I've heard of both. I'm currently building my own version of gardners supply hoop house. It will end up being around half the price.

With the current prices of steel and oil the pvc is attractive.

I priced a 12x24 from farm tek and it came out to $500 for just the frame and shipping.

The most expensive material for the one I'm doing is the wood. For me $500 is too much for a few plastic ribs, some plastic and some plans. I'll do it myself.

I guess you're right. I have seen tons of plans but haven't ever priced out the materials. I guess I haven't been comfortable with the incompleteness of most of the plans I have come across. Where did you get your plan?

Garners Supply.com Look at the pvc gh they have and you click specs or something like that and it gives you a diagram and building list for some of the wood you'll need.

The diagram is what I'm going by. I'm using 1 1/4" pvc pipe and conduit clamps to attach the pipes to the wood. I got the clamp idea from another plan.

I have the bottom frame done but I left the frame upright instead of laying them flat like the diagram shows. Also the two door frames are done and I'm now working on the ridge pole. I have a hole saw kit to drill holes near the top of the ridge pole for the pvc hoops to slide into so they stay put.

I scored a free storm door screen and glass.
Both the glass and the screen are full length for good ventilation. So far I spent about $140 and need the film and a few more 2x4's.

That's cool. I didn't see that spec page before :) Are you building it 12 x 24? Also, did you buy regular KD lumber or pressure treated? I notice they only call for PT for the baseboard although they seem to have the quantity wrong on the 12x24 one. I like the clamp idea too. Also in one of the plans I saw with a ridge board like this they screwed thru the ridge board and into the pipe to hold them in the holes, but I'm sure you already have something planned for that. Did you put a door in both ends of yours? That one seemed to have a door only in one end with a high vent in the other. That is awesome that you got a storm door for free!

I don't know if you were going to use the greenhouse plastic film but Farm-Tek has a fairly good price on it and on the black ground cloth too (that's what I will use on the floor).

I hope you take a pic and post it up when you are done. I gotta get to a store and price some materials!

I figured 12x16 would be good enough for now. When I'm ready to expand I'll just make another 16' and attach them.

I plan on growing crops right in the ground.

I don't care for pressure treat but I used it for the bottom frame and the ridge pole.

I plan on drilling holes into the ridge pole and sliding the pipe though the holes and then arched from there to the ground boards. I afraid to drill the pvc. It may crack?

I built a door frame on each end but am only putting the free door on one end. I will make some type of ventilation for the other end and other open areas.

I put up a few more hoops today and cleaned up the door. The rigde pole is not fully attached yet. I need to remove it to drill holes for the pvc.

Sorry no camera.

Check out freecycle.org for free stuff near you. My buddy picked up the door but it didn't fit his needs.

I don't know if you meant you didn't care for pressure treated because of the arsenic in it or if you meant because it cracks and splits. If it was for a chemical reason since 2004 they supposedly removed all that wood from the market and are making it in a safe way now. I'm only using it on the ground contact, because I don't like the price. :)

Okay so in the other thread you said you used the gray 1 1/4" pvc. So I believe that is the schedule 80, right? It's good to hear you didn't have any problem bending it. Need to know stuff like that before I run out and spend money and find I can't do what I wanted. And you added a 3-foot section to the middle of the 10-foot pipes to get you to the almost 8-foot height by 12-feet wide? So... a 4-foot or 6-foot center piece would give more height, right? But then would you get to a point you start losing the gothic arch shape and end up being more of a hoop?

I believe the pvc can be drilled fine without cracking... crafters do it all the time with the sched 40, as long as you use the right type of drill bit. But I don't know if that weakens it. But your way sounds fine and is similar to another plan I saw online putting the pipe thru holes in the ridge board.

"I will make some type of ventilation for the other end and other open areas."

Yeah I noticed in the plan that the back end wasn't a doorway. It had a vent over the door area for top venting. I've got mine (12x24) all sketched out now and it will have two doors. But since I'm having benches I moved the vents above the horizontal 2x4s instead of below them. While doing the floor plan I realized that because of the curved wall my benches would end up in front of the low vents. To start, my vents will just be a panel that opens like in the picture of gardeners (with screens). But later I will add some auto-vents. I would love roll up sides but I have to learn more about them first. I can't figure out how the plastic film is tight against the end ribs when it is rolled down.

Also because I will have purlin pipes to hang baskets on I am putting a few 2x4 supports down the middle under the ridge pole for additional support (and because of our snow load up here)...also the purlin pipes add rigidity to the structure, I think. I'm getting the film from Farm-Tek and will make it inflated double-layer. Plus I found a small gas heater for about $150 big enough for it and it shouldn't cost much to run for just a month in the spring so I can receive plugs earlier.

Sorry to hear you don't have a camera. I would love to see the finished product. :) I'm curious how you will be attaching your plastic, especially on the ends.

I forgot I signed up over at freecycle.org after seeing a message in here. I will have to go see whats there. There's a free section in a classified ad book that comes out weekly around here...but most everything is way over in Maine. Too bad cause I could have enough free windows to build...

I don't like the chemicals in PT wood but used it in the two places. I heard of the so called (safer) PT but time will tell.

Its schedule 40. The gray is made for above or below grade and is tolerant of uv bombardment. I plan to paint the areas of pvc that come in contact with the poly film. It causes some reaction that decreases the films life.

Yes, Two ten footers joined together with a three foot section to make 12' wide and almost eight feet high.

If you add a longer length to the center it adds to height and or the width. You could go 14' wide I guess. If you add down force to the center of the pvc ribs you can create an outward force at both bottoms to make the sides bow out more. Mine is not a gothic arch; Its a quonset or half circle. Thats how much this stuff can be bent.

I may not drill holes through the ridge pole for the hoops due to weaking. Instead I may use the conduit clamps on the very top of each hoop. I figure as I go. Its all new to me.

I'm doing the exact same thing for the vents, screens and all. I'm going to do the roll up sides to. I need to find or make clamps that will allow me to fasten sections of 2x3's to both end ribs. Then all you need is batten board and the two headed nail to tack the batten board over the film and into the 2x3. The two headed nail can be pulled out easily and retacked at days end.Perhaps when I get to that point I'll come up with a better idea. A local grower uses this method. Filming the end walls are the easy part or even the whole house without the roll up sides. But the roll up sides will be well worth the extra work. You can still use vents below your benches, just lace a pull rope outside to the vent bottom and work it back into the gh.

I may place a center post as well. We get snow here to! But I may heat the gh during storms just to avoid trouble. Sounds like you have a good plan worked out already.

You must be in northern NH?

"I heard of the so called (safer) PT but time will tell."
I know. In 10 years they will tell us they were poisoning us with the new stuff too. :)

I will have to get out and see what is available around here for pvc. I like the u-channels and wiggle wire method of attaching the poly film. It just adds to the cost. I understand how the roll-up sides are done, how the poly is attached to the pipe, and how there are straps outside that basically hold the pipe in while it is being rolled up. But I have never seen anything on what keeps the plastic "sealed" to the end rib when the wall is down. Unless maybe velcro is involved. I have to look around here and see if anyone has roll-up sides. I also have to look back in the messages.... if I remember right someone in here does have roll-up sides.

Yeah I'm almost as far north in NH as you can get. :) Only about 45 minutes to Canada from here. And we definitely get snow! That's why I want to work more toward the gothic arch... it holds less snow in an area like ours. Of course an inflated house helps the structure and heating it some in the worst snow will keep the weight off. I really don't want to go out and pull snow off the thing in the winter. I don't like to leave the house at all in the winter. :)

I have to go thru all my gh plans and compare the ones that actually are gothic arch to see the different building techniques.