Greenhouse kit

[Carol Dee]

DH has been busy this week. Taking advantage of the nice weather. He picked up this greenhouse kit at Harbor Freight over the weekend.

 

[dickiebird]

I have that same greenhouse, I'll give you a couple of tips.
Order extra clips to hold the panels in. If you have high winds the panels may blow out if you don't secure them with extra clips.
Figure a way to hold the doors shut. If they blow open during a wind event the panels take a beating and that's when they may blow out.
Don't bother with the HF auto vent actuators, they don't work!!!

THANX RICH

 

[Carol Dee]

I have that same greenhouse, I'll give you a couple of tips.
Order extra clips to hold the panels in. If you have high winds the panels may blow out if you don't secure them with extra clips.
Figure a way to hold the doors shut. If they blow open during a wind event the panels take a beating and that's when they may blow out.
Don't bother with the HF auto vent actuators, they don't work!!!

THANX RICH
View attachment 37537

Thanks for the tips Rich. IT is in the back yard and pretty sheltered by garage and fence so hope wind will not be a big issue. (A better chance an errant volleyball will crack a panel) There seem to be a lot of extra clips. I will have him put those on. The door takes two hands to slid and not easily HE is working on making sure everything is square and a resolution. So, for know the wind should not blow it open. We did not get the auto vent actuators. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[flowerbug]

today was a beautiful day to be outside.

 

[Zeedman]

I have that same greenhouse, I'll give you a couple of tips.
Order extra clips to hold the panels in. If you have high winds the panels may blow out if you don't secure them with extra clips.
Figure a way to hold the doors shut. If they blow open during a wind event the panels take a beating and that's when they may blow out.
Don't bother with the HF auto vent actuators, they don't work!!!

Ditto. I have had the smaller version for about 10 years now. I ordered extra clips, which not only allows me to replace the ones which pop out in a strong wind & get lost (they do) but enables me to put extra clips on some of the weaker panels. You most need those extra clips on the roof panels. Haven't regretted buying those extra clips for a minute. I use a 2' piece of 4 X 4 leaning against the door to keep it closed... it's not wind I worry about so much as critters.

I would only add that unless the greenhouse will be used all year, you might consider pulling off & storing the panels over winter. Although it is a hassle putting them back in each year, it will greatly extend the life of the panels - especially the roof panels. Those panels are the weakest link, the frame is surprisingly strong & durable.

That bigger greenhouse is tempting. I hope the Chinese-to-English instructions are more useful than the incomprehensible & sometimes erroneous instructions that came with mine. It required a bit of reverse engineering.

 

[PhilaGardener]

Looking great! There are lots of youtube videos on building and strengthening these HF kits. Enjoy!

 

[Carol Dee]

Ditto. I have had the smaller version for about 10 years now. I ordered extra clips, which not only allows me to replace the ones which pop out in a strong wind & get lost (they do) but enables me to put extra clips on some of the weaker panels. You most need those extra clips on the roof panels. Haven't regretted buying those extra clips for a minute. I use a 2' piece of 4 X 4 leaning against the door to keep it closed... it's not wind I worry about so much as critters.

I would only add that unless the greenhouse will be used all year, you might consider pulling off & storing the panels over winter. Although it is a hassle putting them back in each year, it will greatly extend the life of the panels - especially the roof panels. Those panels are the weakest link, the frame is surprisingly strong & durable.

That bigger greenhouse is tempting. I hope the Chinese-to-English instructions are more useful than the incomprehensible & sometimes erroneous instructions that came with mine. It required a bit of reverse engineering.

I think he went more by illustrations than wording in the instructions Thanks for the extra tips.
He does plan to use it year round , we will see!

 

[digitS']

The 180 sqft sunshed that I built was supposed to be used right through the winter. The small gas garage type heater that went in it has no problem keeping it warm. The utilities engineer that I talked to had encouraging things to say about the cost to heat it. He probably wasn't too impressed with the prospect of solar gain but I knew enough not to expect or do much more than adjust the angle of the south wall for it. Natural gas and electricity is fairly cheap in this location but I still couldn't really justify burning them through the winter.

Size meant that not much of a food crop can be grown. Low light conditions here is the big problem. I couldn't have picked much worse of a US location generally for relatively cold winter temperatures and little sunlight.

Even with just springtime plant starts - it would be real problematic with just solar heat. Ya know what? It would work better if I had it in Colorado's Mile High City of Denver -- no, I kid you not .

I hope you two have lots of fun out there. It can be very practical fun.

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

DONE Now to put gravel inside and benches/shelving.

 

[digitS']

YaY!!

That looks real nice.



Steve