I have built a few greenhouses in my time. I have to honestly say, the HFGH is the flimsiest, cheapest made aluminum-framed greenhouse I have built. That's not to say without some modifications it won't be a really good GH. The point is, you DO get what you pay for. You would have to spend another $1000 to make it as good as some of the other ones I've worked on. The suggestions have been made that it only takes another $100 worth of modifications to make it as good are (in my opinion, sorry) utterly foolish Some examples: 1. The thickness of the metal. 2. The bracing (is it hollow or solid?). 3. Do the pieces fit tight? (no matter how well you build the HFGH, it's just not as tightly put together). 4. quality of the fasteners, hinges, etc. (the HFGH doors are the crappiest I've ever seen). These are just a few that come to mind. I could go on. Now these might seem trivial to lots of people, but they aren't to some. I'm not bashing the HFGH, in fact, I just built one. My point is "You DO GET what you pay for" The HFGH is worth the $500 you pay for it. And others ARE worth the $2000 you pay for them. One last note. I'm in the process of picking out a GH for an elderly lady in town. She needs something sturdy, well built, that she can use with ease. The first time one of the HFGH doors came off in her hand, It'd probably stop her ticker on the spot. ö¿ö ~ Tom

Hi everybody. I originally posted this message to mudhouse's blog, not knowing how to post it here. But, now I do! So, if anyone gets this message twice, lo siento mucho. Anyway, here it is: I have a question about possible corrosion on my new, unassembled HFGH 10x12. The gravel has arrived, the foundation timbers are in place, and I'm ready to build the greenhouse. But, before I begin, I wonder if someone can enlighten me on potential electrical contact corrosion where (mudhouse's) steel "L" brackets connect the EMT to the frame, where the hold-downs meet the steel base, and where the studs also meet the base. Should I somehow insulate these contact points, perhaps with rubber? Is there actually a problem at these spots? Thanks so much. masscactus - ready to build

Hi Nancy! Although I grew up in Sonoma Co, I haven't lived there since '95. The last place was out off of Bodega Hwy, west of Sebastopol. I still have relatives in the area and my brother lives in Penngrove. I still live by vinyards as well. There is one across the street and several down the road. Sonoma Co has been sort of home base since '68. Whenever we moved , we always still had a house there. We sold completely out of the area in '95. I've been up here for about five yrs and we sold out of Ca completely last March. I still love that area, even though most of what I knew and loved is gone. Even the parts of the Palm Springs area that I loved are gone! Congrats on the length of your marrage by the way! My parents have been married for 41yrs. You don't see a lot of long marrages anymore! I don't know how much you've been following or how long. Other than being far too busy, my largest issue has been trying to cover ALL of my bases in chosing a greenhouse. I'm actually glad that I delayed one more year. It's so easy to forget, during summer, exactly how much water and snow that I get. Many close potential building sites are either far too wet or stay far too cold/frozen all winter. All of the best places are taken, by the house, barns, etc. Something's gotta give up some room!! I don't know if you read some of my earier musings. It gives some ideas that I'm wanting, worrying and fussing over! I really want the effort to go into the planning and construction, not continual repairs and climate maintenance! I want some size for the climate stability.(I'm also greedy and want the space!) Scott Here is a link that might be useful: Sustainable Solar Greenhouses

johnnyq, I'm not much help, since I've been shamelessly kicking the can down the road for years now. Made it through the last two winters with a layer of 6 mil greenhouse plastic sheeting over my own badly damaged polycarbonate roof. We've replaced the roof panels once already, and I only get about three years in the HFGH panels before small holes start showing up in the outside layer of the roof poly panels (even with shadecloth in place all year.) I'm lucky we didn't have a wet heavy snow this winter, or we would have been out there rigging up emergency interior bracing! All of my wall panels are still original, and are now about ten years old. They've finally yellowed and developed small holes too, so I'm looking at a sizeable investment to replace all the roof and wall panels. To be honest I'm doing some soul searching about keeping the greenhouse, but I probably will go ahead with the replacement, since all is fine except for the panels. And I'm not sure I want to give up the hobby quite yet. My plan is to buy 4mm twinwall poly elsewhere (not Harbor Freight, as I'm just getting too old to deal with the work of replacing the roof so often.) Last time I checked, FarmTek seemed to be my best source price wise. Did you mean that HF is offering 6mm panels with a warranty now? One (potential?) heads up is there might be a slight glitch with getting 6mm thick panels to slip into the aluminum framing at the roof peak - as you know the panels slide into a channel up there - and there has been past discussion that anything thicker than 4mm might not slide into the channel easily. I don't know if this is a problem with the kits that are newer than mine, though, and it might not be an insurmountable problem. Maybe others will chime in with panel replacement updates.