DIY Victorian Greenhouse - How I built a small Victorian greenhouse.
Vložit
- čas přidán 7. 08. 2021
- My motivation for a greenhouse, locating a greenhouse, design considerations for a greenhouse and build details of my DIY greenhouse.
1. Motivation and Inspiration for a greenhouse
As a keen gardener all my life I didn’t need convincing of the merits of a greenhouse. Some 10 years back I made a poly hut which severed well until it succumbed to an unseasonably heavy winter snow. In fairness the poly covering needed replacing long before the snow did it for me! This was one of my considerations when looking for a replacement. Polytunnels (or in my case a small 8’ x 8’ hut) are a cost effective way to get plants under cover but it is recommended that the polythene film is replaced every 4 to 5 years to maintain good light levels for the plants. A consideration for me also was that the greenhouse would be in direct line of sight of the house so whatever about the effectiveness of a polytunnel for the plant it is not the most pleasing on the eye!
The next option up from a roll of polythene is polycarbonate sheet. Certainly this material allows for a more ‘traditional’ style of greenhouse and is generally clearer than polythene roll. It probably wasn’t really a consideration for me but after watching the video posted by Eli on ‘The Kitchen Garden with Eli and Kate’ in which she compares the benefits of glass over polycarbonate sheet I didn’t need any more convincing that glass must be my choice!
Ella makes some really good points in her video but the risk of panels ‘blowing away’ and the difficulty of cleaning were deciding factors for me. Watch her full video here - • Which is better polyca...
When it comes to glass greenhouses there are a lot of ‘flat pack’ aluminium frame options to choose from. In my searches the two names that seemed to come up most frequently were Rhino Greenhouses and Halls Greenhouses (both made in Great Britain), some examples of what I was interested in are here:
www.hallsgreenhouses.co.uk/Hal...
www.greenhousesdirect.co.uk/p...
There are a whole range of other cheaper options advertised, many of which seemed equally good, like this one from A1Greenshouses.com
a1greenhouses.ie/product/apollo/
A word of warning though! The initial advertised price for these greenhouses looks attractive but when you add toughened glass (a necessity in my opinion), a different colour frame and ventilation the price really shoots up. Also you need to factor in the cost of putting down a good base, if you don’t already have a sound level site.
However, there was a major issue to consider. They simply were not available! Whether it was due to the gardening boom brought on by Covid-19 lockdowns or the blockage of the Suez canal by the Ever Given I was receiving quotes of 16-20 week deliveries.
In my searches for a greenhouse I came across a bespoke greenhouse builder based at the foot of the Clwydian range in North Wales, Green Bug Ltd. (www.green-bug.co.uk/). Robin McGregor displays a treasure throve of fantastic greenhouses on his site that he has hand built spanning over 10 years. There are just dozens beautiful greenhouses to see but I particularly like his range of ‘small greenhouses’ www.green-bug.co.uk/small-gre...
Robin is a true master of the ‘Victorian’ style greenhouse and from watching his videos I was inspired to attempt my own Victorian greenhouse!
One final consideration was time. In normal times I would not have the luxury of so much time but with nearly 10 hours a week saved in car travel due to ‘working from home’ I decided to invest those hours in a project that would stand long after Covid is gone (hopefully!).
2. Location of a greenhouse
I found that there are many considerations when siting a greenhouse, particularly in a suburban back garden. I suppose starting at the extreme end there is hardly any point considering a greenhouse if you back garden is completely overshadowed and the only direct sunlight landing on your greenhouse would be at best an hour or two. I wanted to grow tomatoes and generally these need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight to grow well and ripen. However, in the practicalities of an established garden with existing structures and features it isn’t always feasible just to clear the sunniest spot for a greenhouse. Also shelter from wind and convenience of access are also considerations. Having some natural shading may be an advantage as it can prevent the greenhouse from overheating and damaging plants on those (rare) long sunny days.
Eli in her channel ‘The Kitchen Garden with Eli and Kate ’ gives a good overview of location in this video - • Before you buy a green...
Leaving aside ideal considerations I sited my greenhouse roughly where my old polyhut had been located. This location receives 6 hours direct sun from early morning and some dappled sun late in the afternoon. - Jak na to + styl
wow.. after watching sooooo many videos on greenhouses, this is exactly what I wanted to do. Thank you!!
Beautiful 👏👏👏 thanks for sharing
Nice green house. I would have liked to see a more zoomed in video where we could see the fine details.
Lovely job! Many thanks for the acknowledgment. I'm really chuffed that my site was helpful. Your greenhouse looks great and I'm sure you'll have many. many happy years of enjoyment in there.
The only thing bad about this was to build the door to open outward since it’s too tight to work inside with the door open. Great video overall and thanks for sharing this.
