Comments | gardening: Building a Greenhouse

mallt in gardening

Building a Greenhouse

Mar 14, 2011 11:17

I mentioned to a friend the other day that I wanted to build a greenhouse & he said he had a bunch of old windows I could have ( Read more... )

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Comments 15

waywalker March 14 2011, 18:14:16 UTC

LJ ate my first post, so I hope this isn't a duplicate ( ... )

mallt March 14 2011, 20:05:38 UTC

I guess the first step is to find out the sizes of the windows & start planning from there! :)

matanai March 14 2011, 18:22:58 UTC

There are some super cool how-tos for window greenhouses on instructables.com :D

squid_ink March 14 2011, 19:57:53 UTC

depending on how old the glass is , it may not filter out harmful UV rays

mallt March 14 2011, 20:04:14 UTC

Hmmm I wonder if there's a film you can put on to help that.
Having said that, greenhouses for decades wouldn't have that protection so I'm not sure how vital that is.

virginiadear March 15 2011, 14:15:29 UTC

Is that why you used to (and still do?) see greenhouses with some or all of the roof panels painted white? ....Come to think on that, it does seem as if it would defeat the purpose of having a greenhouse with light-permeable panels for the roof in the first place.

mallt March 15 2011, 14:22:42 UTC

I think that's to provide shading in the height of summer. You can get shade cloth these days.

Thread 6

sagefemme11 March 14 2011, 20:44:27 UTC

We built our greenhouse out of French doors on super sale from a going-out-of-business home supplier for the walls and old barn windows for the roof. We covered the old barn windows with plexiglass to seal it better, the windows were *very* old.

We just built a frame to the measurements of the French doors and then framed out both sides of the slanted roof and installed them.

Happy building, it's SO worth it!!!!!

virginiadear March 15 2011, 14:33:35 UTC

Ooh, French doors: that sounds very pretty! Have you pictures to share?

dark_phoenix54 March 14 2011, 23:44:36 UTC

I have one caution: do NOT use old windows as the roof. You need to have tempered glass overhead, or if something breaks it it'll come down in shards that will do you serious damage.

Yes, I've seen the aftermath. No one got hurt, but if there had been anyone in there when the tree branch hit, they would have been a bloody mess.

Oh, and don't use silicone caulk. Use the siliconized latex, like Alex II. It makes just as good a seal and doesn't make an unholy, unpaintable mess.

Post pictures when you're done!

mallt March 15 2011, 14:18:37 UTC

I was thinking of a polycarbonate roof... we had serious hail here last year & don't want to risk a glass roof!

Good to know about the caulking... I'll look for the siliconized latex.