dungeoncartographer: Overview and DesignThis is the plan for a greenhouse i built this spring and wa
dungeoncartographer: Overview and DesignThis is the plan for a greenhouse i built this spring and wanted to share with anyone who wants to have a greenhouse that is cheap, durable, easy to build and easy to cover. The final dimensions are 12′ X 16′ and ~6.5′ tall in the middle. It has 192 sq feet of walkway/growing space and could be made much larger with little additional effort.When I started designing this structure, I wanted something that could be built easily by one person without any curves, which can be tedious to work with. I initially settled on a basic “A” frame design which provides strength and simplicity. Unfortunately that would have given me either a very tall midpoint or a smaller base, and therefore less surface area for plants. I also wanted a design that could make use of standard 8 foot 2x4′s. (I ended up using 2x3′s because they were cheaper but I think any dimensional lumber would work.) I ended up with a design that essentially cuts the top off of the traditional “A” frame which would mean I would need more braces to support the flat roof as well as a wire mesh or cattle panel stretched and secured across the flat roof area to support the plastic during rain and snow. The cattle panel or mesh are very important; you do not want several gallons of water to pool on top and split your plastic.ConstructionAfter designing I was able to build the frame in one afternoon. First you will need to build 4 sections as shown in the last sketch. Once they are built and placed roughly where the structure will be, you can begin to lean them towards one another and attach them with the 4′ roof boards. The structure will be very prone to racking (deforming or falling down) until you add the 4′ diagonal braces. The 4′ roof boards attach to the 6″ of board that stick out at the top of each section. The diagonal braces incorporate triangles into the structure and make it very rigid.ConclusionWhy i like this design so much is because it is really cost effective and can be customized a lot. You could use 10′ or 12′ upright boards instead of 8′ if you want to grow really tall tomatoes or trellis extensively. You could also build more sections and increase the length substantially. ***I’m not responsible if this greenhouse falls down and squishes you, violates building code or becomes sentient and chucks produce at you. -- source link