Building A Greenhouse

thecfarm · May 24, 2018, 06:20:05 AM

Looks good!! You will enjoy the greenhouse. Have water to it?

POSTON WIDEHEAD · May 24, 2018, 07:22:37 PM

You gonna have to cut your grass before ~~lawn~~ long.

Planman1954 · May 26, 2018, 07:00:59 PM

Yep...gonna have city water run to it (stubbed out a 3/4" pvc under the footing), as well as 110v ac. I'm also going to rig a pump of some sort to a water hose in order to use pond water for the plants. The city water is for a sink I'll use inside the greenhouse.

Planman1954 · January 24, 2019, 07:22:24 PM

I finally had some time to start working on the greenhouse doors. I found some old doors down at our local antique alley (where Miss Kay Robertson's sweet shop is!) I started by replacing all the missing panes of glass. Next, I filled in where the old door knobs were with scrap wood and glue, and then filled in all the voids with wood and filler. I want to be able to use typical door knobs and have them keyed alike to my house. (Update: After completing the frame with screen doors, there was insufficient clearance to use a standard door knob. I had to special order a passage set with a thumb turn knob to fit between the French doors and the screen doors.)

Here they are set in treated frames.

There will be screen doors set into the jamb which will swing out when the French doors are open in the summer. I began glueing up the screen doors today....a total of four:

Tomorrow I'll make some half round mold and place into the center of the screen doors, install the half inch welded wire mesh, and finally secure the wire with staples and a small trim. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.
Thanks

Planman1954 · February 28, 2019, 06:53:30 PM

Finally I am to the point where I can start to stand up walls, since the size of doors and windows are known. I had to build the frames for the recycled old doors and windows, and wanted the rough openings to fit with no issues. I decided to start with the rear walls first. I'm working alone, and it's slow,but steady! The storage area feels larger than I had imagined, which is great! We plan on storing lawnmowers,including a riding mower, along with garden tools and shovels as well as fishing supplies for the pond. Here's a couple of photos of progress as of today:

Another side wall up today...the first short wall on the blocks.

This is the way I build up the short walls...it makes for comfortable nailing height. They stand up easily onto the blocks after framing.

Planman1954 · March 16, 2019, 06:06:12 PM

I am happy! All the walls are up. I'm tired, but happy. My brother showed up out of the blue today and helped me unannounced. He is awesome! Anyway, Monday I'll finish the top plate double out, and get it lined up. The next big thing is the rear joists and rafters. Thanks to all for putting up with all these progress posts from me. I like to use the forum for a reference for myself for later. Thanks Jeff!

Planman1954 · March 27, 2019, 05:23:27 PM

Planman1954 · March 27, 2019, 05:28:14 PM

I can't figure out why all the jibberish appeared on my last post. Maybe Jeff can fix it?

Jeff · March 27, 2019, 05:51:22 PM

Because you are copy and pasting from another location. Obviously a mac

Planman1954 · March 27, 2019, 06:12:28 PM

Quote from: Jeff on March 27, 2019, 05:51:22 PM
Because you are copy and pasting from another location. Obviously a mac

Thanks Jeff! I did not know that. Consider me informed.

Jeff · March 27, 2019, 07:54:49 PM

I would have to fix it the same way you should. Click on modify post and remove all the extra curricular stuff and save it

Planman1954 · March 28, 2019, 06:00:59 PM

It's interesting working by yourself. Like assembling support walls up in the air! One down, one to go!

thecfarm · March 29, 2019, 05:58:31 AM

Looks good. Try putting up trim boards on the eves by yourself. :(

DDW_OR · March 29, 2019, 01:54:53 PM

Yep.
a ladder, or tractor to hold one end, then you on the other end.

"let the machines do the work"

Planman1954 · March 29, 2019, 09:06:14 PM

A single nail is my best friend. He holds the other end up while I start on this end.

