House
Greenhouse
My secong major project was building a greenhouse. I built this out of old wood frame house windows. Most of these were found at the side of the road - many old houses around here are being updated to storm windows or are being condemned and torn down. The greenhouse is approximately 19 feet by 14 feet. The size was dictated in part by the window sizes. I'm not quite finished: I have to cut some windows to fill in the areas under the roof peaks and I have to build the shelves inside as well as install an irrigation system.
I started by placing my treated 4X4 corner posts and the main support posts on the sides and ends. The support posts on the ends are for the doors. I set them 18 inches into the ground and concreted them in place. I then ran a 2X4 across the bottom between the posts. This is how I leveled the greenhouse. These 2X4 runners are 3 to 6 inches above the ground. I then started attaching the windows. Before attaching them, I scraped, primed and painted them on all sides. I also primed and painted all lumber, including all cut ends, before nailing them in place. I did this to protect from high humidity and high annual rainfall in this area. I did not build this to windstorm specifications, but it just survived Hurrican Rita with very minor damage.
Updated January 24, 2006