have you got room to erect your greenhouse away from your foundations, you should then with a bit of help be able to lift the stucture (minus the glass) it will give you a better idea of whatyour dealing with, my greenhouse has been moved by removing the glass and two of us have picked it up no problem
Right - sorted. This evening - with a heavy heart - I knocked down my square/level breezeblock wall which essentially cost £25 in blocks and £15 in sand/cement and more importantly 2 days of time and an aching back.
I was about to screw the first part of the base..the front part.. when it just looked so..close to the edge ( has to be for the sliding door ) and was just slightly out ...so i thought..clearly this is just the start of my problems.
So, a hammer in hand..i now have an impressive amount of rubblie in my garden. I have already laid the few of 3 sections of new cement..level this time. To form my base.
Hopefully, if the weather holds, I will be in a position to lay the base, cement it in ( seeing as my new cement will hardly have set yet )..and perhaps next week start building my greenhouse.
I think it was for the best dont you! Thanks for all the advice.
Honestly, I've been there where you just wish you'd thought of something before you did what you'd percieved as the way forward! The easiest way around the whole step 'problem' is to fashion a ramp that takes the path to level with the step. The longer you make the ramp, the less angle it will be. I find I tend to hit the step on the way in, as opposed to on the way out. Greenhouses are very exacting things, if you want them to stay up, they have to be level, and they have to be square, otherwise the glass won't fit, or they run into problems after a year or two. It really is totally worth taking twice as long to start with, because then you don't have to worry about stability etc in the future.
Cutting the frame full stop is plain madness. It is suprising I know that a GH derives it's strength from the base, but it is the rectangle that indeed maintains the vast majority of the stability. I have an aluminium base which when I was constructing was shaped like a banana and was bendy as hell. However having been inside during 20mph+ winds, the frame and the base act as 'suspension', it allows the GH to move a little, this is why cutting it in my book would be asking for trouble.
Anyways good luck mate, you'll be glad when it's all done and you're inside pottering about while it's hammering down outside. (just like me today!)
I bought a 12ft x 8ft secondhand greenhouse a year ago and like you i wanted the extra height so as not to bang my head on my hanging baskets as i had done in a previous greenhouse id owed. so i added a row of breezeblocks on edge, the greenhouse came with an aluminium base which i drilled holes in every 18inches and used 100mm self tapping screws and rawlplugs as in the photo previously posted.It doesnt move, even in 60mph winds.
I had the same thoughts about the step, especially as id raised it up by 150mm on the block and a further 100mm on the aluminium base but cutting any of the base bars would weaken the structure so much that the when you added the glass the weight would cause the sides either side of the door to splay outwards, this may be lessened by the screws along the base but i wouldnt trust it in a gale.
As per previous comments, its the base that holds the whole structure together, it may only be thin strips but i promise you cutting it will be a disaster waiting to happen and a waste of £500 not to mind how you'd feel if it injured a loved one if they were inside.
I built a step outside mine and laid a slab path down the centre of the GH raised up so as to lessen the step.
Finally... sliding doors need to have both top and bottom runners, if you were to remove the bottom runner your doors would buckle, the glass would get damaged/ broken
If this is really going to bother you that much you'd need to get a tig welder in to rebuild the whole door section and to fit a hinged door.
Ive built 4 greenhouses and dismantled 3 so i have experience with these structures.
Hi. Just one last thing to mention, before the erecting and placement, but fear it may just be a tad late. Have you sufficient room around the outside to place one, two, three or more water butts all connected in series, so when it surely rains, you have free water from each side of your greenhouse, filling up your butts. You can never have too many. I actually have space for 9x40+ gallons each, some hold much more than 40. I guarantee you may regret later on if you can't put some around for this free water supply.
Just another spanner in the proverbial works. Sorry!!!
Hi. Just one last thing to mention, before the erecting and placement, but fear it may just be a tad late. Have you sufficient room around the outside to place one, two, three or more water butts all connected in series, so when it surely rains, you have free water from each side of your greenhouse, filling up your butts. You can never have too many. I actually have space for 9x40+ gallons each, some hold much more than 40. I guarantee you may regret later on if you can't put some around for this free water supply.