Planman1954 · March 29, 2019, 09:15:11 PM

My sister had some timber cut on some acreage. There were a few cypress located on the tract. The timber guys cut them and set them aside for me. I went over today and took a look....three of the nicest logs! I cut them into 12' lengths for my norwood lumbermate. I got two from each one, with about an eight foot leftover at the base end of each one. When I get them here, the plan is to make my beveled lap siding I've posted about before, which I plan on using inside and outside the greenhouse on the walls. I'll also get the fascia and trim boards from them. It will be a nice look I think. I'll take some photos when I can and post.

Planman1954 · March 30, 2019, 05:38:10 PM

So today, I fired up my old ford 9n and put a set of old forks on the three point hitch. I've had them for years and never used them. The thought I had was to chain a log to it to bring the end of the log off the ground for an easy pull. It worked well. The old dirt road was about a mile long to get to them, and I was able to drag two of them to my mill. There are eight left. I hope to pull them all here next week...a few each day. It's a lot of effort, but will be a great reward in order to have plenty of wood for the greenhouse, inside and out. I took a picture as I was towing a 12' log. Man...that old tractor was pulling its heart out, since this thing weighs a ton. I'll post more photos later.

Magicman · March 30, 2019, 09:32:38 PM

That is some nice heartwood in that Cypress log. ;D

Planman1954 · March 31, 2019, 07:37:03 PM

I can't wait to saw them up Magic! It's been quite a while since I've used the Norwood...been busy drawing plans. But I try to do a bit everyday on the build....slow and steady! Hope y'all are doing well!

Planman1954 · April 04, 2019, 07:47:17 PM

I've had a bit of a slow down. The old ford 9n seemed to die on me under the tremendous load of the sixth heavy log. All I could do was get it to limp back home. I spent yesterday doing basic idiot check stuff on it that I felt I could handle, along with peppering Pineywoods with a number of dumb questions. I added a gallon of hydraulic fluid, put in some gas treatment (after piney said it might be water in the gas), changed out the spark plugs, and took off the carburetor and cleaned it. I struggled to put the carb back on as I was dealing with a gas leak, but persevered and overcame. I fired it backup, and it roared back to Life! I'm still not sure if it is ok until I put it being under load again. I'm optimistic though. I also sent off a bunch of blades for sharpening. Today was a rain day, so I stayed inside and worked. Later....

Update: I got it going again, and decided to go try to get the sixth log home. I did! I told my nephew about my tractor problems, and he said he would bring his trailer with him next time he comes up here and get the last four for me! What a guy. So I'm through pulling logs for now! Time to get sawing.

Magicman · April 08, 2019, 08:47:26 AM

So you "fixed" your tractor by not using it.

:D

Planman1954 · April 08, 2019, 06:52:55 PM

Ha! Maybe I worded that wrong. I got it running....but the carb still needs adjusting. It successfully pulled that last heavy log to the mill. I cant wait to finally start making the lap siding for the greenhouse...that is, if the norwood will start tomorrow! I've had to wait due to all this rain, and I'm ready to go! I'll be posting pictures as I go. I'm trying to keep a record of building this thing.

thecfarm · April 09, 2019, 05:55:03 AM

You said you will be using water from the pond. No idea the water temp from your pond. We had a green house,sold plants and all that stuff,75 feet long and over flow to 3 cover ups. ;D I had a big plastic container,was a bin on wheels that work had for scraps. We would fill that full of water from the well,water temp about mid 40's,way to cold for plants to use,no idea the gallons,guess 300 gallons.We would let that warm up and draw the water from that. We went to many greenhouse and they all had hot waters heaters to heat the water. Do you like water in the mid 40's.

The plants can not use the water until it warms up. You almost shock the plants because of the cold water.
Keep that Old Ford going!!!!

btulloh · April 09, 2019, 09:16:31 AM

You might want to give that old 9N a log arch for its birthday. Be nice to the old fella.

Planman1954 · April 09, 2019, 12:54:25 PM

Good to know about water temp! I'm in Louisiana, so I don't think I'll worry too much about it. A log arch would be fine, but dragging them around works for the small amounts that I use for my self. Here's a photo of the logs ready to mill: