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Brent Dowell

Brent Dowell

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Reno NV
So, We bought on of those green house kits from Costco http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...e=BC&topnav=&cat=237&hierPath=237*&lang=en-US

Got tired of getting burned by the short growing season here, and figured this might help out.

So this is the build log of putting it up.

Step 1 - Making the foundation.

I decided to do a pressure treated timber foundation. I figured this would be the easiest way of getting a flat bottom, and making sure it was firmly attached to the ground. I read a few reviews of people that just put it up and pounded the stakes into the ground expecting it to hold. the CoC prevents me from stating what I think about their level of expertise.

Anyhow, I figured, Let's dig some big holes, use some sonotubes to hold the concrete, and use timbers on top of the concrete to hold the greenhouse.

So today I got started, and heres, the video...

 
I've actually heard it's possible to have tomatoes all year round, but we'll have to see about that...
 
Brent looks real good. Bob sure is paying his way. You popped those holes real fast.

So now you got concrete to do.

Rabbits gonna loose out this growing season:)

Looking forward to seeing the rest. Best of luck.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
 
Ted Calver said:
Very cool. Were the dogs helping , or just supervising?
Click to expand...

Definitely 'supervising'. Logan was trying to help when I was actually shoveling, but his way of helping was to bite the shovel as I was moving the dirt into the hole... A couple of shovel fulls on his head took care of that :rofl:
 
Just Solar, at least for now. Our winters are actually not that bad here. We may have some spells of cold, but generally not long lasting.

Mainly want to use it as a season extender, so we can get an early start on things, and not really an all year round growing house.

If we can keep some things like herbs growing through the winter, well, that would be a big bonus.
 
I did the same basic foundation design on a 6x8 and it does work great :thumb:

I didn't bother with the tubes, just half lapped the 4x4's together (through bolted, countersunk flush on the top), bolted a U bracket post anchor to all four corners and dug out a / \ shaped hole underneath each bracket and shimmed the whole assembly level then filled with ~1.5 bags each. That way I was able to use the 4x4s as the leveling system w/o worrying about independently getting the brackets level (looks like you did similar?). I'm sure yours is prettier :D

The frame on those types of kits are pretty floppy, so I actually screwed it down every ~6" or so with 2.5" deck screws (predrilling the holes). In retrospect a set of washers and pan head screws would have been cheap extra insurance but never had a problem in the 2+ years I lived there in up to 70mph wind. The 6x8 was actually light enough that I just assembled the frame unattached, then lifted it in place.

One thing I found out the hard way is to make sure your vent opening is DOWN WIND! Heh, don't bother asking me how I know, I'm sure you can figure it out :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the tips Ryan!

Also good to hear about it actually holding up in the wind. That's actually my big worry. I did read one review on Amazon of someone who just used the supplied clips and pounded them into the ground without any concrete. You can guess what they were unhappy about!

Wish I would have thought of the half lap! I just got some big lag screws and screwed them together with but joints.

I did use the tubes and the frame to primarily make sure things were square and level. I have some of those L shaped concrete anchors going through the timber into the center of each sonotube. That should anchor it down pretty good, I'm thinking...

Still have to put down some hardware fabric to rodent proof it, and then I'll put a walkway down the center of paver stones, and pea gravel around the rest.

Good tips on the hold downs, I'll need them up here and their flimsy little clips just don't seem like they would quite do the job.
 
One other thing I remember doing (I moved from that house ~5 years ago, man how time flys and the memory don't get any longer) was I caulked all of the panel edges on the roof. I'm not sure if that helped hold them or not but it did seem to help hold the clips in place anyway which could have hurt :whistling:

Don't put the caulk on right before it rains though :pullhair: I was in a similarly dry area and wouldn't you know it, timing is everything.

I actually had the HF version, but looking at them I reckon they're about close to the same.

Man I wish I had more room at the current house, congrats! :highfive:
 
Brent,

I can't say this often enough: passive heat sink, passive heat sink, passive....

Especially in your climate, with warm sunny days and cold nights.

Best way to get it? Water! If you have a pond in there, the water will absorb the daytime heat and release it at night. You probably won't even need a heater, if the house is well sealed.

Dig down a couple feet, build a frame one foot above ground. I use stacked two by fours, staple the plastic to the top of the frame *after* it's fill with water, and finish it with 1x2s nailed into the frame. Line it with six mil black plastic from the borg. Make it fit across the back, and about 2 feet wide. An 8x2x3 foot pond will be enough. You can build a greenhouse bench over it. Put a cheap aquarium bubbler in there to recirculate the water.

You'll be very glad you did! ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
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