I too have read of the failures you described, but not having a Rion, can't really say why they occured. However I concur with your guess that a lot of the failue issues we read of here are the result of GH's being set onto foundations that shifted, perhaps not enough for the owners to notice, but enough to torque the frames and cause panels to pop and doors, particularly sliding ones, to become inoperable and when that occures, it would affect any mfg. or model.

One thing I can say and from experience; is that I believe that most of the mid to low range GH's are too low in height to allow overhead space for hanging plants and the use of what I and others who have them swear by for really cheap, effective and silent ventillation and air movement; ceiling fans, that are both innexpensive and universally available in models specifically designed for wet locations.

The simple and obvious means of raising the height of any GH is a kneewall, that serves as a solid base that can be easily insulated and concurrently, raises the interior ceiling to allow both the height needed for hanging plants, good air circulation and and with a ceiling fan; the ability to control temps; to keep them warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

But the problam in doing so for most all kit GH's is the door and that was a factor (among others) that caused me to buy a Cross Country GH, as they are built to order and the mfg. will make them to fit any door drop height the buyer wants at no additional charge.

You could put the smallest of them on a tall kneewall and virtually double your growing space, simply by adding so much height.

You might want to think about it, because in your other post, you indicated that you planned to set your GH on a concrete block base. If you have the skill to build a cinderblock or just a simple balloon frame wall about 4 ft. high, even an 8 X 8 GH would have as much usable space inside as a low one with twice the footprint.

It would also be far easier and cheaper to keep warm in winter and with just a single large ceiling fan mounted directly under the roof vent, cooler in summer.

If you want to be able to use a GH to start plants in February in Zone 5, you really should think as much about how much it will cost you in fuel to do it season after season.

Then think about how much more you might be able to expend up front, for a GH to give you years of issue free use for the least operating cost because frankly, the cost of the structure itself will be the least of it.

I am extremely happy with my Rion GH. I think that almost all problems are caused buy an improper foundation. The height issue was solved by lowering the floor area 16"; there are two steps to get in and two steps to get out. See photo below. I made some minor modifications that I describe in my journal. See link below.

John

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Thanks for the input. I never thaught about a knee wall but it makes perfect sense. I would build it out of treated lumber. My only concern would be as the wood dries would it become unstable. A concrete block wall would be a bit pricy and would require a buch of work living in the frost heave capital of the world.

Thanks for you info and it gives me something to think about.

boxcar:

If you built a kneewall with wood, regardless if you used treated or whitewood construction lumber, you would want to waterproof it and for that, wrap each wall section with heavy black plastic before you connect them together and once you have enclosed them with whatever exterior siding you decide on, they will be as protected from weather and moisture as the walls in your house.

Lots of options for finishing, but for inexpensive and easy to apply, you might think about vinyl siding, both inside and put, or concrete lap siding, but whatever the siding, because with balloon framing it's so easy to do- add fiberglass insulation between the studs.

Also, you would never want to use any wood that hadn't been properly cured before you bought it, especially when it's to be used to construct what would be a permanent but low foundation wall and the amount of high quality lumber you would need wouldn't add enough to your total to even think about using a lesser grade, but if you still had that concern, just buy it well in advance and lay it out in your garage for a few months and by the time you used it, it will have dried and shrunk as much as it as it ever will.

But regardless of your final decision, buy some footer tubes and bags of concrete then dig some holes down to beyond the frost line, which in our zone is about 30 inches, so go to 36. If you are young and strong, all you need is a post hole digger and if not, rent a power digger.

Then take the time to set up your level lines to get your base sills absolutely plumb. Once you have, regardless of the GH you erect or how elaborate or simple you make the floor inside, it will go up dead plumb and stay that way.

BTW: I've sort of become the nagging old lady of this forum on the subject of foundations, insulating and the cost of heating and cooling, but I live in zone 5 too, know what the weather can throw at us and believe me; once you have a GH, you WILL want to putter in it and if you can't keep it warm enough to be able to use it except in late spring or early fall without trading you heating or cooling bill for your house for one to heat/cool your GH, you WILL become totally frustrated.

