Cheap Way of Building a Green House
Green house kits cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. The trouble is, unless you hire a handyman at twenty or more dollars per hour, you still have to put it together yourself, so you're not saving any effort. But if your goal is to build a functional greenhouse as cheaply as possible, there are several low cost types that make the most of inexpensive materials. Does this Spark an idea?
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Converted Shed
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If you have a shed or other sort of outbuilding on your property already, you might have a greenhouse in the making at a substantially reduced cost as opposed to constructing one from scratch. Purchasing frame materials can incur major costs in greenhouse construction. Stripping the roof, and maybe walls too, leaves you with a perfect frame over which to put hard plastic, glass or polyethylene plastic through which sunlight can pass. If your shed is not critical to your lifestyle, at least consider if it might be inexpensively converted to a greenhouse.
PVC Pipe Frame
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A functional greenhouse can be built from PVC pipe, a few two-by-fours, and cheap polyethylene plastic covering. The basic frame is built using twenty-foot lengths of plastic pipe bent into the shape of half circles, ends inserted into the ground, spaced apart five feet or so. Use smaller circumference pipe running parallel to the ground and attached to the hoops to maintain good spacing. Build simple wooden frames on either end (don't forget a door), and drape the whole thing with rolls of plastic, using bricks, logs, or other heavy materials to hold the plastic against the ground.
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Wooden Frame
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Most lumber yards have a nice selection of cheap two-by-four lumber. Ask for the economy grade. It won't stand up to a beating with a sledgehammer but it should be adequate for cheap greenhouse purposes. A simple frame style for walls works fine. The roof doesn't need to be fancy but remember to include some sort of angle to the roof to ensure snow doesn't accumulate and properly drains away. You're going to be scavenging cheap plastic, glass, or buying inexpensive rolls of plastic to cover the frame with, and don't need a greenhouse collapse during inclement weather.
Lean To
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A lean-to type greenhouse can save a bundle in material cost because there is one entire side that you don't have to worry about building. Lean-to greenhouses can be built against your house, garage, or outbuilding. The principle is simple. Imagine a rectangular greenhouse shoved up against another structure, with that structure's wall playing the role of one of the greenhouse walls.
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References
- Photo Credit greenhouse image by ann triling from Fotolia.com
