-18 inches and then outward, away from the foundation at least 4 feet. This implies, of course, that your concrete cast foundation is at least 16-18 inches below the surface. See the document about insulated frost-protected foundations below. The joint between the vertical poly sheet and the horizontal one should be made and sealed with construction adhesive (the water-proof polyurethane type).

Here is a link that might be useful: NAHB Frost Protected Foundations

cottagefarmer: Yeah, so SIPs sound even better! Another possibility is 'cool room panel' which is flat zincalume sheets with 75mm (3inch) of PS foam between them. They are strong enough to span a 20 foot gap unsupported. And they have an R-value of 30 ft^2 hour F/btu.

BTW, I forgot to say how danged impressed I am with the move. The world needs more smart people who can reuse things with such little effort!

Thanks for the compliment, Nathan. I think moving it for nothing looked a lot better than the prices on a new GH or trying to build one from scratch. Nathan, as usual you have me mistified with your fancy scientific lingo. :)
Do you think if we did the stucco layer on the outside that we would be able to face it with field stone (the kind that isn't thick, just made to look like an entire piece of stone). My husband couldn't care less what it looks like and just wants it to be as cheap as possible, but I like things to be pretty and this is going to be a focal point in my landscape.

SIPs are a plywood-foam-plywood sandwitch used for building houses. Cool room panel is a steel-foam-steel sandwitch for making cool rooms (where you keep milk and beer and whatnot in warehouses).

I think your idea for facing with field stone sounds great. To do this I would build a simple wall out of SIPs, wood, or concrete blocks, attach foam panels to the outside (I would suggest at least 3/4" inch, I use 40mm = 1.5" here as it is much more sturdy . Make the foam panels go right up to the glass. Then using fibreglass mesh and acrylic-cement render build a base coat. Then using mortar build up your facing stone. If you can, put the foam down several feet into the ground to make the ground inside the greenhouse store heat. This will help stabilise the foundations too.

Extra mass on the outside does very little to help keep your greenhouse warm, extra mass on the inside can be very helpful.

LYNN
If you are trying to decide what is best for insulation this should help.

Material Thickness In Inches C-Value R-Value
Metal N/A 0.00 0.00
Concrete 1.0 3.333 0.30
Gypsum 1.0 1.667 0.60
Wood 1.0 1.099 0.91
Tectum 1.0 0.500 2.00
Inside Air Film N/A 1.087 0.92
Vapor Retarders N/A 0.000 0.00
BUR Gravel N/A 2.941 0.34
BUR Smooth N/A 4.167 0.24
Fiberboard 1.0 0.360 2.78
Perlite 1.0 0.360 2.78
Phenolic Foam*1.0 0.120 8.30
Fiber Glass 1.0 0.256 3.90
Polyisocyanurate1.0 0.180 5.56

Polystyrene Bead Board 1.0 0.280 3.57
Polystyrene Composite Board
1.5 0.301 3.32
Polystyrene - Expanded (EPS)**
1.0 0.260 3.85
Polystyrene - Extruded (XEPS)***
1.0 0.200 5.00
Sprayed Polyurethane Foam****
1.0 0.150 6.88
Cork 1.0 0.280 3.57

* Problems have been reported with regard to the use of Phenolic Foam roof insulation. Incidents of deck corrosion have been reported in cases where the insulation is in direct contact with steel roof decks and there is moisture present.

Shows you how flexible and strong glass really is. Congratulations on a job well done!!