So do think very carefully on what you can do do prepare your foundation not only for a solid base, but what you can do to help make your GH a literally year round usable one, even if you may choose not to, because CHOOSING not to use it in winter or high summer is one thing- not being ABLE to do so even if you later decide that you WANT to- is another.

And it all starts with the foundation, the one part that once completed, you never want to have to address again. So also think about trenching for drainage and utilities and where you would place a frost proof faucet inside of it.

First the bones- then the flesh. Good luck and have fun with it, whatever GH you decide on.

I did buy a Rion greenhouse. I am going to build a knee wall out of pressure treated 6x6's. I will be digging down a 1.5 feet below grade and digging 8 footer tubes filled with concrete and a 1/2 inch rebar for a anchor. I will lay the timbers in and fill underneath with 3/4 stone. I will take your advice and water proof with polyplastic. I also will weather strip between the timbers themselves. I will have 3-4 courses of timbers. I will also lay landscape fabric under thee timbers and the greenhouse floor. I will use stone aggregate for the floor. As far as siding I will use styrene foam panels covered with vinyl siding.

Sounds like a plan to me. I might have to get started over the winter and work around the weather.

Yipee.

Congrats it appears to be a great gh! It will be my next, The Rion. I am very happy for you. I think It will be wonderful for you. Lucky person.......Happy new year!

My Rion is on a level concrete foundation with deep rebars to keep anything/everything from shifting. The biggest problem we found was insulating all the places in the roof where the poly meets the frame. Rion provides some sponge material I was told to shove in all these spaces (they're aware of the problem) but they don't give you nearly enough. Silicone wont stick to the frame. As it dries it lets go. Watch those roof caps where the frame meets them. There's a space of at least 1/4" or more where heat can escape. I lined our Rion with heavy duty bubble wrap from a local packing place for a fraction of what Charlie's charges.

Congrats on going Rion. I started this before most of the above follow-ups were posted, so some of it may be redundant. I think birdwidow hit the nail on the head re. getting your base sills absolutely plumb. For what it's worth:

I'm a happy Rion owner. I erected a Professional 8x12 in August-September, 2008. Really took my time, and I think that helped a lot in minimizing mistakes. The Rion replaced a 9x5 Sundog (which seems to be structured very much like a HFGH) that I had erected a year earlier. Before erecting the Rion, I researched everywhere I could find on the internet for pointers. Yesterday I typed "rion" in the search box for this forum, and it brought up 190 messages. I had previously read most of them. anya_101 and jbest123 have very helpful with my specific questions.

Some comments, probably in much more detail than you want:

1. BASE. Make sure you have the foundation, base or whatever perfectly square, flat and straight. Use whatever you can come up with to achieve this, e.g. measuring tapes, spirit levels, taut strings, straight edges... No peaks, no valleys, and no weaving among the base profile sections. The instructions aren't very helpful in how to get the base profile straight and on a flat plane. I erected my Rion on a wood base anchored to a wood deck (see pix below), so was able to use cedar shims wherever needed to get the base profile flat and level all around. If I was going to erect a Rion on dirt, I believe I would use a concrete footing, topped by treated wood to get the height I wanted, shimmed as needed to get the base profile straight and level. I've built treated decks, steps, ramps, walls... on this place, some of which have been there 30+ years, and I've never had a warping problem yet.

2. ERECTION. Make sure you understand how the various bits and pieces are supposed to fit, then fit them that way. The Rion framework pieces are pinned together - very strong when you get a look at it. If at some point during assembly, the pins won't fit through the pre-drilled holes in the framework pieces, it's because you didn't do something right.

3). MODIFICATION. If you decide to modify a Rion, as I did, be prepared to do a lot of "shade tree" engineering to get the right measurements, so the modified pieces will fit. Also be prepared to tweak and twiddle your mod as you build it. I wouldn't recommend a mod unless you're a born tinkerer and willing to spend a lot of time on it.

4). WATER LEAKS. The only water leaks I had after the Rion was finished were around the vents. The four Rion vents in the roof leaked like crazy between the polycarbonate panel and vent frame. I ended up caulking the panels in real good, and finally got the leaks stopped. I can't find where anyone else has run into this, so maybe I just got four vents that Rion hadn't finished off properly?

