Assembly


Assembly was pretty straight forward, but there were some challenges. ACF and BC Greenhouse provide .PDF and video files for assemble. The instructions were pretty clear, but there were one or two steps that we had to either figure out or improvise during assembly.

I bolted the walls and portions of the ends together in the comfort of my basement. I hired a carpenter to build a sill plate (pressure-treated wood between the base of the greenhouse and the cinderblock wall). Note that you may see a pink foam strip; the metal of the greenhouse cannot rest directly on the treated wood due to corrosion.

After several days of snow and temps in the 20s, we finally got the main structure up. We had to do it in one shot as a partially-assembled structure was more vulnerable to a wind storm.

Here's another shot, with me installing the poly carbonate roof panels. It was tough - I had to stand about 12' in the air, put a bead of caulk down and then fit the panel in place. The panels are approximately 2' by 8' so it was a bit difficult getting everything lined up, especially on the ladder. You can also see the glass is in the east wall.

I don't have many more shots of the construction at this point as it was my wife and I finishing all of the glass (glazing). At the very end we discovered a mistake in the glass for the front wall; a call to ACF quickly resolved the problem and we were able to complete the job.

I spent one weekend caulking the top of the inside glass. After assemble there was a 1/4" to 1/2" gap between the glass and the top of the structure. With even the slightest breeze I'd feel cold air rushing into the greenhouse. Caulking (silicon) sealed it up and helped reduce my heating bills.

More on heating next...