We designed and built our own. It is constructed out of timber framing, and the covering is Lexan Thermoclear. We installed a natural gas heater and vents for the summer. I bought all of the materials that I needed except the vents from local suppliers. The vents and motors came from Charlie's Greenhouse Supply. Everything that I bought in the greater Cleveland area would be available to you from Charlie's. I had to put in a bigger heater than they offered, but since you are in a zone 8, what they carry would be fine. If you would like more specific information, e-mail me at graysgreens@hotmail.com.

Eleanor

I'm happy with the quality of the greenhouse kit I got from BC Greenhouses. Its about 17' by 37'.

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Here is a link that might be useful: BC Greenhouses

Sound like cost is not an option. Look here..

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Greenhouse

Thanks for the help. I was looking at a place called turner greenhouses. They have metal framed w/fiberglass glazing that is warranted for a 10 year period with an acrylic coating added every 5 years. Anyone had any experience with them? They are sending me a sample of the glazing.

They say the glazing is the most expensive part and that the fiberglass is cheaper and warranted just as long as the polycarbonates are.

Anyways... Thanks for the help again. Hope everyone has a good new years! -Jeff

i've got a gothic arch greenhouse,with double wall polycabonate,and an automatic vent system,with a vent free propane heater.it is very efficient-easy to heat.i'm now looking to the future-to expand it.it is currently 14 x 24 feet.the only downside to this greenhouse are the lower sidewalls-but u should check out their website.

fibreglass is a poor option for greenhouses - it tends to cloud quickly and has low transparency at the best of times. If you are happy with the light levels, buy polyethylene sheeting for a fraction the cost, if you want clear or rigid, buy polycarbonate or diamond film.

I'm with Trigger except the walls haven't been a problem. Nathan is right on the money...

well,the sides have not been a problem...just something to work around....i'm not sure how much space most greenhouses have at the sides,above the benches.all the plants in the 7 to 9 feet tall range go in the middle.while the smaller plants on the outside edges of the benches.this year i removed one of the bench tops.

Hello cagary - I think the pics of your greenhouse are just what I've been looking for - would you be offended if I asked you what the price range is for this size (including brick sides)? I'm in Texas so I have more of a heat problem than a cold issue - today it's 80 degrees here. Winters are mild, but July, Aug & September are all in the 100's. Thanks for any help you have-
Susan

Susan, I can give you a price range...if Cagary comes back I will appreciate him telling me if I am way off.

Larger sized extruded aluminum GH kits with polycarb will run perhaps $15-25/sq ft. If using tempered glass, up to $30/sq ft. The foundation and knee wall will vary of course depending upon materials and size, but my guess based on my experience is 50% of the cost of the kit. You have to figure accessories...fans, heaters, and so forth...this will run an additional 30-40% of the cost of the kit.

As someone on this forum likes to say, your mileage may vary...depending upon how many bells and whistles you want.

Oh, and then there is the cost of the beer fridge...

SB

Thanks, SB - that was really a big help! Maybe you can give me some other info - I have been running a small field grown / cut flower business for a while (selling mainly to florists and groceries) - my goal with the GH would be to prolong the season not only with my cut flowers, but to add some heirloom tomatoes and herbs to expand to my grocery customers in the winter months. Is it do-able?
We have more of a heat issue here than a cold issue - for example - today is still in the 70's. I haven't had any luck growing field flowers after July because of the heat and my tomatoes test runs have all burnt out by June / July.
I would appreciate any experience or advice out there. Thanks,
Susan

Susan, It may be very possible to do flowers and tomatoes in the winter in a GH in your zone, however, you will probably have to provide supplemental lighting ot encourage proper blooming.

So far as over hieating, three things you will need: shade, ventilation and cooling.

For Shade, An aluminized shadecloth. Not pretty , but will provide a tremendous amount of relief.
Ventilation.. No such thing as too much, IMHO. In your heat, I can't stress that as big a blower and vent combination as you can get away with
Cooling, ,well ther are two good, inexpensive methods, fogger/fan systems and evaporative coolers. Depending on the relative outside humidity, can drop the ghouse temps as much as 20deg F

I think you will find the below to be useful.. if anything else, to get ideas

Here is a link that might be useful: farmtek

Susan, I agree with Virgo.

I am growing toms for the first time this year. It can be done. Be prepared to supplement heat as well as light. Toms like light 16 hours a day. I can't say about the flowers...

I'll second the rec for aluminized shade cloth, that is what I use. I cool with a ridge vent, intake shutter/exhaust fan (it should be sized to change out all the air in the GH in about a minute), the shade cloth, and an overhead mist system.

One more thing, remember when you are looking at greenhouses that the larger houses will have more temperature stability.

SB

I just put up a Biltmore from Turner's. It's the 14x18' model, and we got it with the poly sides and insulation kit. Price delivered was something like $1,300.

Installation wasn't too bad, but I was glad I had my father in law to help! It's *not* a one person job.

Overall it took us like a week, but we weren't rushing and we did more than most. Here's the breakdown.