5). AIR LEAKS. I found a lot of air leaks at the corners of the polycarbonate panels, and some at the doors. You read a lot about this in this forum, and it seems people just plug them up with foam weather stripping, caulk, or whatever works. That's what I did. I found a caulk that seems to bond well to both the panels and frame, as well as the black glazing seal that goes in the side walls. It's a polyurethane sealant called Tremco Dymonic FC. It's pricey, but is easy to work and has held tight so far, i.e for three months.

6. VENT OPENERS. I used Univent vent openers, which seem to have a good reputation, and I've had no problems yet. If you decide to use Univents, be prepared to use a little ingenuity getting them installed.

7. DOORS. The Rion Professional has what I call scab doors. That is, the doors are larger than the door opening. When the doors close, the door frame overlaps and mates with the door opening framework, much as a deck hatch does on a boat. The doors have good weather stripping, but in my opinion, any installation like this in a vertical position is going to be vulnerable to water leaks, and my doors leak some water (but very little air). I don't see how the single door handle that comes with the Rion could ever make the doors seal very well. I modified the latching on my extended doors by putting garden gate drop-rods at the bottoms, and installing the extra Rion inner latch at the top on the outside, to seal the doors at the top and bottom (see pix below). From this forum and elsewhere, I gather many if not most people beef-up the door latching to get a better seal.

8. HEADROOM. When mounted on the ground, i.e. no base, the Rion Professional has a door height of 5' 7", and the peak of the roof is about 6" 6". I couldn't live with this, and erected my Rion on a 9" high base, with cutouts for extended doors (see pix below ). This got the door height to about 6' 7" and the roof peak to well above 7'. Unless you're really short, I would think twice about erecting this greenhouse at ground level.

9. PIX.

Rion built on a 9" high treated base, with cutouts for doors closing on aluminum threshold at deck level. Sundog greenhouse in background, since removed.

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Upper door sealing using Rion inner latch on outside, opposite the inner latch on the inside of the door.

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Drop rods installed for bottom door sealing.

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Door open 90° in "breeze catcher" position for ventilation. Several holes drilled in deck so door can be opened varying amounts.

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Close up of door cutout, threshold and drop rod intallation.

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Interior showing door opening from inside.

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Cherry tomato plants. Photo taken in October. Tomatoes are still ripening as we speak.

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How or where did you get or make the drop-downs on the bottom of the doors? Are they glued on or from Rion?

Answering Greenhouser2. I made the dropdowns, with very helpful design input from jbest123. Anya_101 steered me towards the Rion parts source, and I bought the needed "green" parts from Rion's U.S. distributor. (anya_101 didn't tell me it was going to be such a hassle.) I bought two extra vents with the gh, so already had two leftover poly panels to work with. There were plenty of leftover pins and weather stripping. I have the four-door version of the gh, so four extensions had to be built.

The extensions are just that; i.e there is an extra crosspiece where the bottom is supposed to be, and the bottom is dropped 9". It's just a 3-panel door instead of the standard 2-panel door, with the third panel being only 9" high. Instead of running the base profiles across the bottoms of the doorways for the door to seal against as in Rion's design, I put in commercial aluminum thresholds. I installed the rubber glazing strip (weather stripping) on the bottom of the bottom crosspiece instead of the side, so it "wipes" the threshold when closing, and provides a good seal. This way I can truck heavy stuff, like the lemon tree and container tomatoes, in and out. (I'm 77 and not the he-man I once was.) I cut the poly panels and vertical oval profile (frame) pieces for the 9" extension on a table saw, using a plywood blade reversed (i.e. teeth pointing the wrong way). This is a real clean way to cut poly panels and frame pieces, and get the pieces square. This method also lets you "shave" the cut pieces about 1/32" at a time, to get precise dimensions.

