As promised, I am sitting down to finally record my greenhouse build journey. It's a saga in some ways so be prepared for a multi-part series and more than a few lessons learned along the way. I am still finishing the inside with shelving while actively growing plants so there will be more to come. I feel like this will be an on-going process as I add to, refine, or fix my design.
Here is Part 1. For context, I started my design and sourcing out my materials in the Fall of 2021 before I started building.
Determine what you want and need in a greenhouse:
I have wanted a greenhouse for a long time. I loved the idea of extending my growing season and wanted something that I could use comfortably for at least 3 seasons and, fingers crossed, in the winter. But where to start?
It's a good idea to spend time looking at what others have done, what they liked, what they don't like about their greenhouse, and what they wished they had done differently. Learning from others' mistakes can save you time and money. For some people, a kit is a great way to go. I searched everywhere for the greenhouse of my dreams but couldn't find one that matched what I envisioned. A few had potential but the price tag was way too high.
Lesson #1: Do your research
I spent time (probably too much time if you ask my family) on Pinterest scouring the photos for what I liked and didn't like about greenhouse designs. I joined Greenhouse groups on Facebook and learned what worked and what didn't, what I should consider before building, and how to save money in the process. Things I hadn't even known to consider came up. In the end, I knew I needed to design and build what I wanted. The maker in me was happy this decision. .
So, what to build...
I found a premade design in the size I wanted and then modified it to meet my needs. I wanted a greenhouse with higher sides (8 feet to maximize my growing potential) and double doors in front (be ause I love that cottage look) so a 10'x12' was a good choice for my space and needs. Originally I was thinking 8'x10' but plans changed. It's best to go as big as you can rather than regret it later. I found a plan that I could work with and started the modifications process. I used this plan and reduced the size to 12'. It had the roof I wanted and came with a supply list and the instructions were fairly easy to follow.
My dream greenhouse has sliding doors on the sides (2 sets per side) and french doors on the front. The sides needed to be at least 8 feet high. This would allow maximum light and also maximum ventilation on hots days. This plan allowed me to add those changes in fairly easily.
Sourcing out materials
Lesson#2: But your doors first
if you embark on a similar build-it-yourself journey ensure you have your doors before you build so you will know how big the openings need to be for your doors to fit. Retrofitting later is a waste of wood and your precious time.
Lesson #3: Facebook Marketplace is a great place to find items but requires patience and time.
Given that I wanted my greenhouse to have 4 sliding glass doors and a set of French doors, buying all that new was a budget breaker. Here's where patience and Facebook Marketplace come in. With energy costs on the rise, many people are upgrading their windows and doors. If you are patient enough, people often give away their old sliding glass doors or will sell them for minimal cost. I found three sliding glass doors for free and one I paid $20 for. Three opened the same way and one opened the opposite way which in hindsight wasn't a bad thing.
Lesson #4: Bring a friend
Bring someone along to help you move and secure the sliding doors to your truck. We used ratchet straps to hold them in place. Some of the places we picked up the doors were a little sketchy so having someone else along with you is a good idea.
Because I sourced out many materials before I started building, I had to have space to store the items. Here the sliding glass doors and French doors lived along the side of the house for quite a few months.
My next treasure hunt was for French doors. Locating them can be hard if you are looking for something affordable. I lucked out and found two solid wood, older styled French doors for $129. They needed refinishing and some hardware but most importantly they had the door stop mechanism still on. That saved time and money because hardware is expensive. They weren't framed but I was ok with that because the price was so good. The installation came with lots of lessons but I will save that for a future post.
One of the doors, stripped of old paint and ready for a fresh coat.
Lesson#5: Where you put your greenhouse is super important
Location, location, location...
I am fortunate enough to have a large side lot that is mostly sunny except for a portion that is shaded by the north side of the house. My raised beds are along the sunniest portion of the yard and are quite happy there. Though I could move one to make room for a greenhouse, I didn't want full sun all day long for fear of it getting too hot. We get heat domes here and there are days when out temperature outside is 13°C and the greenhouse can be close to 30° Taking into consideration the amount of sun a greenhouse will get in the summer and the amount of protection it might need from wind, I decided to tuck my greenhouse between my deck and raised beds close to the hedge. The east side of our yard has a tall cedar hedge which offers some wind protection as well as a bit of morning shade. This location was also good because of its proximity to a water source. Older houses often have only two spigots, one at the front and only in the back, and not in convenient locations.
