Greenhouse Goes Up, Part 2

It's two sunny days in a row.  That's got to be a good omen, and my contractor is here bright and early in the morning. It took a while yesterday to figure out the process of installing the windows, but today they know what they are doing and the window installation gets finished pretty quickly. Lots of clear caulking sealed windows to wood. 

All the windows are in.

It's about 42 degrees outside with a brisk breeze, but inside the greenhouse it's already feeling warm. The automatic window vents begin to open a crack.  My contractor thought he had done something wrong; couldn't understand why the windows wouldn't stay shut. Apparently the heat in the greenhouse causes the springs on these windows to push open automatically. Cool!

This is one of the vented windows that opens automatically.

 Then it was on to the double-Dutch hung door. Hinges, latches, and handle on the door will keep it from catching in the breeze. Final work of the day was the construction of the planting bench and the plant basin inside the greenhouse. The planting bench will hold all our seedlings and started plants.  The plant basin will (hopefully) will provide a planting environment for fall/winter crops. The construction stage is complete!  There is a little more work to be done for the electrical and water access.  Our contractor has promised to return soon, maybe as soon as Sunday, to finish up that work also. 

Double-Dutch door: Splits in the middle so you can just open the window part if wanted.

Planting Bench

Planting Basin

I'm sure you've noticed the two-toned color scheme of our greenhouse. We planned it that way (somewhat). I wanted the greenhouse to look like it belonged with our house.... consequently the grey stain.  DH wanted to see some of the cedar wood in a more natural color.... consequently the clear stain.  Now the plan was to stain the outside pieces grey, and all the inside pieces clear. However the hundreds of wood pieces were packed in a rather disorderly fashion, and as we worked our brains became muddled as to what went where.  It did not work out just as we envisioned it, but we planned it that way. (That's our story, and we're sticking to it.)

I am now off to the basement. We already have trays of seedlings just waiting to move into their new home. Oh, Merry Christmas to us!

The Greenhouse Goes Up!

Oh, exciting day! It felt just like Christmas morning when I awoke. Our contractor is putting our greenhouse up today!  What seems liked a zillion-pieced jigsaw puzzle to us, is like a "Lincoln-Log" project for him.  He and his helper got right to work at 8:30 and by noon had the side walls and rafters up.  He's hoping to have it mostly done today with a little extra electrical and water work to finish up on a second day.  I warned him I'd be taking pictures all day for the blog. I've been snapping shots every hour or so, but other than that I'm leaving them to their work.




Side walls up by 9:00 A.M.

 



Doors framed by 10:00 A.M.



Rafters up by lunchtime.

Half of the windows are in by quitting time. 



The windows are taking a little longer than my contractor expected. He has to clean them, and seal them, before setting them in and trimming.  He'll be back in the morning to finish the build.  Oh, happy day!