Blog from a greenhouse builder

3 Days graft - time for a cuppa!

26/3/2011

Just returned from another one in Devon. Fantastic weather the whole time and the thoroughly enjoyed putting all the greenhouse together after all the building (and painting - thanks Sarah) back at the workshop. Some people hadn’t realised but everything is hand made - the finials are hand-turned on the lathe and all the trims, windows and doors are hand-built with pegged and mortice and tennoned joints.

Glad to get back though - 3 days graft and I was ready for a nice cup of tea!

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Henllan - North Wales

21/3/2011

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Over the pig-sty?

It’s nice to be a little closer to home this time. This is going to need a few visits so I’ll need to be.

The owners have wanted a greenhouse for over 20 years! This one is going to be set on 4 walls - all of varying heights, widths and lengths - and the tallest wall is curved! Nice to have a challenge.

I’m going to let this greenhouse be a simple structure though and get around the curved wall by having the last gable cut at an angle. The views from inside the greenhouse are amazing and the low ground level will give the owner privacy and the large stone walls will store up a lot of heat to radiate for the plants into the evening.

Copies of the plans I sketched to show how the greenhouse might sit on the existing walls

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Award winning garden - Devon

18/3/2011

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wish I’d taken a photo when I arrived - before I could start I dug out a hedge and large raised bed which were directly where the base of this new greenhouse will stand. Managed to still get it done on my own in 3 days though although had to think carefully about how to get the large slate slabs set level which the owner decided they would re-use from their old kitchen.

This is going to be a lovely greenhouse. It’s 5m long by 3m wide so the same proportions as the Bridgewater job before Christmas. However this will have a lot more detail - crested ridge and windows that open along the sides not just the roof and rear gable.

Wonderful colour - Green Smoke from the Farrow and Ball colour chart. I thought it was going to look a bit too bold but after seeing it outside it’s my favourite colour by far.

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Hillside location - rendered greenhouse - Chepstow

12/3/2011

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This construction is going to be one of those nice porch greenhouses with the cold frames either side. It’s a little different in having the sides rendered to match the owner’s existing house and garage - the render’s still drying off in the photos and will have a good coating of breathable paint when complete.

It was also a little challenging in being half set within a rising bank - so I had to remove about 3 ton of soil to get it level (it doesn’t look like much from the photos but the foundations are half a metre deeper at the rear). After waiting for the bricks to properly set for a couple of weeks the trench around the wall will be filled in so the greenhouse properly becomes part of the land!

I’m really looking forward to getting back here but it’s going to be a few weeks - I’m off to Devon to build another large base next week, then Devon again to complete the installation of one already started (see link). Then Milton Keynes and finally to the east coast to complete one I started a couple of weeks ago in a beautiful location beside a stream. An exciting few weeks then - I’ll post photos of each on my weekly returns.