Beautiful. Your plants will love their new home.
Thanks Joe M. I think they certainly did as I had the best crop of tomatoes ever!
Beautiful job and very inspiring. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Silvia
A delightful build
Thumbs up sir
That's such a beautiful greenhouse 👍
Decent joinery tbh. I would have use a router to route a channel into the rafters to take the glass rather then a batten behind. but tbh thats just nit picking.
Wow! My dream greenhouse!
That’s beautiful
Lovely
Somewhat expensive compared to a green aluminium 10 by 6 foot with toughened glass (£500, UK prices), but you’d pay an absolute fortune for an off the shelf wooden greenhouse. It’s nice looking, a definite asset for your garden. I’m sure you were right to not go with plexiglass, the toughened glass in my cold frame has suffered appalling abuse from the wind which has destroyed parts of the frame, without breaking.
Gorgeous
Thanks Cari
Wonderful! Very informative notes. Thanks for sharing. Could you please tell be about the music in your video? I love it.
Nice job
Thanks Joey.
Beautiful! Are you able to share the measurements from your build please?
I want to build a nice green house too.
That's fab
Hi, so a beautiful greenhouse and a handy man. What kind of glass and how thick are they for roof? How do you prevent roof glass from breaking?
Thanks Norman. All the glass is 4mm toughened, including the roof. The great thing about toughened glass is that you can go with larger panes and not have to worry about them breaking (hopefully!).
Hi, great video. Thinking of building a greenhouse myself and was wondering what type of wood you used
I used a planed Scandinavian pine (aka read deal). Glued up pieces when needed thicker of longer sections.
Great job! Did you make it by your own plan? Or was it a kit?
Thanks Andrej. No it wasn't a kit, everything made by hand (with a few power tools!). I drew up the plans myself but in fairness I took inspiration from others who build greenhouses for a living.
What size glass panels did you use? I am trying to build something just like this but am unsure of what size I should make the glass panels.
The larger roof panels are 1230 mm x 515 mm. The side panels are 1165 x 480. Basically, all panels were 'cut to size' once frame complete.
I tried to keep the size of the panels in proportion to the overall build. I did at one stage on my drawings have just three panels on the side but felt it just didn't look right.
Just to note I specifically went for 4mm toughened glass so that go for larger single panes, as well as for safety.
Can you di a close up explanation of whats holding the roof panels of glass? It was hard to tell
The roof rafters are rebated and the glass sits on a mastic glazing strip which holds it in place. I finished with a quadrant trim on edge of glass just for extra security.
Lovely, where did you get the roof trim?
I got the copper sheet from a local roofing company that do zinc and copper roofing. It was an off cut they trimmed to size for me.
How did you make the seal between glass and wood?
I used a 15mm butyl glazing strip which comes on a roll. Fixed this first to the rebate on the frame and then pressed in the glass panel. Very strong adhesion but I did add some timber strips on inside for added security.
@@DiggerDan09 I'm familiar with butyl, I've seen it on construction sites plenty of times, I hadn't thought of it being a good deal for glazing, thanks!
How much did it cost to build that?
The glass was the dearest item at €550, as it is 4mm toughened. I did have some panes of glass already so didn't have buy all glazing. The timber I bought was about €250 but I did have some in the workshop. Bricks and paving cost about €150, again I had some already. Fixings and other bits probably around another €150.
So I paid out probably around €1,100. I didn't charge for my labour as I was doing it for fun!
Very nice ,beautiful job. But I thinks it’s too small.
Thanks Samuel. No question this is a small greenhouse at 2m x 2m but great things come in small packages! The reality was that if time and budget allowed I would have gone bigger. But I have to say that I was surprised as to how much I fitted in, eight tomato plants, one chili plant and half dozen pots of herbs.
oh god the walls arent straight
how much did it cost?
I spent €1200 approx. on materials, about half of this was on the glass. However, I did already have some the wood, some fixings and salvaged glass which I was able to use. If I was to buy all the material I used new I guess that would add another €400 to materials cost.
Hi! May I ask where do you buy the glass materials? Are you also based in Europe? Thank you
make the door open outwards
Exactly. I was going to write him this suggestion, until I saw yours. Why waste the space in a SMALL greenhouse!
Thanks Tony for the feedback. I did consider which way the door should open but settled on an inwards opening door for a couple of reasons. Primarily, I was concerned that swinging outwards the door could get caught in a gust of wind and damage it. Secondly, I took a lot of my inspiration for the design from looking at old greenhouses and inwards opening doors seemed to predominate.
My intention was to leave a central path clear and plant out on either side. I want good head height when I work in the greenhouse so I probably would not use the space of the door swing either way but understand your suggestion.