Richard, thanks for the complement, but really I owe the talent of being able to build and picture a plan in my mind to the one that gives such gifts. It did turn out really well for considering the materials. But some of those materials I have been storing for over five years just waiting for the right opportunity to utilize them. I don’t know if I would go so far as to call it fancy lol, but it will definitely serve the purpose. Actually the side glass is brand new but yet was in the right place at the right time and got it for free. Same as with the green metal, for I did a roof job last year and the company that the lumber yard gets metal from sent too much so it ended up given to me. All I bought was the treated lumber for the glass part, silicone, screws, and some concrete.
It measures 16’ X 17’ which equals almost 275 square ft. which is plenty big for what I want to do with it for I am mainly a hobby gardener now, just raising for food. But actually it is 100 sq. ft. bigger then my old seed starting greenhouse and I raised thousands and thousands of plants out of it.
You like the metal around the base do you. Well my old one was earth contact and what you see as metal now would have been under the ground. But even now there is no reason to put glass down below where the lowest bench is, so I opted to do it this way and as well save glass. As well, yes the back 7 feet has a metal roof. This helps with the heating considerably and as you see gives me a place for my germinating table, some storage, stove, and the office. All the shelves are placed under the glass part for obvious reasons and as well still have ample floor room for seed starting mix, transplanting table, and chair.
The glass its self was glued down to the rafters with high grade silicone. I made some aluminum brackets to hold the first run of glass from sliding till the silicone dried, and actually to hold all the glass from sliding down till it dried. As well it has redwood strips that are held down with silicone and little stainless steel nails for added security. The spacing of the rafters was laid out to the width of my tempered glass plus a ¼ inch for the nails, but you would just have to space them accordingly to whatever size you needed. The side panes set on a treated 2X8 and are held in place by what they call Z bar metal flashing. Was not made for this type of application, but it worked great giving it something to rest against and something to silicone too. The white stuff on the gable sides is billboard material which came from the local 3M plant which of course was free, but plan on putting some polycarbonate panels up there one of these day but will wait till the season is over.
You ask about heat and I will tell you I heat with wood. Around where I live, hardwood is very plentiful, so that is what I use. I totally heat the house and all with it. Anything to save money right? I had a big stove I used to use to heat my tunnel greenhouse in the winter, but since I haven’t done that for a few years I thought I might as well utilize it in this one. I like to keep it around 80 deg. At all times just for the little ones, but I installed a thermostat and exhaust fan for when it starts to get to hot.
You said “We all want to copy your pattern!!” Well I would have to draw one up. For you see when I started gathering up the material even many years ago, I could picture in my mind what it would look like. At every step of the way the only plans I referred to was the ones in my head. So long story short I have no written plans. If anyone was serious about wanting to build one, I would gladly draw some up and as well, if they needed any help I would be more than willing to yack over a phone if the need arose. Hope all this answers your questions, but if not fill free to ask more. God bless
