The Situation
Ridge and first rafter up!
In my previous post, I went through the steps that we took in our greenhouse construction, from stem wall to stud walls. Today, I will talk about the steps that we took in completing this project.
All in all, it only took us about a weekend to construct the building and then a few more days to install windows, caulk, paint, and add electric and water. It really was a very quick project…and then I was off and running!
Greenhouse Construction – After the walls are up
I wanted to gain as much southern exposure as possible so we opted for a shallow pitch roof, longer on the south than on the north side of the greenhouse. We found the point at which we wanted our ridge beam to run across and set posts; one in each end wall and one in the center of the building. We built our ridge in place, as it needed to span 25 feet. When the ridge was fully in place and solid, we were on to rafters.
My husband is a wiz with angles and I hate them. (I’m more on the artistic side, I typically like to ‘eyeball’ it, but they tend to frown on that in construction.) Kris notched all of the rafters perfectly in order to fit properly between the ridge and the top plate of the weight-bearing walls. You can certainly also do this with special metal plates made for attaching rafters, but they cost extra and if you have a knowledgeable carpenter in the house, you don’t need them.
After all of the rafters were up and in place, we had a little bit more framing to do on the gable ends, so that our siding would have something to grab hold of. We got all of those up very quickly and we were ready for siding.We added battens across the seams of our siding…and caulked the heck out of everything!
Getting in the dry
The roofing material didn’t take long either. We added furring strips across the rafters for attaching the metal roofing. We already had some metal roofing for the north side, from all of my salvaging efforts. The only thing that we had to purchase was the clear roofing material, to let the light in, but that was so worth it. At this point of the process, only a few days in, we were in the dry and I was on to wiring the electrical while Kris got the water going.
He ran a line to a spigot on my east wall so that I can just hook up a hose to water all of my plants. I added overhead lights and quite a few plug-ins for plant lights. It was all very quick and easy. Honestly, the part that took the longest, was all the painting. (That’s always up to me, Kris really hates painting.)
Interior details
The Interior added another week or so to the greenhouse construction time. He was at work most of the time so I was on my own for a lot of it. We used a few 4’x8′ structured greenhouse floor panels (more salvage) and they worked out great to create the spots for my interior beds as well as giving me a good walkway around the greenhouse.
The seedling shelves are just basic framework covered in rabbit wire, which allows light and water to get through. I created the interior beds by adding a wood frame to the outer edges of the greenhouse floor panels. I also built a potting table and put up a few shelves to help organize all of my gardening supplies.
My boys and I began filling the interior beds with layers of garden soil and straw. It took us about half of a day to do that part, but I was so ready to get my hands dirty and get some seeds in the ground!
We completed the entire project within about 3 weeks of working when we could, including; installing the front door, and installing and adding all of the final touches like fascia and all the various trims. Our greenhouse construction project was so worth the time and effort. I literally use it on a daily basis.
Since completing our greenhouse construction project, we have also built a raised bed garden right outside of it. It makes it look like a little cottage. I can’t wait for you guys to see it. That will be my next post. Thank you for letting me share.
Until next time…
Amy
NEVER MISS A THING!!
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We also, as a homesteading family, have three additional blogs that might interest you. A Life on the Farm focuses on the more personal side of the homesteading life. We discuss subjects like family, parenting, relationships, homeschooling, cooking, canning and so much more.
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