Monday, August 19, 2013

Greenhouse Equals Greenthumbs? Building A Greenhouse With Recycled Material



I Got Sunshine.......On A Cloudy Day!

We will soon be frolicking in our shiny new, built from mostly recycled materials, greenhouse.  After purchasing the plastic about 15 years ago, having it sit in the rafters of an old shed being pooped on from mice, flies and the likes, it was put to use!   Granted, no sunshine, rain or snow have touched its skin, but it was still  in pristine condition.  We ordered double the size and our plan was to build a greenhouse for my mom, which we did, and one for ourselves, which we didn't.   Amazingly enough, the one built for my mom still has the plastic intact, but with its few scars and rips, it has been long abandoned as a greenhouse.  It was fabricated from round bar connected with  little doodad connectors that Mr FT created. 

You can check out the plastic here if you are interested.
The website owner builds greenhouses from rebar, which is where our original greenhouse idea came from with a few modifications.
Needless to say, we just never got around to the heat and sweat  joy of a greenhouse.  Then one day, when cleaning up a tired car tent, purchased from Costco, and another car tent we inherited for our daughters wedding, you know, the big ones that are 10x20 feet, we had this brilliant idea of merging the two frames into one fantastic, super marvelous, steroid tomato growing greenhouse. 
 Easier said than done, but with that said, it's done.




An old fence built from Douglas fir timber was recycled into a foundation.

We used two layers of timbers with staggered joints.   They were glued and fastened together with lag bolts.   Rebar was pounded through the timbers into the ground to keep them in place.


The first frame piece was anchored to the wall of an old shed and screwed to the timber base.

We decided to use a white end tee here instead of the cross so that Mr FT could work his magic and fabricate an out of whack cross tee to join the brown frame to the white.  

He used a leftover piece of the tubing to weld into place.

Mr FT workin his magic!

An "out of whack" tee and a sneak look at the plastic...and a crappy paint job by yours truly!


  Hopefully you don't have to wait fifteen years to see the finished results. And just maybe, I will grow some green thumbs.
   

Cheers!!

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