Great photos Mike. Thanks for showing us. So if I may ask about costs. What do you think this project ran you? What was the most expensive piece. I like that you used 1" pvc which seems affordable. My bet is that the electronics to heat it cost the most. I'd love doing this myself, but it's probably costly for me right now.

Thanks,
Dave

Great job, Mike!!!!
Lonnie

hey Dave,

we re-purposed a lot of stuff from my previous greenhouse and things I had already. Im and electrician so the pipe, some fittings, straps, and stakes I had. The exhaust fan I made from an old floor fan I had. I wouldnt use anything less than 1" PVC. considering the cost difference between it and 3/4" is minimal and the strength is so much better I would never use anything less. You cant see them but in between the hoops at the peak we used T's and X's to tie them together. That plus the hip boards really makes it sturdy.

The big ticket items we had to buy specifically for this one would be
plastic-$60 online
fan louver-$45 lowes
lumber-about $120-150
20kbtu NG heater-$50 craiglist lucky score.
plumber-$160 neighbor
gravel-$100 local supplier

with these and some of the smaller things we have about $600-$650 in it. Not to bad I think. Its far from pretty compared to some of the wonderful houses I have seen here but it works well for us.

Mike

Thanks Lonny, we must have posted at the same time

Wow Mike, That is reasonable for me. I might look into it a bit more now.

Thanks,
Dave

it helped that our natural gas meter is only about 15' away. We put the greenhouse that close on purpose to save the plumber cost. Had it been any further we may have just stuck to electric with a propane back up.

Great work, Mike! Looks very sturdy. And you made yourself a little sitting area to retreat to when you want to imagine yourself in the tropics, lol.

Your adenium seems to be unaware winter's on its way.

Thanks Jandy

that one and the one here at my office just keep going. The one here at work hasnt seen the sun in about a month and still has every leaf on it and a bloom! I guess it must be happy. My moms had a seed pod open last week and she was in heaven planting the seeds.

mike

Set up looks great! You can retreat in there when the weather is cold to spend time with your plants and also keep warm ;) good to see you have some pinapples bananas citrus and desert roses too :) If only i had a banana tree and then i would have the same :) might be the next plant i go get :P

Sarah

Is it just me or is having a chair, minibar, pots and pans in your greenhouse about perfect?

Hey Mike,
that NG heater looks like a 'no vent' heater, similar to the one I have. Have you tested it? How well does it work?

George

Thanks Sarah, It is wonderful to go out when it cold.

K, chairs are a must im opinion. I will have to get more adult beverages out there, LOL

George,
so far it seems to be working great. We were a bit concerned about not having enough fresh air but seems to be fine. Its a 20k BTU with thermostat. I wish the stat was more precise but with a few days of tinkering we are able to get it to kick on at the temps we want.

mike

Hey Mike,
be careful with that heater. Mine are the same brand and they do not work very well. You really do not run out of oxygen. The oxygen depletion sensor kicks in and cuts off the heater. Watch out when it is below freezing outside. Mine always cutoff in the middle of the night when it is below freezing. I use electric heaters instead. I turn on those heaters to supply extra heat when it is freezing and when they cut off it is OK because the electric heaters keep the greenhouses from freezing. I have read of many people having the same problems with those. So be careful. You do not want to end up with a greenhouse full of frozen plants.

George

Thanks George. We have an electric heater setup up to come on at 50 degrees as a back up. Hopefully we won't need it.
Mike

Mike!!!! I am in shock and so this is where you have been hiding!

I don't know how to put into words how impressed I am with what you have done pal! Bravo! Look at what we do for our plants, right?

Mike, is that the Fafard mix you used in your Plumeria pots? It looks nice and open. What mix is that and do you like it? I am very proud of you buddy and in fact, I wonder if you like that set-up better than the one you had at your other home?

Fantastic Mike:-)))))

MIke

Mike. Thanks for the kind words. It is a wonderful place to retreat to and de-stress. Its about 3 times the size of my old one and its already too small LOL. That is the fafard. Its actually 5 parts fafard 52 and 1 part coarse perlite. So far it works great. Holds just enough for our extreme heat but still drains great.

Mike

nice setup Mike.