The most challenging step for me, having destroyed the continuity of base profiles across the bottom of the doorway by dropping it 9", was being sure the doors were hung square and plumb. To do this, I bolted the bottom hinges to the aluminum thresholds, at exactly the same distance apart as the top hinges are when bolted to the gh. The thresholds were cut a little shorter than their openings, and using a plumb bob hung from the top hinges, I could then scoot the thresholds in and out and left and right to get the bottom hinges exactly plumb with the top hinges. I cut the door extensions with a little vertical slack, so I could shim up and down with ss washers to get the top and bottom clearances right. This got me adjustability in all three dimensions for the door hanging. All in all it was a time-consuming, and sometimes frustrating process for me. There are probably better ways to do it, but that's what I came up with using the tools I had available.

re. Answering Greenhouser2. After reading my response, I thought a few annotated photos might clarify some of the narrative:

Treated Base with Cutout for Extended Doors. I used the coupled base profile sections that would go across the bottom of the doorway in the Rion design, to rough out the dimensions of the cutouts. The wood strips across the doorway were installed before the cutouts were made, and served to help preserve the straight-line alignment between the left and right sections of the treated base after the cutouts were cutout.

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Greenhouse Partially Erected. Showing the relationship of the base profile and the cutouts. The notches in the bottom of the base are to accomodate the hinges being bolted to the aluminum threshold perpendicular to where they would be bolted to the bottom of the frame connector in the Rion design.

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Door Extension Construction. This illustrates that the door extension is built just like the door itself. Just a pair of tees and a crosspiece were added. The paint stick fragment was my high-tech substitute for inside calipers to measure the required height of the poly panel that would be inserted. Once one door was made, I made the other three with identical dimensions.

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Table Saw. Table saw with reversed plywood blade. Paint stick tool was used to setup correct amount to cut off poly panel for door extension.

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Doors Hung, Right Door Open 180°. Showing location of hinge under notch in treated base. Notches were later faired in, using boxes fabricated from 1" treated. Boxes can be removed to service hinges if need be.

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Nice job billala, I only wish you had posted your initial inquiry before I had mine built. I would have done mine the same way instead of steps in and out.

John

Brillant solution to a real drawback to most kit GH's- too low of ceilings. The aluminum threshold is also a great idea.

You should show it to Rion and perhaps inspire them to sell door drop kits for the workshop challenged, because their low ceilings probably turns a lot of hanging plant enthusists off on what would otherwise be a great GH for them, at a pretty fair price.

Be sure to keep us informed on your progress, Boxcar, and enjoy your project.

Birdwidow said, BTW: I've sort of become the nagging old lady of this forum on the subject of foundations, insulating and the cost of heating and cooling....

I think of you as the Voice of Reason, Birdwidow, not a nag.

Nell

Ok....here is the progress so far.

I will be putting the greenhouse on a 6x6 pressure treated base. The base will sit on 4-6" of crushed stone. The base will be anchored to the ground with 4 foot rebar with a "j" bend to lock them in place.

I am convinced of a knee wall. I intended to build the intire thing out of 6x6's but the cost is too great so I build a 30" pressure treated framed wall out of 2x6's. This allows me to insulated it much easier. I will have vapor barrier on the outside for water proofing covered with T-111 siding. The inside of the knee wall is still up in the air. I might just use cement board or some other water proof material.

The problem that I am struggling with is I am going to install a Empire direct vent propane heater. I do not want to go through the polycarbonate panels for the vent. Also, the weight of the heater means it cannot be wall mounted on the greenhouse wall. That is why I need a 30" knee wall so the heater can me mounted and drilled though the wood stud wall. This option is cheaper and I believe more effiecint. OK....here is the problem. With a 30" knee wall I have to build stairs up into the greenhouse and a set of stairs on the inside of the greenhouse to get down inside. Not sure if I like this idea. While It is easy to do, it is a funky setup. A dropdown door would be perfect. The greenhouse door is 67" and I would have to add 30" to that making it a 8' foot door for arguments sake. How am I going to do that? Also, the frame is compromised too. I have read in another thread about making a dropdown door the the Rion but that was 9" and I need 30".

As for the floor, I will be installing a dry well as suggested. There will be a base of crushed stone with insulating foamboard over that followed by packable sand topped with paving stones for a firm neater floor.

