My Greenhouse Construction Thread (picture heavy)

MoonShadows

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Happy Easter to all! What was supposed to be a sunny and warm day wound up being overcast and cilly...in the 40's all day.

Today, we worked on two fronts. After yesterday's work, our chickens came up from the field and decided, Oh boy, fresh dirt! They started going through all the dirt we moved around for their treats. They also decided to go into the greenhouse area and "rearrange" some dirt for their usual dirt baths. So today, we put up some fencing so the chickens can't come up to this area. You can see the fencing in this pic and the chickens trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

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Then, after removing some more dirt, we put down 3 concrete blocks, leveled them, and laid down the front 6 x 6 of the greenhouse. We decided it would be too hard to just keep leveling blocks and checking against each one, so we laid down all of the 6 x 6's and put the greenhouse frame on top of the beams.

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Tomorrow, we want to lift the frame up on the two long sides and back end, level concrete blocks under them (blocks seen in the upper right background of this pic), and then let the frame back down. Once that is done, we will fill the center and around the sides with rock dust. (We have another 5 cubic yards being dropped off tomorrow afternoon from a local nursery.) In the interior of the greenhouse we will lay bluestone slate, and we plan to have a garden border for flowers around the outside. This may not be the most traditional way to level a greenhouse, but at this point, it seems to make sense to us.

BTW...we are using Tamarac wood for the base. Tamarac grows abundantly in certain areas of Canada in swampy areas. It will outlast redwood, black locust and just about any rot resistant wood including treated lumber. Luckily, we know someone who has a sawmill biz a few towns over, and we can purchase this lumber for less than treated lumber in Home Depot or Lowes. We have purchased rough sawn wood from him for our chicken coop, raised gardens and now this project.

More pics after tomorrow's progress.
 
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MoonShadows

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Little by little....if I let the whole project hit me at once, I get overwhelmed, so I have to break it into small pieces.
 

Denim Deb

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We don't have tamarack around here, except for the odd ones that people plant. For those that aren't familiar w/it, it's a type of pine that actually loses its needles in the fall. It's also known as larch. The word tamarack is an Algonquin word meaning wood used for snowshoes, or something like that.
 

MoonShadows

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Yesterday was pretty much a wash out; it rained a good part of the day, and then it was too wet to work. The winds did pick up later in the day with gusts up to 45mph, so the area is fairly dry to get some work done today. I would rather stay in this warm house rather than work outside where it is about 42 with wind gusts up to 20+ mph, but this greenhouse is not going to get up on its own.

We had 5 cubic yards of rock dust delivered late yesterday afternoon. Once we finish leveling the foundation, we will add the rock duct around the outer foundation and inside as the floor over which we will lay slate that will add to the thermal ability of the greenhouse. Only problem is the closest we could have the rock dust dropped is about 60 yards from the foundation, so that means many wheel barrel trips back and forth.

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Below, X marks where the rock dust was dropped and the arrow at the end of the route is where it has to be dumped on the other side of the house (not visible on the other side of the rock ledge)

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I'll post some more pics after today's progress.
 
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Mini Horses

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Oh, wow --- and that stuff is heavy. Do you have a neighbor with a front loader?

I sure love those rock walls!!! Looks like a huge drive in area you have there.
 

MoonShadows

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I WISH we had a front loader or a close neighbor withy a front loader!

Most of the rock walls you see in pics I post were built by me the first few years we lived here and I was still in my late 30's, early 40's, so I could do it. And, I have two Carpal Tunnel surgeries to prove it! LOL
 

MoonShadows

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Today was a very productive day.

We got the 16' sides leveled, although one of them it a bit twisted from lying on the ground since last April...but I think I can work with this.

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Then, we started hauling the rock dust. We used all but a bout 1/2 yard of it.

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We then tamped it and soaked it with water to let the "dust" lock it into place.

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Between what we have left near the shed and the pile up near the front of the house, we still have 8-10 wheel barrels full of rock dust.

Tomorrow, we will drill through the 6 x 6's at a 45 degree angle at the end of each beam and drive 3' pieces of rebar into the ground to anchor the beams...8 anchors in all. Then, we'll construct the bottom frame of the greenhouse, attach that will steel angles to anchor the bottom frame to the beams, and try to get the slate laid on the inside floor. We'll use the rest of the rock dust to "perfectly" level the slate floor.

Looks like Thursday and Friday are going to be rainouts here, so hopefully we'll have Saturday and Sunday to start (maybe finish) the actual construction of the greenhouse.

Very tired, but having fun! :thumbsup
 

Mini Horses

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Looks great! That was a real "pile" of work you did there. You deserve a little break. :thumbsup
 
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