Garden to the left, deck to the right, and hedge to the back. Shade around noon is a bonus.
Lesson #6: Ground preparations take a time and energy but will make a huge difference especially if your greenhouse is large and heavy.
Once you have charted a location, it's time to prep your ground. How you prepare the ground will be determined by what you want for your floor and what the base will sit on and how flat your yard is. There are lots of options here. I heard lots of pros and cons with each so do your homework. Having an idea of what of your set up inside the greenhouse will look like makes it easier to decide on the base. For instance, if you want free-standing shelving, a solid floor is easier than a gravel one. If you want in-ground beds, gravel might be better. There is also a cost factor involved. Pavers can get expensive if you have a larger greenhouse.
I decided that I wanted a gravel and sand base with concrete pavers for the floor. The gravel/sand base dug deep enough will eliminate weeds and grass from growing up through the floor and the sand/gravel underneath will provide good drainage. The concrete pavers gives a sturdy and hard surface for shelving and is easy to clean.
Step 1: mark out your area. In my case I knew I wanted a row of pavers all the way around my greenhouse so I marked out a rectangle that incorporated and extra two feet in each side (14x16') plus 8 inches to allow for my base to sit directly on the ground.. Having the perimeter border allows me to put additional pots out there as well as keeping the weed and lawn away from the sides the greenhouse. Because I have glass in my doors, having the lawn further away from the glass also means it's less likely a stray rock will hit it when line trimming the lawn.
I started to cut down through the grass, cutting down far enough the get the roots out. I wanted at least 6 inches of gravel plus another 2 of sand. I used a 2x8x10 board as a guide to help me ensure the hole was deep enough and level. There was a slight slope to the ground so getting it level was tricky but doing it right makes life easier when building. Using the sand at the end also helped for leveling the area.
Lesson #7: Pythagorean theorem isn't just for math class!
Before you dig, make sure your area is also square to your deck, house or yard in general. Mine ended up a little askew from the deck but not so badly, it looks ridiculous. It probably would have been a good idea to have someone else double check my lines before I started digging. Truth be told, it annoys my hubby more than it does me. I think of it as one of my humble moments (a reminder that I am not perfect).
I used a boxed screen (a simple wooden rectangle made out of 2x4s with chicken wire with 1/2" holes attached to it) over a wheel barrow to shake out the dirt from the side we weren't going to move to a new location. This helped to make our compost bin lighter and able to take more sod. Once the hole was dug, I placed my foundation frame pieces into the space to ensure I had enough room outside of the frame for the pavers.
Next the gravel. I ordered 5 yards of it and arranged delivery. Lucky for me, one of our neighbours drive a gravel truck so could pick up the gravel and deliver on his way home and it saved me the delivery fee. Though I did offer to pay it, he refused. It awesome to have kind neighbours.
Tip: have the gravel delivered onto a tarp. Trying to get gravel out of your lawn afterwards is horrible and time-consuming. No one wants to run over gravel with the lawn mower! Also, as the piles goes down, you can move the gravel into the center of the tarp by gathering up the sides. This makes shoveling the end of it easier.
I started placing the gravel at the back and worked my way forward so as I got tired, I was a little closer to the gravel pile. Be prepared to haul a lot of wheelbarrows full of gravel. It was definitely a workout.
Next, the sand:
Again, my kind neighbour delivered 3 yards of sand on his way home saving me a delivery fee. This layer helps to fill in some of the gaps between rocks, aids with drainage and also helps with the leveling of the surface. You will want to use a tamper to tamp the sand down into those gaps. This helps the sand to settle before you build rather than after. Some people will rent an electric one which would be faster but as my space wasn't that big, the cost and time to pick it up and return didn't seem worth it.