So far so good. I just have to decide what to do about the 30" discrepancy from geenhouse base frame and the ground.

jbest123: As you well know, you got me started in the right direction and reviewed my design. Thanks again.

birdwidow: I believe Rion still offers a Green Giant model with about the same doorway height and headroom as I have. The Green Giant costs a lot more to purchase than the Professional model, but if you're still working, and time is money, I believe you could erect a Green Giant at less cost in time and money than what I ended up doing. Aesthetically, the Green Giant in pictures looks "top heavy" to me. In our setting, I wanted a gh that looked somewhat squat, and I think the Professional on a 9" base looks better here than the Green Giant would have. So even if I was still working, I probably would have taken the same route I did.

boxcar_grower: This might be fanciful, but is there any way to put the heater in a pit, say 20" to 24" deep, and vent it through a 9" to 14" kneewall? That would get your base height down to where doorway extensions might be more feasible, and in addition get rid of a lot of headroom you probably will never need and just have to heat. I'm no engineer, but I don't think the frame on a rion is compromised by making doorway cutouts in the base. Rion's doorway design has those base profiles running across the bottom, but I can't see where they support or tie together anything.

I am not sure about a pit. The gas connections are on the bottom of the heater. It might be challange to install.

One option that just crossed my mind is reducing the knee wall down to 18" and build a support wall that is attached tot he knee wall but the support wall is 30" tall and only where the heater will be. That would allow me to secure the heater properly. I would have to drill through the poly though. I see charlies sells a galvanized steel panel for this purpose. Only thing it is it 24" x 35.5". The back wall panels on the Rion are 23.5" x 46 9/16" so that would work either. I could find a local sheetmetal worker to make it the exact size and 5/16's thick so it would fit.

If I did that I can handle a 18" stair in and out.

Off topic, sorry for the threadjack, but...

"BTW: I've sort of become the nagging old lady of this forum on the subject of foundations, insulating and the cost of heating and cooling...."

I have found the BW's advice is sound and good and commonsensical and that she is a generous contributor. I don't agree about ceiling fans ;-) that is perhaps the only thing.

Well as my family calls me "nut job"

I started on building the base today. Not a fun task is January in New England. I got luck and there is only about 2" of frost. I started to dig the perimiter where to base is going to sit. I got about half of it done.

I will take some pics as I go.

I dug down about 18" and leveled the soil. I will get the other half tomorrow. I will get 3/4 trap rock in the AM. I will lay down a filter fabric to keep the dirt out of the stone and then add 4-6" of stone.

I then will add the timbers. I switched to treated 4x6's instead due to the cost of 6x6's. I will rebar them inplace to keep the timber level and plumb.

I baught soem sill sealing foam to help insulate between the timbers.

A good start. I plan on getting the timbers in and backfilled this weekend.

The game plan is to have the timbers, knee walls built, and the floor in by mid-March. But hey it's New England and it has been at or near zero every night and we have had over 20" os snow so far this winter.

Time will tell.

Stress and Nell. Thank you your your kind words. Stress, you give pretty good advice yourself. One of these days, you may hang ceiling fans in your GH then wonder why you waited so long. LOL

boxcar: For your purpose 4 x 6's set upright will give you just as much structural strength as 6 x 6's and perhaps belay a hernia trying to move them.

You can add a considerable amount of integrity to your base corners by half lapping and securing them with with long, heavy lag screws. You might also think about hitting them on all surfaces, partcularly ends and cuts with several heavy coats of penetrating oil stain before you set them in place and connect them. If the timbers have been properly cured, they will suck up the stain with the first coat so completely, they will feel dry in minutes and for this type of application, multiple coats until it literally runs off the surface never hurts. You will never have another chance to give them that much more water resistance.

I would guess that in New England, with all that granite, you have a pretty stable subsoil so can get away with eliminating the footers. In our area, near Lake Michigan, we are on hydric soils and can't afford that luxury. Here, it's deep footers- or Tilt.

boxcar: I admire your courage in working outside in that NE winter weather. Here in AL, we hightail it indoors when the temp gets down to 40. (That's 40 above.) On a more serious note, I would seriously consider birdwidow's advice re "... half lapping and securing them with with long, heavy lag screws." That's what I did on my base. I've put put up a lot of treated decking, stairs and walls on my place over the past 30 years, using both rebar pieces and lag screws. Except for landscape timbers around a flower bed, I think the lag screws are better for most work. You probably already know, but be sure to use fender washers under the heads of the lag screws.

