This is my first time posting here, I have enjoyed and been impressed with all the helpful information supplied here. Ok my question is this, my sons just bought a house on an acre of land, and the previous owners left behind some neat things, like several large 3/8 inch thick sheets of glass, about 4'x 6' size and some different sized windows. My son's don't have much use for these and I was wondering if they could be used to build a green house on the south side of my house, would like about an 10'x12' size. Would use fiber glass panels for the roof. Was wondering if anyone has any plans of this nature they could share. Have a very low budget to work with so cost is definatly a major factor. Thanks for any opinions and info offered about this. Oh, I live in New Mexico, in the mountains east of Albuquerque, we do get snow, up to 18 inches at times and the tempature is currently around 24 degrees so yes we get freezes and cold weather at times.

-- Colleen Saenz (bosque72@msn.com), November 29, 2001

Answers

Hi Colleen, You could make a small greenhouse/porch. I have a southern facing enclosed porch off of my house here in NE and I still have lettuce growing out there, as well as other plants. The porch has southern windows and gets quite warm. I would seriously rig it to have screens in the summer, or you will have a boiling room. :o) Good Luck!

-- notnow (notnow@blabla.com), November 29, 2001.

Colleen, if you play this wright, your two biggest expenses could already layed to rest,you've got the glass and if your boys would help out Mom. 2x4 framing with stops nailed on will recieve the glass nicely. And if you're wright about the glass thickness, spanning 4' vertical is no problem.I'm in northern NV. and just finished my hothouse which also covers the pool, so the heated pool will help with warmth and humidity for my Avocado trees, Lemon,Oranges and other stuff to fragile for this God's country weather. good luck

-- Raymond Gray (rorlgray@graytv.com), November 29, 2001.

Colleen, I agree-your biggest expense has been met!! We also were lucky enough to find some old windows at a place a brother-in-law bought-the old kind with individual panes-wooden frames. We had an old broiler pen-just added 2x4's and screwed the windows to it. The old screen door had plexiglass added and with lights and a heater-run only on really cold days(30 this morning in East Texas), it works great!! Usually start my tomatoes, peppers,etc right after Christmas. Good Luck!! susie

-- susie yeager (susiemby@samlink.com), November 30, 2001.

We had built a greenhouse porch over the back deck a few years ago. It consists of 3 big sliding glass patio doors that we had found at a yard sale, the 2 on the sides are identical. It's about 8' x 8', 2x4 framing and some plywood making up the gaps, couple of strips of plexiglass beside the front door. The roof is a couple panels of that corrugated plastic panelling. When you put this thing together, leave some strips of wood sticking out about 2 inches from the glass level to staple clear plastic sheeting to. The layer of air really insulates it in winter, making it much cheaper to heat.

If we had ours to do over again, I would probably remove the deck which is about 18 inches off the ground, and set it directly on a foundation on the ground. The floor would either be concrete with a drain or a 12 inch bed of fine gravel, so that spills can drain away. We put a couple layers of styrofoam and plastic on the deck, and a piece of old carpet on top of that. The cold still comes up from underneath.

For the new greenhouse that we bought in spring, we insulated the lower part of it with the "bubblewrap" insulation, it's like sheets of bubblewrap with aluminum foil on both sides. We've stripped out the old plastic sheeting inside the porch, I'm going to use this bubblewrap stuff everywhere where there isn't glass. Not only insulates but reflects a lot of brightness.

-Chelsea

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), November 30, 2001.