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Greenhouse base

vallack38vallack38 Posts: 15
in Garden design
I have ordered a greenhouse - basic aluminium 6+x5+feet - and my son is going to lay the base of sand and shingle for me.   Has anyone got any tips on doing this?   My first greenhouse aged nearly 70 is very exciting and I want to make sure son does his job properly!!!  Thanks.

Posts

  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    This is just how we did ours, others may have better suggestions.  We cut some treated railway sleepers (not Creosote!) into the same shape as the greenhouse, and sank them into the ground.  We then screwed the greenhouse to that. 

    We then infilled the middle of the greenhouse with some paving (which is the square section), which was fixed on a mortar base.  We left a couple of planting holes (the odd shaped geometric holes), so that we could plant directly into the soil from inside the greenhouse, but we have subsequently filled those in with gravel.

     
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I also used railway sleepers as an (external) frame for my poly tunnel, filled the centre with sand, compacted it and laid paving slabs directly on the sand. My PT is not that heavy a structure though, for greenhouses and sheds, the usual advice is to make the slabbed base bigger than the footprint of the GC, so it extends about a foot all-round for stability. 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • Forester_PeteForester_Pete Posts: 175
    Being a little on the tall side for my current big greenhouse and my previous ones more like yours I wanted to raise the base somewhat. The last one was flat ground so I laid some breeze blocks upright on a thin concrete layer and built the greenhouse on top of that. This one being a lot bigger and sloping ground my builder did the same but with a lot more footings. I really appreciate the extra height so I can move about move easily.
  • vallack38vallack38 Posts: 15
    Thanks everyone for answers.  They will all be put into melting pot until said greenhouse arrives. 
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    Ours is on bricks in footings , with a central path. The beds are soil covered with membrane to keep weeds out, and we plant in tubs on this which means its easier to use as plants are higher and can be moved around. Easy to change soil at end of season, and move summer bedding into the greenhouse to overwinter. 😁 
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