Tell me about your greenhouse

[Kmac15]

Well the pump house is on its last legs.
DH has replaced almost every board, rebuilding it piece by piece over the years, one of the problems is it is in the lowest areas of the yard so any standing water will be around it.

DH is planning to replace it come fall, with a greenhouse.
The plan is to pour a 2 foot foundation 3 inches high and building the greenhouse on this.
One question is, can this be done with a portion of the roof removable for the pipe to come up if we need to replace the pump?
Would this make the likely hood of our pump and tank being stolen greater since it would be seen through the glass?
is all windows or plastic walls better?
how many windows do you have?

Any info you could share would be great.

[farmmom]

I don't have a greenhouse yet, but plan to build one soon. The one I am going to pattern it after is built out of recycled windows. I have quite a stack that I got from my folks who are remodeling several of their rental houses. The floor is wood, the roof has sections that can be propped open and the center of the roof is shingled. The door is a recycled glass "screen" door. The gentleman that had his greenhouse like this, said it worked great, and he had less that $200 in it. (He purchased his windows at an auction for $2-5/each.)

[jassytoo]

Ours is 16ft by 10ft. It has 2 big windows on the front (16ft) side. 1 big window on one end and a smaller window and a door on the other end. The back is solid T1-11. The roof is clear. The windows were given to us by a friend who was remodeling, they're wood. The siding we got from a hoiuse that was being remodeled. We got all the siding for 15 dollars. The door is a storm door. The top half is glass with a sceen so we can open it. It cost 5 dollars from Sears. It was a special order that was messed up and has a name plate on it that says, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy. When we go out to the greenhouse we always say we are going to visit the Murphys. The timber came from our old wood shed. The window on the end opens so we get a nice breeze through. The building is 8 ft high at the back and 6ft high in the front. We put heavy plastic and builders sand on the floor. I have a potting bench in there and several shelves for seed trays. I also have room for some wicker furniture, so I can sit and plant in comfort. It's one of my favorite places to be.The whole thing cost less than 100 dollars.

[English Oliver]

I have enough panels to build a 9X13 greenhouse. The panels are glass and aluminum and were walls for office cubicals. Hauled them away for nothing.

"O"

[7thswan]

My greenhouse is 8x10. There are alum.windows on the roof and wooden windows on the sides. Those were found on the side of the road. I have extra of the alum. ones incase one breaks. The north wall has no windows. On the west side is the door/window, and one window. The east side has windows that open for cross breeze.The floor is just dirt. someday I'll put bricks down for the walkway.There are benches on the south side and on the north I have 55gal. drums stacked and filled with water painted black. Every inch that is not glass is insulated and has foilbacked foam covering that. The entire thing is put together with screws.Which I pretty much use for everything because I work by myself and it is easer if I make a mistake and have to move something. The windows are covered with thick plastic for extra insulation. It is heated with a small elec. heater set on low. The barrels will prevent a freeze if the heat were to go out in the night. This is my 4th greenhouse I've built,3 of which were built from mostly salvage. The parts that donot have windows have cedar shake leftover from an addition Mom put on her house. Where there is no glass on the roof is metal roffing.

[Macybaby]

Here is my greenhouse - this was the first year using it.

I have a 220 baseboard heater on the thermostate to keep it from freezing and a attic fan on a thermostate to keep it from overheating. The side windows are double glazed panes from windows we took out of the house. There is one openable window on the east side.

We used poly panels on the roof with the idea that I would put up a layer of plastic on the inside if there was too much heat loss. I didn't do that, as too much heat was the main problem. I had poor luck with germaination, but when I planted seeds directly, I had poor germination also - think maybe an issue with the company I ordered the seeds from.

Before


After


Most of it was done without snow on the ground, but we had two late snows this spring

The greenhouse part only goes back about a foot past the peak and ends before the door. The access is from inside the building.

Here is the inside.




Cathy

[ronbre]

mine is a kit they come in all sizes..mine is the smallest one..that would make sense to me as i only use it for tomatos, peppers and a few tender herbs..6x8..

this was taken about a month ago..plants are much larger now..Michigan

[pinemead]

Mine is wood frame with plastic and is 15'x30'. I have windows and doors on each end. The heat source is a freestanding propane heater (not quite big enough to heat in really cold weather). I open the windows and doors and use fans (one misting fan) to cool. I also have a shade cloth to cover the top and south wall.

My only advice is to build it twice as large and you think you'll need.