Living at high latitude means more snow at lower elevations, but it also means a shorter gardening season. Prior to the pandemic, I threw some seeds into a garden once, danced a pagan ritual, and prayed to several gods, hoping my lackluster effort would materialize into something. I got virtually nothing that first round.
With the lockdown, I decided I'd build a greenhouse and hopefully have to sing and dance a little less for better results gardening. I wanted to do this project with reclaimed wood because we happened to have a small lumberyard in our garage (misc previous projects). There are many greenhouse styles, I'm pretty certain I got my inspiration from a website like this: Green house plans with photos (photonshouse.com)
I went for a sloped roof frame style because of budget, time, and space constraints. It's basically a sloping roof away from the entrance. I didn't build it into our garden because we have a deckspace that gets much more sunlight during the spring time. Optimal for maximizing greenhouse warmth passively.
The downside of building with reclaimed wood is height limits. I did buy a few new pieces to ensure my door frame wouldn't fall apart.
Greca paneling was the only thing we had no choice but to buy. There's a few places to buy this stuff. The big box stores like Rona sell greca at astronomical markups. Around $60 for a 2' by 8' piece. For this greenhouse we needed about 6 panels worth. Prior to the pandemic putting huge demand for clear plastics, you could buy these panels for much less. If you shop around you can find panels for 1/4 the price these guys are charging, but you'll end up having to drive many kms. Well worth the saving of $300.
With the frame and paneling done, I added a window that could open with the intention of installing a heat activated window opener or servo actuated.
Instead of buying a door, I built one.
To prevent the wood from damaging the sundeck, I raised the entire greenhouse onto disks and put ceramic tiles underneath as well. The disks were used to help level any framing imperfection and the ceramic tiles to load bear across the members.
Back of the envelope cost calculation if I didn't have free lumber:
10pc 2x4 @ $8 each
6pc 1x6 @$10 each
8pcs 1x4 @ $5 each
6pcs 1x2 @ $4 each
6pcs greca @ $60 each
2pcs polysheets @20 each
1pkg waterproof screws @ $15
2 pkgs framing screws@ $10
2 panels polycarbonate @ $50 each
Door hinges you can probably get for free from a scrapyard.
total: ~$680.
This is about 1/2 the price for something you can buy off the shelf, which you'd still have to build up yourself. You can save an additional $300 if you bought the greca from somewhere cheaper, which brings the cost down by ~45%
The main tools you'll need are the following:
drop saw
cordless drill
drill bits
reciprocating saw with various blades
You can get all these tools used for probably under $200, or possibly under $400 new.
This year, I'll be adding an automation system to the greenhouse to help automatically water the plants. It'll be done with a raspberry pi controlling an arduino. Stay tuned!
If you want more info on how to make a greenhouse, or on this build, drop a comment below.
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