We put our 8 X 8 RION on a 6" cement foundation...The top does leak, but we're figuring out a way to fix the problem..The gutters also broke so we'll be buying another replacement set...Just didn't hold up to heavy snow.

Otherwise, I really like the greenhouse...The top panels hold alot of snow weight.

knotz

The corners aare lapped. The rebar is only for the first layer of timbers. All the others will be lagged together with timber bolts.

I have the huge luxury of have awsome soil. Stone free with about 18" of topsoil and sand below that for as far as I have ever dug (5 feet). The soil is very stabil.

I baught the tumbers that are rated for ground contact. Where I made cuts I used Behr wood preservative. It is for wood that is going to be below the soil.

The weather stunk today. We have about 15" of powdery snow and the winds was very strong today. So.....the sun was out but the snow was blowing all over the place.

Funny things about today............keeping my chocolate lab from walking over the string...getting htem caught on his leg and dragged half way to Canada.

Today I finished digging the base out, leveled the soil, added filter fabric, added 4-6" of stone and set the first timber in place.

Was a long day in the cold. The misses help quiet a bit....I was surprised.....she is native Texan and like billala said.....40 degrees might as well be artic circle weather.

Well. I have started construction of the greenhouse. All has gone well. In cold weather you have to be very patient and use a heat gun to keep the resin pliable enough to work with without breaking. I have the roof finished and glazed. The walls are next. The wall frames are in and I need a help to lift the roof up on top.

Before I do this I have a question. I noticed as the base profiles are assembled there is some gaps between the t's and the longer pieces. These gaps are created when placing the pins into place. Is this normal? I have seen it referenced in other threads but never stated a correction if it is a problem? The gaps range from a 1/8 to 1/4". I feel this will be a problem when raising the roof and getting everything to line up. Any eprience in this? I want to remove all the pins are push the pieces back together. This will require me to remove all the anchoring screws and force me to re-square the base frame profiles.

Thanks for any help.

The fit between the base profiles and t's on my 8x12 Rion Professional was far from close, but I can't recall any gaps that approached 1/4". Maybe PVC shrinks in the cold, causing yours to have gaps this large. I seem to recall reading somewhere (probably this forum) that lining up the holes so you can insert the pins gets you the right dimensions, and that some gap is normal.

I called customer service and they stated some gaps were normal. I was concerned about the roof lining up properly. They stated that as long as it is square (corner to corner is the same dimension) everything should be fine. All the pins line up so I just want to tweak to base proliles a bit more to make them perfectly straight and I will give it a go on Friday to raise the roof.

Costomer service also stated that there is a fair amount of flexibility to get everything to go.

Thanks

I wouldn't recommend a Rion. We have a storm going on here and a roof vent panel blew out. We can't find it and my husband has to scramble to find something to cover that part of the roof with. We can't find anything to fit the opening and the temperature is going down. Nothing seals well in a Rion but the side walls. It's leakier than a sieve. We have sponge jammed everywhere daylight could be seen and find silicone will not stick to the plastic. The doors don't seal well at the middle bottom and upper corners. If you can afford it, get a better more expensive GH.

billala 8a: = The gaps are too wide to ignore in any but the warmest zones in the USA - and they are everywhere but the sidewalls themselves. There are gaps under the roof caps. I was told by Rion to add more sponge insulation to all these gaps or seal them up with silicone. Rion is well aware of all the leaks, the poor design of where the roof meets the side walls. Our Rion is on dead level ground and was constantly squared with every step.

Today not only did a vent panel blow out, but I noticed the roof is SAGGING in the middle! It's 16' long. They used some kind of sealer on the vent panel that didn't stick to the plastic frame... and the panel pulled through the screws and went sailing. :(

I would never buy another Rion.

greenhouzer, my advice to would be to disamble it and start over on a good foundation or just sell it an buy another. For me, I would buy another Rion in a heart beat unless something comes along realy fantastic.

