Greenhouse Time

So do you remember the greenhouse i bought last November ? Well its time to erect it :flag:, we have started to level the ground where its going ,and we will have to hire a concrete mixer to make a base, only £20 +vat for a week, i thought it would be more , we were hoping to get a ready mix but nobody delivers so small a quantity,
We think this will be ready about Friday for the concrete to be started ,so a nice dry spell would be appreciated :ntwrth::ntwrth:. i will keep you all informed :hehe:

 

Oooh exciting pam, I would just like to wish you luck :D Lots of it hehe

 

"So do you remember the greenhouse i bought last November ? Well its time to erect it"

So soon? Took me 2 1/2 years to erect mine !!! (As per My Blog)

Some thoughts:

We laid concrete foundations for a two-course brick base. Somehow we managed to get that not-quite-square, so had to build the base "only just on the foundations". As the old adage goes "Measure twice, cut once" - thus avoiding my school metal work teacher's favourite expression "You'll be wanting the Putting-On machine then, eh?" - even way back then that was only funny the first time ...

Secondly, consider where you will put the water butt to collect the rain from the gutters (assuming that you will?) At the font means that you need a Butt each side - coz the door is in the way of connecting them together The back is easier to connect the two gutters.

But either way, you could do with a quarter-bubble slope to the end that has the water butt. You can do it when you pour the foundations, but either way you will need to do it when you build the base.

I forgot - so we have loads of mastic in the gutter at the "high" end to try to persuade the water to run the other way. A small slope would make the job work MUCH better - greenhouse gutters are not exactly generous with the amount of rain they can have to carry.

Are you planning to concrete the whole floor, or just some footings for the base?

 

Sorry Kristen i have been trying to post a pic but i ve given up :dh:, this is a replacement greenhouse for one of those plastic things i tried last year,:D

I have a large shed from which i collect water and also a smaller one as well, as the "big shed" is 10ft in length and has a 3ft depth, i collect plenty in that butt, the smaller shed does not have the same roof area , its only about 5ft long and it has a high pitch so it just doesnt get so wet :skp:

Any way i am trying to get a gutter the other side of the shed aswell so i will then get another butt ,its against the fence so its going to be difficult to get the gutter down,

The greenhouse will then stand behind and against the back of the shed, it will be right side on to the rising sun and i dont lose the sun off the roof until 5pm as i live in a bungalow there isnt much shadow ,and at noon its shining in through the door

 

Sub six months is very swift by my standards too, mines been on the go for a little over 4 years now.
It won`t take you long to do the conny with a mixer i used a wheelbarrow..not fun :wink:
Don`t forget to cover it with something once its laid to keep it from drying out too fast.

 

"i have been trying to post a pic but i ve given up"

No problem. Just to check though, IF you know ow to resize your pictures to be 600 - 800 pixels in the longest direction, and if you know how to reduce the size of the file to be under 97.7K, then you can just attach them to the message - in the Advanced message editor there is a "Manage attachments" button, and you should be able to just "Browse" for the file on your computer's local drive and away you go!

"The greenhouse will then stand behind and against the back of the shed"

If I've pictured it correctly perhaps the shed and greenhouse can both "slope" towards their back ends, and then the water for both gutters can be joined into the same butt? (Indeed, the water from both sides could be "joined" to a butt on one side or the other.

My greenhouse is level (didn't think to build in a small slope for the gutters to run in a particular direction) but I've filled up the gutter with mastic at one end and the water finds its way to the other end - your shed may be able to odo the same?

 

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Looks like the new greenhouse could share the water butt with the shed then - so perhaps consider sloping the base slightly towards the back / shed.

 

The problem with my garden is waterlogging , all the area at the base of the gravel bank floods and part of the grass aswell, the area where the greenhouse is to stand is currently under water,as we had removed the slabs you see in the pics,

We have now gravelled the whole garden as it is just too wet ,everything is in pots, so at the moment we have ground to a halt and i am persevering with the plastic ,doing quite well actually, :hehe:

I have quite a wide front garden so thats for flowers etc and the back is fruit and veg

 

Well we finally had to get "a man in" as my husband is not well and i cannot do concrete, anyway the place we were going to get the mixer from went into liquidation 3 weeks ago !!!:dh:

They are out there as i type ,O.H. supervising and talking a lot ,from his garden chair, and "the man" laying the concrete,:lollol:

He is hoping to get it all down by tonight , so it will dry in the "supposedly" improving weather,so i provided lunch so he wouldn`t stop :hehe:

We have had to fetch more materials as what we had been informed was enough was nowhere near, so i reckon with labour charges and materials the base has cost more than the greenhouse ,but at least the base will be 3" thick .

And all being well by next week i should be up and running , If it doesn`t take 3 months and "a man in" to put it together

 

You don`t want it drying too fast as it`ll weaken the concrete.
It could also shrink and crack, its best to keep it wet and covered for at least 3 days to slow down the curing process.

 

yes we will be watering it with my best watering can

 

Hi Pam,
It`ll be easier with a hose and a fine spray nozzle.
I covered mine with old hessian sacking with poly over that to slow evaporation and hosed the sacking down twice a day for a week. It shouldn`t be allowed to dry out at any time :wink: