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Lean-to Greenhouse - Slope or Tiers?

mailtonyhinemailtonyhine Posts: 4
in Problem solving
I want to install a lean-to greenhouse against a wall. The wall itself is nice and vertical, but the land it is on has a gentle slope. So I'm trying to decide whether to just install the lean-to and follow the slope and have a sloping greenhouse, or should I build it with level tiers, staggered at different heights.  Any observations welcome! 

Posts

  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Hello
    I think that having a greenhouse on a slope maybe difficult for you being inside and working. Being able to stand upright and work on a potting table etc is far easier than having feet and legs at different angles.
    Great though to have a greenhouse with so much potential.
  • mailtonyhinemailtonyhine Posts: 4
    Thank you Mabel, that's a good point....
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I'd dig out the ground if you can, to make it level. Having the floor at different levels is asking for accidents.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    You're going to have the ideal format, something proprietary models seldom have so, as others have said, a sideways sloping 'floor' could be risky, but all you need to do is lay a row of bricks the length of the house on the low side of where you in tend to walk.  A row of paving slabs, evened up by having one side on the bricks, will solve the safety problem.  Don't forget to either paint the back wall white, or even line it with aluminium foil, to reflect as much heat from the sun as possible.  You can also run a wire just underneath the highest point to support a grape vine where it won't interfere with anything else.  Must be planted OUTSIDE, then taken inside and trained up to the roof to run along the wire.
  • mailtonyhinemailtonyhine Posts: 4
    Thank you all for your excellent advice. I have  purchased the greenhouse, I think it's 1950 era, it's absolutely beautiful and in excellent condition. I mean what can go wrong with glass! Mind you I will probably break some taking it down! The points about having a level floor are excellent. It is divided in several sections with internal doors along it's length, it's long and thin. I should be able to make each section at a different level and have a step in the doorways.
  • mailtonyhinemailtonyhine Posts: 4
    nick615 said:
    grape vine .... Must be planted OUTSIDE, then taken inside
    Thank you for that useful tip, I will look into that.
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