My little green house project

Do-it-yourself projects such as greenhouse or shadehouse builds and related topics.
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midlife crisis
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Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Western Australia

My little green house project

Post by midlife crisis »

My take on a portable greenhouse. :D ( 2.4m x 2m )

When I first joined here I talked about a green house that I was building well I eventually got back to it and it is now well on its way to being finished. :)

It is on bolt on wheels because I had to move it from where we unloaded it off the truck and it is no light weight ( all steel ) and I will have to move it again in the future as it is now sitting where my new shed is going. The wheels just bolt onto the sleeper base which is screwed to the frame. The idea is I just level the area and wheel it in take the wheels off and just sit it down. There is also a walkway mesh floor to go in but it will just sit in so it can be removed easly.
There is a big sliding window to go in the back and a split door to go in the front.
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I have taken the wheels off and its sitting in position. Window and door are in and I have finished painting it. Next is the covering which I have been and picked up the channels and clips to hold the plastic and shade cloth on. The plastic that I am using is the standard rolled green house film which I have an off cut in my shed
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I started putting on the plastic . First job was to fix all of the aluminum channel that holds the plastic on. This is fixed using self drilling screws every 30 to 40 cm.
The plastic is laid over the frame and one end is fixed using the spring clips then the other side is done by pulling it taught and fitting the clips. The sides are then done the same.
Anyone that is thinking about using plastic for a green house have a look at using this system as it is very fast to fit once the channel is on. I will be laying my shade cloth over the top and clipping it with another clip on top of the plastic so the shade cloth can be changed easily if necessary. If the plastic ever needs to be changed I would think it would take me well under a day to do the whole lot by myself.

Fitting of the channel and the first piece of plastic took me about 5 hours
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All of the plastic is now on and the 50% shade cloth has been fitted to the outside. I now have to fit retractile shade cloth to the inside before moving plants in as it is the middle of summer here. The internally fitted shade cloth will be drawn back through the cooler months but the shade cloth on the outside I intend to leave on all year round

I will post more pics later in the week and the I will update this thread as I complete it.

Cheers
Midlife
daiv
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Re: My little green house project

Post by daiv »

WOW! I believe this is the most heavy-duty greenhouse of all those listed here. I wonder if this would even be strong enough for Doug in Florida:

http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 7&p=238008" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So from what I can tell you used tube steel that you welded together - is that right?

I think the wire mesh shelving is great. That will be very handy for drainage of the pots. I see you put it up on the side around the benches - presumably to protect the plastic?

The wheel idea is great. I wished I had done that with mine, since I have moved it twice. There is a hinged wheel setup common here for ice fishing houses. Here is an example from the web of one:

Image

You just push the lever back and down and lock it and it will be up on wheels.
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
iann
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Re: My little green house project

Post by iann »

Very handy for plant shows ;)
--ian
midlife crisis
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Re: My little green house project

Post by midlife crisis »

It is a little over engineered but it started out life as a exhaust hood from a truck dyno. I have a small engineering company and we had to rebuild the hood for a customer that had been bent after a truck drove into it. The top section is the old hood which we used as a starting point and built the rest from there. It is a fully welded steel frame built out of 25mm tube. The mesh on the sides was put in as I originally was going to double skin it ( and I still might ) with a air pocket in between the skins filled using computer fans. When a structure is built like this the walls actually balloon out to some degree and so the mesh was to stop the plastic pushing against the plants.
I had thought of using a hinge arrangement for the wheels but in the end I just drilled holes into the wooden sleepers and cut a thread to take a 1 inch bolt. :)

Here are a couple of pics with the shade cloth fitted on the out side
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Cheers
Midlfe
DaveW
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Re: My little green house project

Post by DaveW »

You don't always need wheels to move a greenhouse, it can be done with rollers (short lengths of pipe) under it if you gently prise it up and put boards down as a track for them to roll on. I moved my 10ft x 8ft glass greenhouse across the garden and moved it back later so I could build my bigger greenhouse in it's previous place. I did take out the side glasses to lighten it though, then threaded a couple of battens under the sill and gently rolled it over without breaking any roof glasses. However it is not a job for the heavy handed with glass greenhouses because you have to watch you don't wrack the flimsy aluminium frame too much and break any remaining glass. After all that's how the Egyptians moved the blocks for their pyramids. :lol:
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Tiggy
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Re: My little green house project

Post by Tiggy »

Nice set-up! :thumbright: When can we expect the next installment?

Susi
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midlife crisis
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Re: My little green house project

Post by midlife crisis »

DaveW wrote:You don't always need wheels to move a greenhouse, it can be done with rollers (short lengths of pipe) under it if you gently prise it up and put boards down as a track for them to roll on. I moved my 10ft x 8ft glass greenhouse across the garden and moved it back later so I could build my bigger greenhouse in it's previous place. I did take out the side glasses to lighten it though, then threaded a couple of battens under the sill and gently rolled it over without breaking any roof glasses. However it is not a job for the heavy handed with glass greenhouses because you have to watch you don't wrack the flimsy aluminium frame too much and break any remaining glass. After all that's how the Egyptians moved the blocks for their pyramids. :lol:
My property has a fall of around 2 plus meters from back to front and we are on 2000 square meters so even moving this thing around on wheels is still going to be a mission but yes pipes are a great way to move things on relatively flat areas. I have moved machinery in our work shop the same way. :)

Most of the floor is in and I am half way through fitting the internal shade cloth curtains so there will be an update soon when they are finished. And then I can start moving my cacti into their new home \:D/

Cheers
Midlife
Tony
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Re: My little green house project

Post by Tony »

If I had a tractor, I would be looking for any excuse to use it to. :mrgreen:

Amazing Greenhouse/bombshelter Midlife! 8)
Forget the dog...Beware of the plants!!!

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Sharpy
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Re: My little green house project

Post by Sharpy »

daiv wrote:WOW! I believe this is the most heavy-duty greenhouse of all those listed here. I wonder if this would even be strong enough for Doug in Florida
The city would still have a issue without a engineered wind rating, but doesn't matter anymore as I have found a way around it. Will start my thread here shortly and share :wink:

That is a really well made GH Mid, great job! You build stuff like I do, "made to last". Nice craftsmenship =D>
Sharpy (Doug)

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midlife crisis
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Re: My little green house project

Post by midlife crisis »

I tend to always over engineer things at home and at work but its better than having it fall down or apart especially if you are building or fabricating for a paying customer. :)

The 50% reflective shade cloth is mostly fitted to the inside. I have moved my plants in and I have just about run out of room #-o so its now time to add more shelves :)

I missed the start of a mite infestation and so there are a lot of very sad plants in there
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Cheers
Midlife
daiv
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Re: My little green house project

Post by daiv »

Hey looks great - no sign of sag on those shelves!

Did you get the mite problem stopped?
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Tiggy
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Re: My little green house project

Post by Tiggy »

Very smart job! Lovely. And it looks even better now with the plants inside. =D> =D> =D>

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midlife crisis
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Re: My little green house project

Post by midlife crisis »

It has been a long time coming hopefully my plants will like there new home. When I started builing this I would have been lucky to fill on side of the shelves and now it is near on full :)
Daiv I have been walking around on those shelves as built it and there was no sag then but there is a surprising amount of weight in all of those pots which I think a lot of people get caught with when using light weight shelves.
I have been treating the mites with natrasoap which has worked well but it has blistered some of my Trich stock so I will need to be a bit more care full when I use it again.
I got caught out with the mites when I was treating a mealy infestation and I thought the damage was from them and by the time I realized it was mites as well a lot of my plants were a mess.

Cheers
Midlife
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