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Relentless rain for weeks on end have made it difficult to build outside but I had a clear day today - so I laid timber over the pad stones I use to mock up greenhouses to form a temporary deck. Knowing that it is perfectly level I used this to build up the gable ends of a complicated greenhouse. This one has two varying pitches - a 40deg short roof at the front and a long, shallow 30deg at the rear. I'm excited about this interesting build. I'll be building this one on site shortly.  
 This one is built in standard tanalised timber (structural grade) painted with a German made breathable polycarbonate paint (Profilan Impra) in a Farrow & Ball colour (De Nimes). I hand lathed the finials from timber stock and made everything from stock timber back in the workshop in Wales.
My customers have chosen the colour De Nimes from the new Farrow & Ball colour range for their greenhouse - you can have any colour you want. I'll be back here in a few weeks to set the greenhouse on this base and install the cold frames.  This is the "Tim" greenhouse - 4m long, 3.5m wide (including the porch which project by 1m). The porch is slightly less wide that the main structure which brings the ridge line just down a little at the front - I think this makes it look more interesting. It also makes sure you have plenty of height for a full 2m high door.
 This job was a little more challenging because a builder had already constructed the large rear wall. On my first visit (click here to read that) I built the rest of the dwarf walls to match in. I had to make sure that I measured the height and depth of the rear wall exactly. I also built that sides of the greenhouse much higher than normal as determined by the rear wall height.
  
Dear Robin,
Thank you so much for again for our wonderful greenhouse. We are so pleased with it and know it will give us years of pleasure. We were so impressed with all the stages of work and much enjoyed having you around! We wish we have something else for you to build! Please do come back next year and see it fully functioning - you will be very welcome. With many thanks and best wishes Rebecca and Peter This is going to be one of my most interesting projects.
 It's helpful that my approach is always to build the base first - that way I can be sure of measurements before I start. In this case I found that the concrete slab was very uneven and sloped away by around 6 inches to the front. I built the walls up to a level point by the 3rd course and now it's done I can get on with constructing the rest of the greenhouse.
 My customer immediately made the greenhouse her own, moving in plants, trays and pots - it was a wonderful coincidence that her green shelving unit fitted perfectly under the potting shelf.  The "Mike" greenhouse has 4 auto-opening roof windows, a manual opening window at the rear above the potting station and two-tier shelving included. See more information on this greenhouse and prices by clicking this link.
Building the base for a "Mike" greenhouse this week - 2.2m wide by 2.8m long, with an internal, brick-sided raised bed and brick pathway with gravel to the side.
  I'll brush kiln dried sand into the pathway to complete it once I've put the greenhouse up in a couple of weeks time.
I built the walls for this greenhouse a few weeks ago in all the rain and mud (https://www.green-bug.co.uk/blog-pages/mud-in-gloucestershire). I've included a "before" photo opposite just a reminder that Green Bug greenhouse include all the work involved in building your greenhouse - foundations to the finials, so you don't have to worry about getting other trades in.
  The above shows the flooring is in (just waiting for the kiln dried sand to be brushed in) the shelving in place and the roof verge detail with the rounded leading edges of glass. 
Finally, a word from my customer - "It looks absolutely fantastic and gets huge complements from everyone who sees it. I’m looking forward to the kids leaving for uni so I can get another! You did a really good job, thank you."
 There used to be a greenhouse here but it gradually rotted away and the owners had it removed when it became unsafe. I'm replacing it with an accoya greenhouse, which should never rot and had a guarantee for 50 years and a life expectancy in excess of 60 years. The glass is toughened so it's also safe and very secure - and allows me to glaze the roof in one sheet rather than overlapping smaller sections as you would with normal glass.
The tricky bit was building the greenhouse to line up exactly with the line left against the wall so I made a first visit to check the roof angle measurements and to undertake the leadwork. For the first sheets of glass meeting the wall I had them cut so they go around the chimney breast - thankfully they were a perfect fit.   The greenhouse has lots of ventilation - 4 auto-opening roof windows and 4 manual windows along the sides. I re-used the aluminium ridge cresting which had been salvaged from the old greenhouse.
I also added steel bars under the roof to support hanging baskets and built 2 long potting benches along both sides.  |
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