It was 75 degrees this morning I went to town for 2 1/2 hrs took a break and then spent another 2 hours.
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You can see my cheat. A 2 man header beam install done by one person.
I ordered my Amazon River Rock this afternoon for the greenhouse floor and a little extra for the greenhouse exterior. 3 Tons! of rock. That arrives Monday
What is left to finish. The 2 roof vents. The Door frame and door. A final going over all the bolts and fasteners to check tightness. The Landscape cloth arrived yesterday. That will be installed Sunday. I'm going to extend the water line and install a spigot on the right side exterior of the greenhouse. I'm capping the gas line at the rock level. I'm going also cap the electrical at rock level for now.
Then it will be bench building!
The winds are supposed to kick up tonight so I made sure all the anchors were set. 4" lag bolts into the 4x4 frame at every post. I also double secured the 8 diagonal braces. I think it will survive some winds.
This morning it was still wobbly. After attaching the bram. It tightened up a bit. Adding in the rafters and tightening up all the bolts really solidified the structure. The anchoring to the wood frame really stiffened it up well.
This is a very well designed and executed kit. Everything fit exactly how it should.
I did jump ahead in the pages and was able to second guess which steps required loosing of bolt before hand. I also combined some steps and it speed up the assemble a lot.
Sorry. This has built in gutters. They cover the ends of the roof to wall connections. There are also a dozen or so plastic caps and covers that need to be installed.
I built a Harbor Freight 10 x 12 greenhouse and I connected the unit to a foundations similar to yours. In addition I installed purlins and ceiling joist made of EMT conduit. The purling are not attached to the rafters, but to the top plate of the side walls length wise. I knew going in that a HF greenhouse is cheap. The unit stiffen up and I now have space to hang plants. As for the wind, the panels will blow out before the unit is destroyed.
Hi
Harbor Freight is great for tools that can be lost by employees. They are cheap and if you get a few usable years out of them all is good. They do now have 2 newer lines that are heavier duty and are equivalent in cost as the major brands. These are heavier, more powerful and of a build that should last many years longer.
The Greenhouse kit is $899. You get 4mm polycarbonate panels and much smaller and lighter metal extrusions. They say it compares to the Palram 701944 kit. Its not even close. If you compare the 2 side by side the Harbor freight looks cheaper. Sorry. I'm over buying cheap only to have to spend more time and money making something better.
I did my research. The Palram Kits are amazing. Heavier gauge extrusions. The 10mm Polycarbonate panels slide into a 1/2" deep channel. Securely held on all four sides. They are not bending and popping out of the channel in winds. I tested the strength buy pushing on the middle of the panel to see if it popped. Door Jamb and hinge jamb are separate extrusions that attach to the Upright extrusions. The Door Frame itself is Heavy extrusions and yes with 2 mullions since the insert is in 3 parts. There are gusset plates and reinforcement plates everywhere. The Greenhouse is rated for 80 mile an hour winds as built. If I add the cable kit, it rated higher. I have no concerns that the panels will blow out before the structure falls apart.
I've spent about 12 hours on the actual build so far. The kit cost me $2750.00. The 3 tons of river rock was $459 delivered. The 4x4 frame and treatment was $65
Windows blew all night. The greenhouse was looking great this morning. It was cool again so I got started around 7:30am and by 11:30 am it was done. I needed to wait for the self opener pistons to cool down in the refrigerator.
A couple of quick pictures of one of the gusset plates.And the assembled roof vent. I'll go through with closeups of all bracing and anchoring later
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A follow up to cactushobbymans post and then mine. I looked at you build. Nice job. I like the wooden one behind it. If you think about it.
$899 for the Harbor Freight unit plus all the extra materials and labor to bring it up to snuff. For $300 more, the Palram has better extrusions and all the anchoring and bracing parts already. I've been involved for to long now in managing a manufacturing and installation business. I look at the final picture to determine the best way of going.
The roof vents have automatic openers. When you install them you first place them in your refrigerator for 30 minutes to cool them down. They popped open in 30 minutes once I took them out. Gives you just enough time to install them. They open up at a lower temp then I expected 55 to 65 degrees. 13 to 18 c. When I went to sleep last night it was 70 outside and they were still open. This morning it was around 60 and they had closed.
Your kit is far better than HF and the door is no comparison. I built mine in 2013 and with discount it was just over $550. At the time I needed space and the money a little tight. The front greenhouse was built in 2010 and is made of redwood and 8mm poly. Enjoy, job well done.
Really came together! I looked up Indio, CA and see you're right next to prime cactus habitat in Joshua Tree and other locales to the East and South of you. Happy Hiking!
It was a hard night. Sustained winds of 20 to 40 miles all night. The large Shade Sail came loose at one corner and knocked over cactus. I was lucky. I heard it at 4am and came out right away. I was able to secure the loose corner and stop further destruction. I went over to the greenhouse then. Closed all the vents and went in. Not a rattle could be heard. It was taking the winds like a champ.
Next thing! Customer Service!! All told everything could not have gone better with the build. Parts fit correctly. If you follow the instructions step by step it works. 13 hours total . All parts were there. I lost 4 parts not realizing they were not small plastic junk. I have a bag of 40 or so additional nuts and bolts.
Those little plastic parts are retention pieces that fit into the roof beam extrusion and keep the 2 vents from sliding around. I also wanted to add 6 additional braces to the structure. I needed to call Customer Service..
After you buy they give you in your instruction package all the current phone numbers. The USA one is in Minnesota. I called the 877 number and a live person answer. We first discussed how my build went,etc, etc. Than the question of buying 6 more braces. A stock check and they were out of stock in my grey and none on order. Another stock check and they were available in another older grey. $5.00 each. He laughed about me tossing the small plastic pieces out. All will be shipped. Nice service.
Rock is being unloaded as I write.
Pictures to follow
