Justin I am building it myself. The framing is almost complete on it. We worked all day on it and it was dark when we got done so I will take pictures before we start work tomorrow on it. Its looking AWESOME, and I look forward to getting it finished.
I was going to have a footprint of 20 x 16, but when we build the first 16'x4' wall I quickly realize the idea of 20 x 16 might be a little large. So we decided on 16'x12'. My old greenhouse was 12'x12' with rounded sides. Duh I posted a picture!!
Any who. The new one has boxed sided. One side being just under 10 foot and the other side being just under 8 foot. So I have A LOT more growing space than before. The rounded sides restricted a pretty good bit of space. I am going to go with the cheap 6 mil plastic as the covering one more time as a test to the method I plan on using to fasten it. Then the following year I will cover it with greenhouse plastic if the method works well. All the wood will be covers with plastic and inside the air gap so Its protected from water and humidity, and I don;t have to buy an air pump to create the air gap like with the Atlas greenhouses. Plus this air gap is going to be an 8 inch air gap instead of the few inches with most greenhouse tips using 6 mil plastic. For those that don;t know the air gap helps insulate the greenhouse. If you look at 6mm polycarbonate in has 6mm for the air gap insulation. 8mm has 8 and so on. I am going to have 8 inches on the roof and 3 and a half on the side wall. The walls are going to be solid from the ground to 4 foot off the ground providing for better insulation as well. I don't grow plants under the benches anyways unless they need the ultra low light then they will be fine with light coming in on the fronts of the benches. This thing is going to be so stout my 270 pound body will be able to hang from the plant poles if I wanted to!! This thing has a header going down the center of the greenhouse that is constructed of two 2x6's nailed together and then OSB nailed to each side as well. Monster I tell you Monster! Took 3 people to put it up!
So far I have zero dollars invested in it with the exception of buying nails to replace the ones I used when my brother in law borrowed his uncles nail gun. Thank the heavens for nail guns!! This has saved us SOOOOO much time its unreal! Then I will have to buy 1/4 inch plywood for the 4 foot walls and two back walls. I forgot to mention the wall next to the shed and fence will be solid walls allowing for even better insulation. Last winter I disassembled the deck on the back of my house and saved the wood for just this time. (my house is built on a slab and when you walked out the back door you had to walk up 3 steps to get onto the deck. Then walk down 3 to get into the yard. It defeated the purpose of having a privacy fence because I could see into both neighbors yards and they could see me. Plus it was bad for my wiener dog to jump up three steps and down three more to go to the bathroom. So we took it down.) It has helped a lot and the scrap wood I have been salvaging from job site construction dumpsters. I was able to rip the 2x10s from the deck down into 2x4's and my brother in law gave me some that were used once for a concrete form on his father job site, and they still looked very good. I also salvaged what I could from the old greenhouse and that was most of it minus the PVC pipe and lathe strips I used for the sides. Most of it became studs since I was able to cut out the bad sections, and some of it was bowed a little.
I plan on expanding my rainwater collection from one 55 gallon barrel to 10 in the near future. That might cost a little for the barrels. IIRC I was them in the classifieds for 5 bucks a barrel if my brother in law can't get them from his farmer friend. I will link all of them in series so when the two collecting barrels fill it fills them all. I will start to not only collect off the house, but off the greenhouse also into a barrel. Then I plan to get a pump and filter system so I can have running rainwater in the greenhouse, along with tap water and fully wired electricity, and possibly a sink! I doubt I will put a small hot water heater in there though so just cold water. I have an old sink from my bathroom remodel I am not using and I was not able sell in the Iwanta after many attempts. So why not? I need a potting area anyways.
I have a friend that works at clubcar and can collect pallets for me. This is where I will get the wood for the extra benches I will need and for the slat floor I want to put down. It just takes time to get the old nails out so they are safe to reuse. Granted they are not treated, but they are free. The benches I have now are made from them and they have been great for over 2 years now with no signs of rotting or loss of structural integrity. With the exception of poor craftsmanship on the first two.
I built them myself with hammer and nails and just used 2x4s for legs with no bracing. At first I was just mainly playing with my new table saw, but they worked great so I built 4 of them. The second two have a bottom shelf and that leads to better stability. The first two are working fine, but they look like they could fall and I definitely wouldn't sit more than a plants on them. LOL So they will be getting reinforced before they go back in.
The only wood I am anticipate needing to purchase is 1/4 plywood for the walls and 4x4's for support posts for the beefy header, JUST IN CASE it wants to sag. Even though it should be fine where I am putting them will not affect grow space and will even give me more space to hang plants from. Even a place to put my thermostats that is not on one of the colder exterior walls.
I may even get some of those thermal vent openers from a discount tools place here in town for the peak if its getting too hot up there. I will see next year and see how funds are when I go to recover it hopefully the final time with 4 year guaranteed greenhouse plastic or 6 mil polycarbonate with secondary 6 mill plastic inside to protect the wood and extra insulation.
Just wait and see the pictures I post tomorrow! Everyone will be astonished at what you can build with recycled wood, some power tools, time, and a little patience! I learned a lot from my brother in law today, and had fun using a nail gun. Oh I forgot to mention THOSE things can be dangerous! This was the first time I had ever used an air powered one and I see how how people get shot with these things from time to time. Even with the safety triggers it has. I almost hit a friend in the arm firing the second nail into some studs of a wall we were building. Luckily it missed him, and I learned really quick it takes a little more control. I was to worried about the kick back it had after firing I was trying to hold it down tight against the wood and it still jumped away from the wood. I was still in the mind set of pushing it toward the wood that it caught the edge of the 2x4 and set the second trigger firing another nail through the air! This gun if you hold the trigger down and tap the nozzle trigger against the wood it will fire every time like rapid fire every time you bounce it. So definitely not for the week or children because its a pretty heavy nail gun too.
OK enough rambling. I will post pictures tomorrow.
Edit: Wow I knew this post was long winded, but man I didn't realize this long winded till I looked at it after posting! Sorry everyone!