Building a small greenhouse can be a cost effective way to extend your growing season. The challenge has been that most of the kits available online are expensive or the instructions are unclear. I decided to start from scratch and have documented the process if anyone would like to copy the design.
In order to accommodate the raised bed that was already in place, it was necessary to customize some of the measurements. The instructions below are standardized for an 8' x 7' greenhouse, which will reduce the waste from odd size cuts that leave unusable stubs.
PVC
13 - 3/4 x 10' pipe
4 - 90* elbow
16 - 45* elbow
10 - 4 way connector
2 - 3 way connector
Self adhesive Velcro strips - I could not find packages of less than 15', but 8' - 10' should be more than enough
4 mil plastic sheeting
1. Cut PVC pipe into 8 x 5' lengths and establish the front corner of the greenhouse by hammering one of the sections about 6" into the ground. If your foundation is too hard to hammer the PVC down into, you will need to have a way to create a hole. You can also hammer re-bar down into the ground that the PVC will slide down over. The side supports will be 2.5' apart. The front should be 7' between the corner posts.
2. Once the side support posts are in place, cap each with a 4 way connector.
3. Cut PVC pipe into 9 x 2.5' lengths. Use these to connect the side posts. Once all of the connections are made, look down each side and make sure that the sides are straight.
4. Cut PVC into 20 x 1.5" These will be small pieces that are used between 2 different types of connectors. Place one into each of the 4 way connector openings.
2 x 7' pieces which will go in the 90* elbow to provide a cross support bar across the front and rear wall.
Cut small pieces of Velcro and attach to the outside of the corner posts going all the way down and spaced around the outer supports. This will be were the plastic is attached to the frame. When attaching the plastic, make sure to leave a few extra inches on the bottom that you will be able to cover with dirt to provide a good seal across the bottom.
6. Build the roof next to the base so that once completed and covered you can easily move over and install. To create the ridge, connect 3 of the 2.5' PVC sections using the 3-way connectors on each end and 2 of the 4-way connectors in the middle. A 45* elbow will go at each of the open connections which cab be attached by inserting a 1.5" piece of PVC in each of the empty connections.
7. Use the remaining 5' sections of PVC to connect to each of the 45* elbows as shown above and cap all the ends with another 45* elbow.
The finished product should look like this. Notice the 45* elbows at the bottom where the roof will attach to the base structure.
Below is how the span will look on the base structure. It is important to build the entire roof structure on the ground before putting over the base in order to cover with the plastic.
8. Cover roof structure with plastic sheeting. This can be done a number of different ways depending on the sheeting that you bought. You can use 1 large sheet or multiple strips. Make sure that there is enough overhang on the front and back to cover the distance between the base structure and the apex. We used one large sheet that was draped all the way to the ground on the front so that we did not have to cut out a door section.
Either way, make sure you secure the sheeting to the ridge line.
9. Carefully move the roof into place and attach the elbows to the 1.5" PVC sections that were placed earlier on the tops of the 4 way connectors.
10. Secure the sheeting from the roof to the base with strips of Velcro. This is also a good time to cover the bottom with sand or dirt to hold down the sides. Trim the plastic sheeting as needed.
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