G.H. #2 Construction

It's been very slow coming and the kit has been sitting disassembled on my patio for a year. But, we got the trenches 100% dug for my g.h. #2. I have to move one more water line and it will be ready to pour. Looks like a trip to H.D. is in order to get the concrete mix. That will be a work out.

The finished measurements will be 14' 3 3/4" x 18' 7 1/8". I bought a kit on Craigs list from someone who had it stored for 10 years(never assembled) and had moved to a house with a back yard too small for putting it up. It originally was bought from Charley's, but was manufactured by B. C. Greenhouses. My current g.h. is 12' x 18' so this new one will give me much needed space. Wish me luck because it's so old that there are no directions and I'm having to put together a puzzle.

 

Update:
Hired some help and sure glad we did. I didn't lift a finger today but hubby worked his butt off. Really I tried to work and help, but there was only room for 3 bodies in area. A fourth wouldn't have been productive.

Added the rebar:


80 bags of 80lb concrete!!! And the pour is done:


It will set and on Monday we will start the 2 ft. block wall. So far a neigbors cat stepped on it and my dog fell in it and needed a bath. Got it all smoothed out, but wonder what critter will leave a mark tonight?

 

I need the extra space soooo badly. I'll post more and maybe even send you some moola when I have a free minute. Kids and myself have been sick this week and all this happening makes for a busy household.

 

First row out of 3 put down. This is the most time consuming one as it all has to be measured and squared. Row2 and maybe 3 tomorrow.

 

We spent all day yesterday until dark working on the knee wall. Got it all done and installed the pressure treated sill. Our mason friend did the block and hubby and I hand poured 80 more bags of concrete into the block. So far, 2 pallets of block, 160 bags of concrete and 20 bags of mortar, the pressure treated wood, a ton of rebar. This thing isn't going anywhere.

I was so exhausted last night my eyes couldn't focus properly. And it was too dark for a decent picture. It's a little foggy this morning, but you can see the end result. There's one problem I'm going to have to think creatively on. Because I bought this kit without directions we had to make our best guestimate on the block dimensions. Well, I wanted a couple inches of wiggle room and it looks like there will be 3.5 to 4 inches around the outer edge showing. In a perfect world the g.h. would sit on the outer edge of the block. In this case it will be sitting more on the middle of the block. So, I'll have to install flashing or angled tile, brick etc on the outside, top so water will run down and not sit. But, I'm happy the g.h. will fit and that was my main worry!

The g.h. will be 11ish ft. tall when complete.

 

The endwall for this kit was a 2 ft. dropped door(that was about all the owner could remember). So, that's why I had to build it up 2 ft. We made sure the door would fit. There will be one step up to it and one step down into the g.h. Maybe 2 steps. I will have to hide my water line (notch out the block through this step). I would have preferred to hide a water line in the footer, but will have to do it this way.

I'm still pooped this morning.

 

Yesterday, I spent all day in the kitchen. Today, I spent all day putting the frame of the greenhouse up. I'm wiped. There's still some more bracing that needs to go up and the bracing that is attached needs to be leveled out. We had to get that up quick since we were starving and getting cold. I tweaked something in my lower back so don't know if I'll work on it more tomorrow.

The orange tree isn't as close to the g.h. as it appears. There is quite enough room to walk to the doorway. Not too bad for a 'girl' and no directions:>

 

It's going to be a while before I feel comfortable moving anything in there. I have to get my 4, 6 ft. flow tables together for the phrags and set up all the heating and cooling systems and add a water line and electrical inside it. I do have a propane heater, but will have to purchase another back-up heater, evap. cooler, fans and more. I may wait until after the coldest part of winter is over to actually use it. I was able to do all these things on my own with my other g.h. but it just takes time. Not something that's easy to find around the holidays.