$200 DIY Greenhouse

Yup, that's right, a DIY Greenhouse for just under $200. The 6 mil plastic was half the cost. $98

$200 might be a bit low as I had some stuff, but it's pretty close.

The good news is I have enough plastic to completely cover the thing (tops and ends) 3 times. So I guess I am good to go on future plastic

Here is what I am building (this is not mine, just from plans i found on the intrawebz)



and here are the parts (forgot to drag the plastic out for the photo, you'll see it later )



8 - 20' 3/4" PVC pipes
1 - 16' treated 1 x 6
5 - 12' treated 1 x 6
4 - steel fence posts (i already had these)
1 - 2' x 4' 3/8" treated plywood
1 - 1/2" 10' rebar
and a spare 2 x 10. got more of those i need to dig out...

i already had some wood glue, cable ties, drywall screws and staples.

tools needed: small sledge hammer, table saw(depending on the wood you buy), jigsaw (or hand saw of some sort), grinder (or something to cut rebar) and drill.

i could not find treated wood in 1x3 or 1x4 that were 12 or 16 foot lengths. so i bought 1x6's and will rip them in half on my table saw.
Four of 12 foot 1x6 will be cut in half also, leaving me with 1x3x6'.

the plans also call for some wire running across the frame at different points for support and tension. i will see what i think about it once i build it. i may not add the wire.

another issue i have not yet addressed is venting. in my climate, this is gonna do better in the fall, winter and spring, but i will add some venting. right now, i am considering a passive intake and solar powered fan or two for exhaust.

i will have a raised bed on each side of the greenhouse and doors on each end.

once it is built, i will plumb the beds with pvc coming off one side of my rain water tank you see pictured.

well that's it for now... it's about 1,000 degrees outside right now, so construction may be slow and in intervals.

25+ something days in row over 100


EDIT: added grinder to tools and changed rebar length to 10 ft...

GP, are you going to build the raised beds and then set the green house on top of the beds. That will give you at least 12 inches more head room, if your beds are 12 inches high. Just a thought. I like the green house used to grow veggies for two rich women in a 12 x 48 with 4x8 raised beds it was great. I really want a green house. And the rain water system, Brillant!!!!!!!

thanks pearlemae and i didn't think about putting the greenhouse on top of the raised beds...

that's and interesting idea.

Great job bro, I really love DIY greenhouses!

peace
doublejj

thanks JJ, i follow your thread, it's great. those plants are beautiful

ok, so this morning i wake up to complete cloud cover. literally, haven't seen this in 30 days... it even sprinkled, but nothing measurable not to mention it was evaporating in rain gutter before it could puddle



so the cloud cover got me motivated to hit the greenhouse. temps below 90, woohoo !!!

got the table saw out and ripped my 12' and 16' boards. i cut the other 3 12 footers in half with a circular hand saw then ripped each of those 6 footers on the table saw.

next i cut the rebar into 18" lengths. and so my wood and rebar are ready for construction.





by about the time i finished all this the beautiful cloudy, sprinkly morning was about to give way to sunshine . Everything was about to change and go back to scorched earth conditions... literally, look at the ground by the time i placed the end hoops in place on 1 x 3 x 12' treated wood, the sun was in full force looking to kill some more




i laid out the door frame wood and brace wood, but by that time i lost my inspiration to go any further.

i'm back in the A/C now, construction currently on hold

Cant wait to see it up. I may copy it get ready for some question

After bending the 3/4" pvc are you happy with that size? If I understand correctly the house is 12' wide? How tall does that make it with the 20' pvc?

Canada said:

Cant wait to see it up. I may copy it get ready for some question

Click to expand...

no problem, check your PM's...

supersmallgiant said:

After bending the 3/4" pvc are you happy with that size? If I understand correctly the house is 12' wide? How tall does that make it with the 20' pvc?

Click to expand...

i am, the plan recommended 3/4" and i was afraid 1 inch would not be quite as flexible as i needed.

it's about 7-8 foot tall...

here is a picture i took later in the day. just laid some wood out to sort of frame each end piece.

when the sun relents again, i will continue

One of the most important parts of any greenhouse is ventilation. This is true even in the cold Winter months.

The best setup is a STRONG exhaust fan at one end and self-opening vents at the other end of the greenhouse.

You can find good deals on used exhaust fans on Craigslist sometimes.

Your greenhouse is off to a good start. Please keep us informed.

What part of the country are you located in?

thanks ElPiloto...

i will use your plan with an exhaust on one end and passive intake vent on the other. i was gonna go with an exhaust on each end and intakes on both ends, but your method sounds like better overall air movement...

and i am in the south central part of the country...

I saw on the weather channel large portion of the south central US were in what they called in an "exceptional" drought, worse even than extreme drought. I think they made up the category for that region this year as I'd never heard of it before. That landscape pictured must be something close to "exceptional" drought. Is there usually agriculture out there?

Good luck finding time to finish. Thanks for that top picture

Cappy said:

I saw on the weather channel large portion of the south central US were in what they called in an "exceptional" drought, worse even than extreme drought. I think they made up the category for that region this year as I'd never heard of it before. That landscape pictured must be something close to "exceptional" drought. Is there usually agriculture out there?

Good luck finding time to finish. Thanks for that top picture

Click to expand...

Hey Cappy

it's bad here, approaching the worst heat in 30 years...

in this part of the country there is a lot of agriculture, this land produces hay...

the ag around here is corn, wheat, hay, at least those are the big hitters. wheat and corn are harvested already.

hay is harvested twice a year, but this year it might just be the earlier harvest as nothing but deep rooted tree's are green at this point.

i'll find the time to finish. it will rain eventually and we'll get some more cloud cover we do have all of august left however

Good to go almost! I like to see DIY, but $200 seems a bit much for a self built GH....I bought mine on Amazon for under 100. But perhaps yours will be long lasting, the one I got is definitely not the best quality but will hold up for a couple of seasons.

Bummer its so hot, I have family in south central and I hate the heat, shit sometimes I complain about how hot it is in SD lol. Keep up the good work, I like the motivation! PEACE

i don't see how i could have built it to much cheaper. i did use treated wood, but that is so it will last longer.

we will see, but assuming some bad ass weather (and we get that here ) doesn't kill it, it should last several years before needing new plastic, but i have plenty... in fact if you want to total up the actual cost of parts on the greenhouse, it would be $130. but as mentioned earlier i had to buy a huge roll of plastic in order to cover the greenhouse with a solid piece...

If you look on craigslist you can find carport frames for next to nothing. Cover it with plastic, you would have a metal one. You can put the carport frame together in a few minutes & they're 9' tall.

peace
doublejj

doublejj said:

If you look on craigslist you can find carport frames for next to nothing. Cover it with plastic, you would have a metal one. You can put the carport frame together in a few minutes & they're 9' tall.

peace
doublejj

Click to expand...

i'll have to check around and see what i can find...

oops, double post

doublejj said:

If you look on craigslist you can find carport frames for next to nothing.

Click to expand...

Yeah, you exaggerate. He just said the cost of the plastic was the most imoportant part. There is no way you find a portable carport on craigslist for $25, if you could find one at all. And it wouldnt be a custom design, the garden would have to adapt to the greenhouse instead of the other way around.