My New Greenhouse -- Warning, LOTS of Photos

15 years ago

I came here earlier in the year (or was it last year) to seek some advice with my plan to build a greenhouse out of old windows and other salvage materials. The comments I got then were very helpful. I'm back to show all of you the fruits of my efforts. (This is also my most recent blog entry.) We all love pictures, so I've included a lot of them . . . my apologies to our friends who have dial-up.

My greenhouse is a bit unconventional. Instead of buying a kit to make a normal greenhouse, I decided to design one to use salvaged materials. This way I could make the building whatever size I want, and hopefully keep the cost down.

Prowling Craig’s List is a great way to get just about anything you could ever need. The windows we will use came from two different 1960’s era houses -- 30 sashes from one house (all 32” wide), and 46 sashes from another house (all 28” wide). The nice standard width of the windows made it pretty simple to design walls to use the available windows. In fact, we have enough of the 32” wide ones left over to use when we decide to remodel the workshop building.

The site is right behind the house, next to the water hydrant and convenient to power from the workshop.

The building is 12’ wide and 20’ long. The foundation is made of 6 x 6 timbers, most of which came from an old retaining wall -- and were free. (I completely forgot to take a photo of the foundation.)

All the materials for the walls and roof are pressure treated -- 4 x 4’s for the posts, 2 x 4’s for the top and bottom plates, 2 x 6 rafters, etc.

The skylights came from Craig’s List, too -- 6 used Velux skylights (two of which vent).

As we got to this point (mid-October), the weather began to get cold. Instead of hurrying to devise a way to attach the windows to the frame and trim them out, we finished the roof and wrapped the building in greenhouse plastic for the winter. This gives us time to figure out exactly how to install the windows when we get back to construction in the spring, and I can use it now to root cuttings and protect rooted cuttings this winter.

The door is an old cast metal security-type storm door that I picked up at a thrift shop. When I saw that it had oak leaves and acorns in the design, I had to have it.

Let’s go inside. The walls are upholstered in bubble wrap (Craig's List, again) to help create a dead-air space for better insulation.

The south wall has shelves full of rooted cuttings and smaller potted roses that I want to protect from winter.

The north wall is the potting and work area. The cabinets, with the sink, are 1930’s vintage Jamestown metal cabinets, from a house in Richmond. They are great for holding all my pots and supplies.

The west wall holds the mist system that I use for rooting rose cuttings. There are two shelves, each with 5 mist heads controlled by a Mist-a-Matic timer.

I expect that having a greenhouse to putter around in will make this winter a lot more enjoyable. While the garden is frozen and sleeping, I can still play with my roses and get things ready for next year.

Thanks for you help. This forum rocks.

Connie

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Comments (10)

ucovinero
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Very nice! I just got done with my first hobby greenhouse. Sure would love to construct something that permanent=)
msmacgyver
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
It looks wonderful already and I'm sure it'll look fantastic when you get the windows installed. I look forward to seeing more photos. BTW I LOVE that door too. This is my first year with a winter greenhouse and as tiny as mine is I love every minuet I spend in there I'm sure you will have a blast with the space you have.
Bernie
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rosepedal
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Very nice and pretty! Cant wait to see it finished....Barb
funnylady
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That is beautiful. Can't wait to see it finished. Be carefull how much you get in there this winter. Remember you have more work in there to get it finished. You'll have many plants to move around.
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Nell Jean
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
This is the kind of playhouse I like to see. You had a vision, a plan and then adapted quickly to changing weather to make it immediately useful.

Thank you for showing all the photos and sharing what you're doing.

Nell
fool4flowers
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Looks great. What did you use for the foundation? I can't tell from the pic if its hard packed gravel or cement?
flavio
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Connie I like the photos of your greenhouse and like the others, keep us posted. I have started a addition approx 12 by 16 feet to my 8 X 10 ft. Northern Light Greenhouse which I have had for several years and have not outgrown it cause of my new passion...Cactus. I do grow vegies mostly tomatoes and chile peppers to transplant into the garden. Here are a couple of pictures of the foundatin that I recently poured. I will probably wait until Spring to put up the walls and roof. Like you, I have been salvaging window glass for a couple of years and now have enouth to build the greenhouse to accomodate the glass. Designing it this way has abeen quite a challange for me and I am anxious to get on but the weather has stopped that!
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rjinga
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Wish I had a craigslist with all that great stuff...It has not quite caught on here in Middle GA...Very cool looking GH. Congrats
hartwood
Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for all the nice comments, guys. This greenhouse was a long time coming, and I'm thrilled to finally have it up and running.

The floor is gravel right now, BTW. I may put something like pavers on top of it later ... and I might not.

Craig's List has sites in Atlanta, Athens, Auburn, Brunswick, Columbus, etc., in Georgia. Pick one or two sites that are closest to you, and I bet you'll find users near by who are posting items that you can use. None of the materials I collected were right here in Fredericksburg. I have driven as far as 3 hours to get an item that I wanted -- the antique store doors that I'll use on my workshop building, for example. Most of the action on CL in my area is toward DC and Maryland .. which can be as far as 2 hours away (the skylights were in eastern Md.)

I know it's still early in the season, but things are humming along fairly well. The only glitch so far was when the temps got down into the teens on Monday night -- my water line froze solid .. even with the heat tape on it. Fortunately roses can take the cold, so no harm was done ... except for a broken hose fitting. Now I have to make time to get DH out there with me so we can install the pool cover on the beams over head, to lower the ceiling and keep in a little more heat.

I can see that hanging out here will help with my winter blues. I love seeing what everyone else is doing in their greenhouses, while everything outside is frozen.

Connie
rjinga
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I especially LOVE the cabinetry, how nice to have enough space for something like that...very nice work.

My New Greenhouse -- Warning, LOTS of Photos

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ucovinero

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My New Greenhouse -- Warning, LOTS of Photos

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