How To Start Building Your Greenhouse

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How To Start Building Your Greenhouse

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

When starting to build your greenhouse, there are many different options for your foundation.

Some people, especially if they buy a pre-made greenhouse, will not take enough time to plan and plot out exactly the best place to put it. That may be on gravel, or dirt or even grass. Some pre-made greenhouses come complete not only with roof and walls, but a floor, as well.

Before you start to build your greenhouse,You will need to prepare the ground underneath. Preparing a level surface and laying railroad ties spaced about an inch apart is all you need to do. An alternative step up could be creating a simple platform of eight-foot 2 x 4’s or 1 x 6’s nailed to 4 x 4’s spaced out about every 18 inches under the slats. That way you have a solid base and drainage.

These designs, however, leave you with the large job of controlling weeds, as well as controlling mildew, replacing floor boards and other issues with wooden floors.

Your next step is to lay your cement foundation, and this is similar to the foundations under many houses. There are a few potential drawbacks, and it does require more effort, but it is easier than it sounds.

Creating a cement foundation requires laying out an area, smoothing it and building a temporary ‘container’ around the area you intend to pour. You’ll want to make it fairly smooth and level - not an easy thing to do unless you have a fair amount of experience pouring cement.

It would be hard to move, or remove, later on if you change your mind about where you want to put it, and that could be a problem.

You will have options with a cement foundation regarding heating, and it will last a lot longer. You could lay carpet or tile on top with heating tubes or wires underneath, for example. It is sturdy, and very easy to take care of. Cement floors also can absorb and reflect a lot of heat, which can be handy in a greenhouse.

It may take you a couple of weekends to build a good cement foundation. The materials, tools and construction plans are available at a hardware store or can be ordered online and delivered.

Beyond following the directions for mixing cement, creating the frame and properly forming the surface, the key is temperature and humidity. It’s important that you carry out the project when you expect moderate to warm temperatures, relatively low humidity and no rain.

Planning ahead is vitally important, whichever option you choose. The floor is going to need to be sturdy enough to support all the tables, benches, pots, and of course you.After it is installed, it is much harder to fix, so it’s important to get it right from the start.

My next article will cover what is green about a greenhouse.

If you are interested in climate change, check out my web site at http://www.enesolarpanels.com/climate-change.html