THE CURRENT REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE LITTLE GREENHOUSE THAT HAS YET TO BE. Well more thoughts this morning about reasonably cheap ways to correct the errors in judgment on my previous efforts. OK here we go. ½ inch galvanized pipe will do it. I checked with LoweÂs and I can get the pipe for $10.00 a 10 foot length. They will cut and thread it without charge. If I remove the legs that are now on the frame that would leave me with 31 and ½" to the tie in with the other horizontal braces. That would give me, using 48 inch iron pipe, a height of a little over 6 and ½ feet, more than enough clearance for a door, but a higher overall structure that I had planned for. 36 inch iron pipe would give me a little over 5 feet 6 inches and a little low for a door, but I can make that up with what I use for a base. 36 inches, however would leave me with 12 inches of wasted iron pipe so perhaps the best idea would be to go for 40 inches. That would let me make 3 pieces from one length and I would then need 3 lengths of pipe and I would have two pieces left over that I could use to work with the door frame. That fix would cost me an additional $30.00 so letÂs just say $50.00 extra because I would have to order some 4 way fittings from ACG Greenhouse. Of course I would need a number of ½ slip by ½ threaded bushing to tie it all together. The additional left over PVC would be used to strengthen the upper structure and also to add two additional horizontal bow connectors to strengthen the top part. Before I get through this is going to cost me a good bit more than I had planned, but will have a serviceable greenhouse. I HOPE Being the way I am anyway I will probably continue to add stuff to it as I go along. I can do nothing right now as I donÂt have the money. Next week I have a jjjjjooobbb interview. Yes I must come out of semi-retirement whether I want to or not, but the job will allow me to waste more money on the structure. I have just about already decided to use a combination of 6 mil inter UV protected premium plastic from ACF and a 4 mil outer skin from the same people. I will take a clue from Bmoser and make it double ply with bubble wrap plastic in between for the insulation and by next summer I will just have to add shade cloth. I will still need a door and at least two vents. One vent for air coming in and one to exhaust or maybe two in and one out. The plastic pipe is easy to work with and with the addition of some ¼ inch exterior plywood on the end panels I will have a pretty good strong structure. If I can do it all for under $300.00 I will be happy, but I might just have been better off to wait and buy the HFGH for $700.00 or so. If I do need to add heat I can probably get away with some 60 or 100 watt light bulbs in homemade water proof covers made from 2 liter coke bottles. I knew it was a good idea to save all those bottles.

I checked the sizes again and the next width up is 1 1/8" so it would be 1/4" larger. The 1 1/8" has a bolder appearance after the screens are put on the windows so I think that is why I like it. Most window show rooms only show the 7/8 or 5/8 on windows and the 1 1/8 on doors. So I drove around today and found a few houses. window from outside The top two photos are 1 1/8" wide grills. I like these but these are on bigger houses then mine, although window sizes are close. And show best with top sash only grills. House that has original 5/8 on left and 1 1/8" on right two windows 7/8" grill top and bottom I think this one looks too small and spaces are too long and narrow. I will have some 4 across if I leave them 7/8 that's why I am wondering if I should go up to the 1 1/8" and make them 3 across. Opinions please, I am down to the wire.

You don't mention where you will be building but in some places you can actually hire a company to provide expert advice as well as give you lists of pre-vetted sub-contractors if you decide to be your own builder. In Texas where I live, there are at least three such companies that I know about. Owner Builder Network UBuildIt Texas HelpUBuild Each of the above companies differs slightly in the exact services they offer but, in general, they act as guides/mentors/expert advisors to folks who choose to build their own homes and they help you to find/hire good subs who will treat your job as if you were a volume builder because the subs want to stay in good with the mentoring company. I'm not really sure what UBuiltIt or HelpUBuild charge for their services but Owner-Builder Network's bases their fee on the square footage of your house. In my neighborhood which consists of about 135 two to ten acre lots with about 100 custom or semi-custom homes built over the past 12 years, 5 homes currently in the process of being built, and about 30 lots still vacant, there are 8 couples that I know of who used one or the other of the above companies and built their own homes. We have regular neighborhood parties to whom everyone who owns a lot in the neighborhood is invited. At these gatherings, homebuilding/remodeling is often a topic of conversation - especially whenever someone who just finished their build or who is still in the process of building attends. And I would say that ALL of the people who built their own homes with the help of one of the above companies seem to be quite happy with their building experience and they regularly say that they got their money's worth and would do it again. Meanwhile, among those of us who hired professional builders, I would say at least 50% now loudly curse our builder's name and feel that, one way or another, we got thoroughly ripped off. I hired a builder and wound up having to fire him midway thru the build due to his shoddy workmanship coupled with suddenly finding myself having to pay off $60K in liens filed by subs that my builder hadn't paid even tho he had been given the money to pay them. He was broke because he'd spent our money to pay off subs he still owed from previous jobs. Classic "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and due to the imploding economy, we were his last suckers. After we found out about the liens, he admitted he was broke and then had the gall to ask us to advance him MORE money so that he could purchase the materials he needed to compete our house! Yeah right. Just how stupid do I look??? After firing him, and hiring a lawyer to try and get some of our money back and make him release a residual lien he still held against our property, we took over and finished the build ourselves. But by that point we were so broke we no longer felt we could afford even the very reasonable Owner-Builder Network fees... so we had to proceed without expert guidance. Fortunately neighbors who had built their own homes freely shared with us the knowledge they'd gained in the process and the names of the subs they had used. So in a way, I'll admit, I got a lot trickle-down benefit from all three of the above companies. Even if you're not in Texas, you might check out the above websites and see if there are similar companies operating in your area. If I had it all to do over again, I'd definitely GC my own build with the assistance of one of the above companies.

This recipe is from "The Blue Willow Inn Cookbook" by Jane and Michael Stern. The inn is located in a tiny, sleepy town in Georgia named Social Circle. The restaurant draws people from all over and they all go away impressed with "real Southern food". There is a buffet daily and different each day, but they always have fried chicken (pan fried, not deep-fried) and real mashed potatoes. Harry has eaten there when he and a neighbor, Joe, went up to his brother's to put siding on their house. Joe's the pickiest eater in the world, and he raved about it. Here's one of their desserts: Ambrosia Coconut 2 c. mandarin oranges, drained 2 c. crushed pineapple, drained 2 c. sour cream 2 c. shredded coconut 2 c. mini marshmallows. Combine all the ingredients and chill. Makes 10-12 servings. How easy is that? I will add marachino cherries, because Harry's mother always did.