The Green House Project:
April 23 2016 I laid the footings to the green house. This was to date the biggest construction project I have ever undertaken. Outside of the shelves in the living room and the doghouse it is my only construction project. Needless to say I didn’t know any tricks or shortcuts. Putting the footings in by myself with a string to measure. I attempted to make it 10x12 to stay within the 120 sqft limit for sheds. I think it ended up about 9 1/2 x 12 ½ but square enough to work. Getting the platform level was a pain too but eventually that got sorted out too.
The idea to build this thing off the ground came about because of The Duem wildlife is so damn relentless. Plus I didn’t want to try an level the spot it’s in, so being raised solved all that.
Some time in May 2016 I scored a door and 2 windows from my buddy Cameron and 3 large windows from a customer for free. I was also able to obtain some big pieces of ½ inch plexi glass for free or next to free from my work. Knowing most of my window sizes I was able to start framing. By mid summer I had the windows in on 3 sides and half of it skinned with tongue and grooved pine.
In July we also picked up our 1951 FORD/ABC motorhome, so buying supplies was on hold for a few months. When the weather turned from fall into winter and the rains started to creep into the forecast I got back to work. I put a roof on first then the last two windows and the balance of the tongue groove. I had to make sure we were protecting our investment.
After the New Year I put in shelves and benches along with some lighting fixtures.
As I am doing this Jess is moving plants in next to me and the green house fills up super fast. So much so that I second guess my engineering and decided to add 2 more footings, sure up the existing ones and add cross brace under the floor.
Now in May 2017 the green house is full of life. It still is not finished but I am happy with where it is, the plants are happy and more importantly Jess is happy.
~ Nick