John

I raised the roof yesterday with the help a 3 guys from work. All is well. I like it for what I paid for it. We had those crazy winds here in Massachusetts also. I taped my windows down because the closers look like they could fail. I have some auto vent controls that I have not attached yet.

My next project will be to heat it. This greenhouse will not be a season long greenhouse. I wanted to use it in March thru June for seed starting. The quandary is direct vent or vent free. As many of us Rion owners know these things are not air tight. I will fill most the gaps with expanding foam insulation. I don't want to get it too tight if I go with a vent free heater. I worry about drilling a flew hole in the polycarbonate for a vented heater. It is only 4mm and not that sturdy.

What have any of you done in your rion for heat. I have the 8x16 so it is too big for electricity. I am have calculated I need a 20K btu heater. I have read that if you go too big you can deplete the fresh quicker. Pro com states you need to size the heater to the room. I was thinking about going to a 30K so it would heat the area better but that might be flawed thinking if it used up fresh air. The options are bringing fresh air into the greenhouse but that involves drilling a hole also.

Where are you located in MA. I am in southern NH and am thinking about buying a Cross Country unit from BC. I had something years ago that looked like the HFGH however was paited white and was VERY strong. Never had an issue in NH with hight winds or snow loads. The side wall studs and roof rafters though acted as cooling fins in a freezer and would suck the heat to the outside causing ice and frost build up on the inside. Also would cause the sliding door to freeze closed so I always had a knife with me so I sould get back out. CC Seems to have much different construction and is air tight.

I am in western Massachusetts just north of Springfield. Price was an issue. I paid about $2500 for mine and all the other were $5000 and above. The rion is a resin framed greenhouse.

Hi boxcar_grower, I have the Rion GH44, 81/2 X 81/2 and heat it with a 10Kbtu vent free heater in Zone 5. I have never had to run it higher than the first of four settings. Your GH is twice the size of mine but I would still try a 10Kbtu heater on a higher setting. If that did not work out you could always add the second 10Kbtu instead of a 30Kbtu heater.

John

BC has a Cross Courty for $2,000. But it's only 8x8 so I am checking to see how much more for maybe an 8X12. $2,000 I thought was an excellemt price.

boxcar_grower:

I'm in zone 6 and heat my 8 1/2' X 16' Rion with 2 cheap electric heaters from Wally World. They're on portable thermostats so keep the heat where I set it. If it drops to single digits outside, I turn on the 3rd heater. But that's no more than a few nights in winter. My Rion is lined with a heavy 1" bubblewrap inside for insulation.

jbest123: It's on a dead level concrete foundation that's right "on the square" as I mentioned before. It's the design of the Rion itself. The spokesperson is well aware of the problems with spaces where the roof meets the sidewalls and where the caps go on the roof sections. That's why they send that gray sponge with the kits. It's not enough. I had to buy a lot more sponge at Lowe's to fill the gaps.

birdwidow: Our foundation is concrete with rebar for reinforcement plus rebar going down into the earth to prevent shifting. It was leveled and squared before the GH itself was added. Then that too was squared before being attached to the concrete. I posted pics of it here some time back. What kind of foundations are people having problems with?

birdwidow: Hanging baskets aren't a good idea in a Rion as the roof on my 16' Rion is starting to sag in the middle already. Some kind of rails would have to be run that are not attached in such a way as to add weight to the roof. If I had more than the few hanging baskets I now have, the sag would be worse I'm sure.

billala: Very interesting. You're knowledgeable and have the right tools for the job. :-) Thank you for the info and pics.

Another solution to the GH, is the Green Giant, also known as the Grand Gardener, it is 8' instead of 6'10". I also work for a Rion dealer and can get most replacement parts white and green, most panels as well. I can also answer questions..

I am looking at buying a Rion - the Green Giant, and am wondering if there are any new opinions on this greenhouse? I realize most of the posts are quite dated, and am sure there have been improvements to the greenhouses.