A story of a greenhouse build

Since we're not moving to the west coast, a greenhouse is the next best thing for extending the growing season. While we checked at Wayfair in the end we got a greenhouse from B.C. Greenhouse because they had 5 layer poly glazing. They supply very complete directions. We also called to find our underground utility locations and were surprised it was so close to the planned greenhouse location.

1. dig a big hole - Fred decided to put a heat transfer system under the greenhouse to extend the growing season in the spring and fall. He hand dug a hole then put in 4 layers of s-shaped weeping tile to transfer heat into clay. He also put insulation around the sides. Tip - the easiest way to get the s-shape is to use spikes to make the shape then zip tie it to plastic mesh.

2. build a foundation - this was super fun (not) as I helped to make it level and square on top of a layer of screenings. Our neighbour had a transit for sale in his garage sale - it now lives at our house. The leveling went ok but the squaring was finicky. Once the foundation was in, lots of gravel went in and a raised bed was built.

3. frame the base - the most important part because if it's not square there's trouble. The raised bed made checking the base more difficult but with the square foundation we hoped for the best.

4. frame the walls and roof - once the frame was in we could follow the instruction manual. There were some parts that were less easy to follow but we only had to redo a couple things. Most of it could be done by one person which is pretty slick. There were good tips, like do all the foam tape at the same time. Same with foil strips on the edges of the poly. I did that part because it's easy with good directions.

5. Put in the glazing - pretty slick how easily this went together. Even the vents were well explained. After the vents, the door was installed and it was done except for the gutters and siliconing the seams.

6. fill it with stuff from the house then work on the silicone sealing, gutters, drip hoses etc. The cooling is working really well. It was getting up to 90F (even with the window on the door open) but with the fan on to suck air underground, the temperature can be dropped to 82F which is great for the plants.

If you are really lucky, you get to see how hardy the greenhouse is when there is an early hail storm. No damage at all!