Just another spanner in the proverbial works. Sorry!!!
J
not really, they look great along the side of the ramp!
Posts
have you got room to erect your greenhouse away from your foundations, you should then with a bit of help be able to lift the stucture (minus the glass) it will give you a better idea of whatyour dealing with, my greenhouse has been moved by removing the glass and two of us have picked it up no problem
Right - sorted. This evening - with a heavy heart - I knocked down my square/level breezeblock wall which essentially cost £25 in blocks and £15 in sand/cement and more importantly 2 days of time and an aching back.
I was about to screw the first part of the base..the front part.. when it just looked so..close to the edge ( has to be for the sliding door ) and was just slightly out ...so i thought..clearly this is just the start of my problems.
So, a hammer in hand..i now have an impressive amount of rubblie in my garden. I have already laid the few of 3 sections of new cement..level this time. To form my base.
Hopefully, if the weather holds, I will be in a position to lay the base, cement it in ( seeing as my new cement will hardly have set yet )..and perhaps next week start building my greenhouse.
I think it was for the best dont you! Thanks for all the advice.
Honestly, I've been there where you just wish you'd thought of something before you did what you'd percieved as the way forward! The easiest way around the whole step 'problem' is to fashion a ramp that takes the path to level with the step. The longer you make the ramp, the less angle it will be. I find I tend to hit the step on the way in, as opposed to on the way out. Greenhouses are very exacting things, if you want them to stay up, they have to be level, and they have to be square, otherwise the glass won't fit, or they run into problems after a year or two. It really is totally worth taking twice as long to start with, because then you don't have to worry about stability etc in the future.
Cutting the frame full stop is plain madness. It is suprising I know that a GH derives it's strength from the base, but it is the rectangle that indeed maintains the vast majority of the stability. I have an aluminium base which when I was constructing was shaped like a banana and was bendy as hell. However having been inside during 20mph+ winds, the frame and the base act as 'suspension', it allows the GH to move a little, this is why cutting it in my book would be asking for trouble.
Anyways good luck mate, you'll be glad when it's all done and you're inside pottering about while it's hammering down outside. (just like me today!)
garjobo, good luck with it.
I bought a 12ft x 8ft secondhand greenhouse a year ago and like you i wanted the extra height so as not to bang my head on my hanging baskets as i had done in a previous greenhouse id owed. so i added a row of breezeblocks on edge, the greenhouse came with an aluminium base which i drilled holes in every 18inches and used 100mm self tapping screws and rawlplugs as in the photo previously posted.It doesnt move, even in 60mph winds.
I had the same thoughts about the step, especially as id raised it up by 150mm on the block and a further 100mm on the aluminium base but cutting any of the base bars would weaken the structure so much that the when you added the glass the weight would cause the sides either side of the door to splay outwards, this may be lessened by the screws along the base but i wouldnt trust it in a gale.
As per previous comments, its the base that holds the whole structure together, it may only be thin strips but i promise you cutting it will be a disaster waiting to happen and a waste of £500 not to mind how you'd feel if it injured a loved one if they were inside.
I built a step outside mine and laid a slab path down the centre of the GH raised up so as to lessen the step.
Finally... sliding doors need to have both top and bottom runners, if you were to remove the bottom runner your doors would buckle, the glass would get damaged/ broken
If this is really going to bother you that much you'd need to get a tig welder in to rebuild the whole door section and to fit a hinged door.
Ive built 4 greenhouses and dismantled 3 so i have experience with these structures.
its your call but i know what i would do
Hi. Just one last thing to mention, before the erecting and placement, but fear it may just be a tad late. Have you sufficient room around the outside to place one, two, three or more water butts all connected in series, so when it surely rains, you have free water from each side of your greenhouse, filling up your butts. You can never have too many. I actually have space for 9x40+ gallons each, some hold much more than 40. I guarantee you may regret later on if you can't put some around for this free water supply.
Just another spanner in the proverbial works. Sorry!!!
J
not really, they look great along the side of the ramp!
I agree; the little water butt on the end of my G/H is really useful.