This whole process, from sod to sand, took a lot of time. Looking back at my photo dates, it took me a month including a 2-week Spring Break where I worked on it every day. I was solo most of the time but having more hands would have sped up the process. A smaller greenhouse also would have taken a lot less time and materials. Spending time on this part of the process might seem like a huge investment but it really is important to have a solid foundation.
Flooring:
Choosing your flooring comes with lots of options. Some of it is aesthetic and some of it will be dictated by your budget and use. Again, knowing how you will use your greenhouse can help you decide.
With the base prepped, it was time for the pavers to be placed. If you choose pavers or bricks, there are a lot of options both in colour/look and size. Facebook Marketplace often has people selling bricks and pavers. Do your research as they are not always cheaper. Businesses who sell concrete pavers and structures often have "seconds" (slightly damaged or imperfect) pavers for cheaper than perfect ones. If you aren't too picky on the perfectness of the paver, this can be a cost saving option.
In my case, I had a lovely friend, Judy, offer me her 2'x2' pavers from her yard reno. We just needed to pick them up. There were 87 of them and we couldn't transport them all at once because of their weight. It took 4 trips to Vancouver (a one-hour drive from our place) in one day and a lot of muscle to haul them home. Other than our gas and time, Judy's gift of the pavers saved us a lot of money! Thank you friend!
We stored the pavers on our driveway over winter as we picked them up in October well before they were needed.
Lesson#9: Letting friends and family know you are building a greenhouse and looking materials is a great way to source materials.
With the ground prepared, it's time to lay the pavers and secure the base in preparation for the build.
Start with your first paver. Ensure it is square to your house or property edge. Lesson learned: although I was sure my prepared ground was square, it actually wasn't. Somewhere along the way, my carefully laid lines went slightly awry. Do not use the edge of your dug out area as accurate for being square. How you lay your first line of pavers will impact the placement of your greenhouse.
I started with the first outer row so that I could lay and secure 4x4 pressure treated boards. These are the boards that the greenhouse will attach to. I chose pressure -treated because they will be in direct contact with the ground. Because I want to anchor my base to the ground, placing the boards directly on the pavers wasn't an option. Some people do anchor their greenhouses using anchor bolts but I wanted to avoid drilling through the paver. We often get strong winds so securing the base into the ground was a good idea.
As you lay your pavers, use a level to ensure they are perfectly flat. You might need to add a bit of sand under the corners to ensure they are level and secure. This will take a lot of time but will be worth it in the end.
Once the first row is down, place your first base board flush against the pavers. Then progress onto the next side. Set your whole perimeter before securing your base to the ground.
Note: when figuring out the dimensions of base and interior floor space, I wanted the interior to be a true 10'x12' space. Because my pavers were 2'x2', this reduced the amount of cutting of the pavers when placing them inside. Lesson learned: add and extra inch or two to account for the gaps between the pavers. I didn't do this and it meant some adjusting inside to make everything fit properly.
I ended up using a 1'x2' paver for the gap.
Once the perimeter is laid down, it's time to secure your base. I placed a smaller paver under the corners of the frame to make it more stable. Prior to securing ensure your frame is square. An easy way to do this is to measure the rectangle crosswise. The two measurements should be the same. If they are, the frame is square.Then, secure your corners with metal corner plates.
In two locations along the long side and in the middle of the short sides, I pounded 4 foot pieces of rebar to secure my base to. These pieces of rebar act as anchors for the greenhouse structure. I used metal straps to secore the rebar to the base.
Once the pavers were fully laid inside and outside, I filled all of the spaces between the pavers with sand.
Lessons learned along the way:
-Picking a design that works for you is important. Researching a variety of greenhouses helps you envision your own. -Join greenhouse groups as they often share useful ideas and suggestions.
-Envision how you will use the space within the greenhouse before you start
-Source out your materials and be creative to save money. Be patient. Some items will need to sourced before you start building so that you can use the measurements when constructing your frame
-Ensuring your pavers and base are level and square are super important as it impacts how the greenhouse will sit and how well the doors will work.
There was lots of sweat and energy used to get this far but completing this stage meant I could move onto the framing. Fortunately the weather was beautiful and I was able to work on it quite consistently.
Onto part 2! This maker is finding joy in the process.
~The Joyful Gardener~
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