Saturday, September 15, 2012

Building greenhouse onto end of house

So...remember awhile back I mentioned when we sold our old home that the buyers wanted my greenhouse as well, so we sold it to them? Well now I have enough materials gathered to build a new one here onto the end of our new house :) My old one was from Harbor Freight ~ 10x12 Greenhouse
As much as I liked it, I didn't feel it really had the space I needed for the size! Imagine that!
So we are planning a 20 foot wide by 10 foot, well that is MY plan, hubby says otherwise.

The windows we acquired first, the neighbor redid his sunroom and since hubby helped install the new windows, we got the old ones, only 9 of them, but 9 will work!
The siding was from another neighbor who wanted an old barn torn down to put up a new building so we helped with that and now have old barn siding.
The door was found down the road in another neighbors trash, yup, farmer and hubby went and got the door, we are all set!! So let's get started!!
 We started by putting in the treated posts and attaching to the house, then moved out and squared it up to get the other posts in the ground, I wanted it 10 foot out from the house, but he thought 7 feet was enough
 string between the posts to be sure we have everything lined up
it's a start and it's a pretty day next we will get the base boards and header boards up
 there we go, got it good and square and he just couldn't wait, he added the door ha ha
 and I thought I was anxious!
 little bits at a time and it's coming together, I had planned originally on having shutters put on the computer room and bedroom windows but decided against it, I want to be able to still have those windows open to let the breeze blow through the greenhouse and into the house
getting all the windows out of farmer's barn to start putting them in, slow process at first but it's coming together and I am getting more than excited
 only 9 windows, so I am deciding which end I want 2 windows and which end I will only have 1
 it's getting there, it's looking like I imagined it to look :)
 I decided to have the 2 windows on the east side, to get all that nice morning sunshine
 I couldn't wait, I had to get started on the old barn siding, it's red on the other side, I decided to leave the natural side facing to the outside because I think it's pretty cool looking
 getting some of the barn siding on the end while I wait him to get home from work to get the window into the other side of the greenhouse
 oh boy, had been going so good, now it's time to break out the jig saw to make some cuts around the windows, this is when I get nervous that I will mess up
 I like how it looks already LOL
the critters keep going in and out the left end since I don't have any siding up there yet and that gave me an idea for the right end under the 2 windows, I am going to build a critter house INSIDE the greenhouse and put a little door so they can have a critter box on this end of the house, we already put one under the front deck awhile back and they use it and love that one on warm days because it's so cool under the front deck
 made my cuts around the window siding and sent photo to hubby at work
 cut the pieces parts for up the sides of the windows, only have little area to left of door to complete
 he needs to finish the header above door, we thought about a small vent there but I have decided against that as I can open the windows since they have screens instead, it's time to get the trusses up and get ready for the roof
 you can see he filled in above the door and I have nearly all my work done, the left side got 1 window and I almost have the siding all the way up to the top, just a few more cuts with the jig saw and I will be done and we can get to the roofing, I didn't want it all see through on roof, so we purchased some galvanized roofing for the back half
 it's really coming together now, roofing time soon
 guess I better get the rest of the siding up on both ends and to the left of the door huh before he gets home from work today and wants to get the roof done, I will get scolded for not completing my part 
 lookie lookie, we have a roof and if you look to the right, back there in the distance you can see our neighbors little red barn, the back part of that barn has already been torn down and that is where my barn siding came from :)
I could stand here and look at this all day!!
 it's a day or two later when I build the bench against the house wall and I am starting to put up the window ledges in the front windows, I will also put them on the ends too
 when we did the basement drainage, the huge backhoe smooshed my new walkway so I tore it all up and am reusing the cement pieces parts to make a little dirt area inside the greenhouse under the bench
 it's coming together nicely!! I have a pile of gravel to put on the floor
trying out this shelving on the end, but I think I don't like it and will be taking it down
 oh yes, took out the shelving because I needed to finish the wood window shelving/ledge and add the critter box on the inside of the greenhouse, I transplanted some tomatoes to see how long into the winter I can keep them growing
the window wells are under my bench, going to lay a piece of wood over them for more storage
 oh lookie, I have my celery in that big wash tub, and Backfire is checking things out, I just open up my computer room window and she walks right into the greenhouse onto the back bench, right at home 
 there is the critter box on the inside, I figure with all the windows the greenhouse ought to hold a little warmer in the greenhouse therefore making the critter house warmer for them in the winter :)
 I moved the tomatoes to opposite end of greenhouse and have some Italian roma to dry for seeds
 
 LOL I keep moving those darn tomato plants around, they are just sooo big, did I tell you we ran electric to the greenhouse? I can sneak out there after work, and I have stayed out there till midnight or later just playing and trying to get organized and my little helper is always with me
 bringing in some plants and pots to save seed for next year


 got that wall unit from a neighbor who was moving, it worked perfect for in here, the top folds down if I want to close it up completely, but for now I have little pots stacked on it
 showing you the inside of the barn siding, I didn't want the outside red so the inside got it
 the outside of the greenhouse on the end with the critter box, there is their wind-proof flap, all the outside kitties and Scooter the doggie use it, all cozy inside, it's big enough for another dog even
and the other end of the greenhouse, you can see the walkway is now gone and is being used as flowerbed border, I used some inside the greenhouse, I sure didn't want to waste all that time and effort I put into creating that sidewalk so I reused it when I had to tear it out, like I said, when we did the drainage around the house it got mashed up so had to take it out anyway
AND YA KNOW WHAT, NOW HUBBY AGREES WITH ME, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN 10 FEET DEEP!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH your're killing me!
just don't ever listen to me when I am suggesting it, bigger is always better when it comes to a space we are taking the time and effort to build! He should know that by now.

*before photos below*
 there you can see my sidewalk where it ended and the end of the house where we had the water issue
and here is the before photo when we had to tear up to put in drainage, that's when the sidewalk got destroyed, this is the end the greenhouse now sits :)

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