Blog from a greenhouse builder

Gatwick, South London

28/3/2014

Some people have clay soil - I do! It’s harder work than other soil but that’s ok. But this is the only time I have encountered SOLID CLAY. It doesn’t compare - you don’t dig it, you can’t use a mattock, you just shave bits off then have to get both hands on your spade to peel each bit off. Then it starts hailing, and raining, and the mixer breaks down - and then the van breaks down!

OK - winge over, this one was trying but I got there in the end. Thankfully that hard part is over and I can return in a few weeks with the structure and glass to put the top on.

For this one you will need...

25 bags of concrete mix
15 bags of cement
24 concrete paving slabs
14 bags of gravel
360 heritage facing bricks
160 engineering bricks
33 solid concrete blocks
1 tonne of sand /30 bags

What an amazing setting though folks - that’s a swimming pond you can see there and it lights up in the evening. I was there until 10:30 one night and it’s the most tranquil sight.

0 Comments

Woking - and the sound of breaking glass

21/3/2014

0 Comments

This week I returned to Woking and built one of my most popular and favourite greenhouses - the 5m by 3.5m with cold frames and porch. This one has crested ridge - it’s always a long job to hand-cut and paint these but they do look worth it in the end.

You’ve seen this greenhouse a few times on my website - I’ve taken photos of every stage of the build, produced time-lapse video and loads of photographs showing all areas, inside and out....

So,for something different, this week’s video is:-
Breaking Glass
All Green Bug greenhouses are fitting with toughened glass.

I wanted to demonstrate, just for your piece of mind, just how tough this stuff really is.

0 Comments

Listed lean-to in Bury St Edmunds

6/3/2014

0 Comments

It took a couple of attempts before we settled on this design for the greenhouse. My customers weren’t sure which side to have the door.... and I really didn’t want the span to be 3m or more as the supporting structure gets so complicated (and costly).

I think this design does everything.

I’ll be building all the rafters from 4x2 timber rather than the normal 2x2. It’s going to be a tough/robust/chunky but classy greenhouse.

That wall you see there is listed - that tree behind it...you need written permission to cut off a branch - so you can imagine the paperwork in getting a greenhouse built. My customers asked the planning officer if they could build a Green Bug greenhouse before even buying the property....!

I’d better make a good job of this one then.

So above I’ve marked out the footprint for the new greenhouse and loaded all the materials around it.We’ve got to use a very specific blend of two bricks to give a gentle varied pattern of colour and use white/lime mortar to match the traditional construction materials here.

Next job to level off that interior floor.

I dig that all out, lay aggregate and weedblock sheeting, flag out the interior and lay gravel to the sides to allow a place for pots and washing down.

The top couple of inches of soil were good with a nice lot of small worms - so I saved that for the raised bed inside.

It’s great to get to this point of the build where everything is tidy again and you can see what you are getting for your money.

The size of this greenhouse seems just right for this space too.

The council want the greenhouse to be an obviously new / quite distinct addition to the wall but to have the materials and design to be traditional.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how the whole structure looks when I return to fit the bespoke, lean-to greenhouse to those walls.

Next week - in the workshop then back down to Woking...

0 Comments

Nationwide

Gatwick, South London

Woking - and the sound of breaking glass

Listed lean-to in Bury St Edmunds

Click on each
heading to see the full story.....

Archives

Green Bug Ltd

Nationwide

Gatwick, South London

Woking - and the sound of breaking glass

Listed lean-to in Bury St Edmunds

Click on eachheading to see the full story.....

Archives

Green Bug Ltd

Click on each
heading to see the full story.....