1) Set up the foundation. In our case this was a rectangular frame of 4x4 treated lumber, with supports run into the ground 4' deep at corners and every few feet. We used some super-sexy laser level that got everything set up right, which was a big help.

2) We dug ditches from the house for electricity, water, and conduit for the next bit of whatever we need to run. It's only 100', but why not save the effort? We've got 8 gauge wire (I think -- rated at 30 amps) run from a 20 AMP GFI breaker. We probably installed 12 2-plug outlets out there, plus lighting -- it's cheap if you overbuild up-front. Water was just PVC piping. Outlets and the water spigot are mounted to 4x4 posts run in the ground with a posthole digger.

3) We built the frame from Turner's. It's like a big erector set, with way too many nuts and bolts, so your fingers WILL get tired. In out case one of the frame pieces was damaged in shipping (it's galvanized steel, but looked like a piece of ribbon on the end) so we needed to straighten it and drill an extra hole to get a good mount to the frame. Hint: open the boxes up before you plan on assembling, so you can get replacements if necessary.

4) We added a step and buried rabbit wire around the permieter to keep pests out. This was put on before the frame, and buried something like a foot deep and in an L shape. The floor inside is just dirt, BTW -- might plant in the ground, and it's easier on the feet than rock.

5) The next steps was assembling the "ribs" -- front, back, and some more pieces every few feet along the length. It took 2 of us (me on a ladder) and some c-clamps to get things going for the first 3 or 4, then it was a lot easier.

6) Crossmembers next -- straightforward once you remove the c-clamps, otherwise it won't line up. If everything isnt' square to begin with (not a problem in our case, though it would have been if I'd done it myself) then this will square it up for you.

7) The plastic sheeting scared me, but it was straightforward. Same with the insulation kit (read: second plastic sheet for top and sides, with a squirrel cage blower).

8) Then, we were done. The door is supposed to be a sparate step, but we put it on the frame before we mounted the front wall, and cut it out appropriately. Simple.

So far I'm impressed with the thing. It's done a good job of keeping the place warm (it's been hovering around 85^F here in South GA with the fan blowing and outside temps somewhere around 40-60 depending on the day), and the addition of a $18 automatic space heater from Lowes ($58 from Turner's) keeps it from freezing at night. The heater's nothing special, but its * (it looks like an asterisk, or a snowflake) setting makes it kick on at 41^F, so it'll keep the place from freezing.

My citrus are happy.

Anyway, I'm cheap, so instead of buying the $550 fan and louvers I got a box fan from Walmart, a thermostatic control for attic fans from Lowe's, and an auto gables attachment and did my own thing. It's kind of ugly (gotta love 100 MPH tape for sealing around the edges), but it seems to work well for now. We'll check again come summer, though -- it gets hot here.

E-mail me and I'll use that to remind me to get some pictures, if you're interested. I'd recommend Turner -- it seems like a good product that's well priced. Just plan enough time to get it up and running the way you like.

Dzeanah, hmmm...is all your power by way of the one 20amp circuit? If so, you won't get much use out of the 12 outlets when the heat is on. You don't want more than 80% load on a circuit, meaning you are effectively limited to 16 amps. Assuming the 1500W heater draws 12.5 amps, another amp from the squirrel cage blower, and conservatively another amp for HAF fans, you've got room for 1.5 amps of other stuff. This wouldn't count lights or anything else plugged into the outlets.

You probably wouldn't have a problem when the heat isn't on.

Disclaimer, I'm not an electrician, if someone sees a problem with my thinking, here, chime in.

Susan,

My B C greenhouse cost me $12,000 three years ago. Its probably more now. It included 8 solar vents which work great. You should definitely great some! The block walls along with the foundation were built by my father in law and myself. The fans, heater, thermostats, sprinkler system, misting system, etc, are additional. The plumber for the gas line and the electrician for the wiring cost more. I put the water systems in.

You should be able to get it built for $18,000 to $23,000, depending on how much work you're willing to do yourself.

Re: power in my case.

Remember, I'm in a fairly mild climate -- maybe 20 freezing days per year, and I don't need a whole lot to keep the edge off. For the most part the outlets are for convenience and water pumps (hydroponics for the most part).

Now, it's possible I'll want a bigger greenhouse in the future, with serious appliances to go with it. In that case though, I'll probably need to run 220 through the conduit (it's there for a reason ;) to handle cooling and heating needs.

But it's a flexible decision. Determine your needs, and build what you like. In any case, the Turner greenhouse didn't disappoint. It took more to assemble than I'd like, but it's definitely doable in a few days with a couple of people, and the end result is professional enough.

Thanks to everyone: SB & Virgo & CaGary & Dzeanah - I did check out the FarmTec link - it is a big help. More in line with my budget than Texas Greenhouse- I think I'll also check Turners. I like your ideas about # of hours of light also - I had not nailed that issue down so it was a big help. Anyone had any experience with the 'gutter connect' GH? Not to get too ambitious just yet, but it may be nice to have the option of a quick expand if I need to.
Thanks again - you'll all very generous to share your experiences.
Susan