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Building A Greenhouse

Started by Planman1954, February 19, 2018, 08:17:06 PM

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Planman1954

 I thought I would start a new thread about another project I'm about to start. My REAL job has been keeping me occupied totally lately (designing new homes) and I've not posted in quite a while. Anyway, the plan is to build a greenhouse down here in Louisiana to take advantage of our mild winters....don't count the one we just had! I hope to get it done this spring/summer so that I can begin seedlings for our yard, and then vegetables and citrus in the future. I just completed a concrete driveway, and had to wait until it was put in so that I could plant shrubbery in the right places. It just feels like the right time to take the plunge and just do it.
Over the last year, I've collected quite a number of same sized wooden window sashes. I'm going to start the project by assembling them into frames so that the lower will fold up onto the upper for air circulation in the summer. I'll have to also install half inch mesh to prevent animals coming into the structure. This past weekend, I found enough glass and solid old doors for the project, which I'll sand and paint to look good as new. I'm going to use treated lumber for the window and door frames, as well as the front framing, which will all be exposed to constant water and humidity. There will be a storage area in the back center for lawn mowers and garden tools. The growing area will be a "U" shaped around it. Of course, it will face south, and be passive solar...about thirty feet long and about twenty feet deep. That will be determined after all the windows and doors are framed.
I'll start with pouring a perimeter footing and placing a slab where the storage area will be. I'll then build a three block high wall on the front and half way down the sides, place a sill on the block, and place the windows on top of that. I'll frame the storage walls up, and then build a block wall eight feet high wall in the middle of the building. This will hold heat from the sun, and dissipate it back out at night. I'll also place barrels of water in front of it to also retain heat. There will be small windows in the top to let air escape in the summer. 
The front roof will be typical corrugated greenhouse material, but the back half will be metal. The back half of the building will be insulated also.  I'll build in a gable end fan with a thermostat for circulation also.
I de-grassed the area today. I'll try to post some pictures along the way and let you know how it goes! Later....
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

pineywoods

room off the back for a shed for the pore ole sawmill ?
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Planman1954

All in good time...All in good time!
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

DDW_OR

"let the machines do the work"

Planman1954

A quick update...I have a man helping me lately since I've been snowed under with work. Currently, we are cleaning and repairing many old wood windows and doors I've collected for the project. I'll repurpose them by reframing them as best as I can using treated boards. This will give me the finished size of the greenhouse. So the design will be determined by the size of the window and door units that we end up with. As soon as that is determined, we'll get started on the foundation and block walls.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Planman1954

Here is a picture of some of the wood windows I've collected:



Here is a picture of two of the windows placed into a frame. The lower glass will lift for ventilation during the summer. I'll put 1/2" square mesh into the lower opening to prevent animals entering while the windows are open.

 

Here is a picture of the area where I'll place the greenhouse. The glass will face to the right which is south.

Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Planman1954

This thing sure looks bigger than I thought it would be! We started setting the form for the footings.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Peter Drouin

Coming along well, Here's mine.
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Magicman

You are doing all of that work and dat boat needs to go fishing.  fishin-smiley   
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

WLC

Gonna be a nice sized GH.  I will say though that those old 9 lite windows would bring a fortune selling them to some of the yuppy folks that watch way too much HGTV
Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

LeeB

MM has a good point. You need to rescue it before it gets trapped.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

thecfarm

We was driving around,Otisfield,and a woman had built a greenhouse,kinda like what you are doing. It was on some back road,with me taking lefts and rights and out for a drive I could never find it again. She had taken some windows out of an old school house and put them into her greenhouse. Used the greenhouse poly sheets for the roof. I think she used 2x4's for the framing. It had the window panels,like what you have.It looked great.
We stopped to look at it,her husband was washing his truck. He had no interest at all in it. She built the whole thing herself. She was not there. :(  He just told us to go out back and look at it. He was very nice about it,but wanted no part in it.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Planman1954

I love reading the comments.👍 I've had some great help from some local fellows. We had to use quickrete instead of ready mix trucks due to the location. Here's a shot of them mixing and pouring some perimeter footings:

I did a kind of funky system. We dug down about 6" below grade and put concrete blocks up to the bottom of the form boards about five feet apart. Then we filled dirt up around them up to the bottom of the form boards. Then we concreted the footings, placing two 3/8" rebars into them. So...basically, we had the footings as a beam, and the concrete blocks as columns. It worked well, and saved a ton of back breaking quickrete mixing! You can barely see the outline of a block in this photo:


I got eight of the windows assembled today. I'm using treated pine for them...ripping pieces on the table saw as I go. I've inserted the half inch welded wire mesh into the frame to prevent animals from getting inside. I'm leaving off the bottom sash until I paint them to avoid painting my bronze hinges!  

I'll keep posting as we make progress. It's supposed to rain a lot this week, which might delay the block wall building, which is next.
?
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Kbeitz

Any treated wood that you rip on the saw I would treat with something like 
Copper Green Wood Preservative . Your cutting the protection off as you saw.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Planman1954

Well that's a bummer! Of course, all the windows will be painted. Too late to turn back now. We got all the concrete work done, and after the rain has passed, hope to start laying concrete block on Friday!
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Planman1954

The concrete work is done! The next step is to construct a block Trombe wall. I'm going to fill the block voids with rocks left over from my former gravel driveway. The wall will be eight feet high with a 2x8 set on top for a top plate. A Trombe Wall, which is a heat sink, will be hit by the suns rays in the cold months and absorb the heat, and then at night dissipate the heat back into the greenhouse. In the summer, there will be windows above that will remain open for heat to escape. 
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Planman1954

We started on the concrete block Trombe wall...got half way up to 8'. We are back filling the block voids with gravel to add mass to hold heat in the winter. When we get to full height, I'll bolt a 2x8 treated plate on to rest the ceiling joists and beams. We stubbed out anchor bolts to bolt the storage room walls to each end for support also. Here's a picture showing progress along with the anchor bolts:


Here is an overall picture: 


Here is closeup of the textured blocks I'll be using along the front and side walls underneath the windows I'm making: 

Like I said earlier, the sides and front walls will be three blocks high with windows above. The front, or south side, is to the right in the overall photo.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Gary Davis

My day job is with a siding and window co. the older glass doors work real well just make sure the ones on the roof are tempered, real nasty to clean up when they aren't next project will be to build a solar kiln    

Planman1954

The 8' high block wall is done!! We'll bolt on the 2x8 across the top in the morning. You can barely see the anchor bolts sticking out the top that we will use to secure it. I'm going to temporarily brace the wall so that a strong wind will not topple it before the framing starts.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Planman1954

The 2x8 treated top plate is now bolted on the top of the Trombe wall. Temporary braces were set in place to prevent a strong wind toppling the wall. The front and side three block high wall is now being built.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Planman1954

More progress on the front three block high wall. It will be painted later, so block color was not important. A 2x8 will be set on the front wall. The windows will be set on that.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

red

Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

Ljohnsaw

John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Planman1954

The block

 
work is done AND painted!
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

Planman1954

 
And here is a photo with the treated plate set on the block.
 
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 / Solar Dry Kiln /1943 Ford 9n tractor

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