top of greenhouse

Where do you go,aside from mail order,to get the metal hoops that make the top of the greenhouse.What would I look for in the yellow pages,what do you call them?Or are they only available through mailorder.

CC, do you have a fence company there? Our local fence company sells 21 ft lengths of fence topper(?) the bar that runs across the top of a chain link fence. If you have a pipe bender or rent one, you can put the bow in it your self. The purlins are also made of fence pipe. I will post pictures of my Jungle House as soon as I get them downloaded. (new camera)

OOOHHHHh calla you've made my day,there are a few fence companies in the city so I'll be calling on them tomorrow,also I had no idea you could rent a pipe bender,gotta call about that too.We were just talking yesterday about just bending pipe and how you would do it.You've saved the day!!!

Well ,called the fence companys,I can get the pipe at a reasonable price - the bender is the problem.I've called everywhere,noone has one to bend 1 3/8" pipe which is the smallest the fence company said the price for. So Chuck called and said SAMS CLUB has one of those instant garages,20 x 10 ,for $200.00,I called and they said its not rated for snow,so I asked what it was made out of,she said 2" steel pipe,so it should be plenty strong enough.DH is stopping there after work to take a look at it.Then I would only need to set up an area with landscape ties,make sure its level,and buy the covering,probably figure a way to double the lining..Getting excited.......

'cuse me team have to jump in here,lol' CC that's a great idea with the instant garages' My neighbors installed one last year and I've eyeballed it and thinking like you,future greenhouse'' Keep us posted ok? Good luck' Sis'

try muffler shop for bending the pipe they should be able to with there bender good luck

CC my greenhouse is one of those instant garage type. I'll see if I can find the info where I got it. I know I have the paperwork somewhere. I think you can bu the covers and pipes seperately if you wanted to.

Also ... I have a book by Eliot Coleman, "Four Season Harvest". He builds greenhouses using rebar. He gardens all year with them in Maine so the rebar must be sturdy enough. I wonder if there might be plans on the internet. Actually I can photo copy what I have in the book and send it to you if you want.

Dave719 ,thanks,never thought of that!Sue,I'd love the plans.Is he the guy that did that show "Gardening naturally"?Does your Greenhouse take the snow load?Is it made of 2"pipe or is it stronger?Is it double wrapped?

Yes ... the snow slides off my greenhouse ... and I don't heat it until spring. It has a peaked roof with 2" (I guess) pipe. I'll ask DH where the paper work on it is when he gets back. The plastic is really sturdy but the whole thing is not very air tight - it's hard to heat. It would cost a fortune to heat it year round. I just have a small electric heater and I use it when I know the nights will go below freezing. I want something that I can use through the winter.

Eliot Coleman is the Gardening Naturally guy. I loved that show... I wish they'd start it up again. They had a garden tour this past summer. I didn't get to go but sure wanted too. I'll bring the book to work and photo copy those plans.

This is the instant garage type - mine was shipped from Ct.
http://www.coverit.com/residential/res_greenhouse.html

I never thought about a muffler shop!! I too have been looking at those "instant garages". I thought they ought to make a good green house. We also use a frame from Northern handyman that is 10 feet wide by 20 feet long and has the straight pipe and Y and T joints that slip together. The roof is peaked like a house roof and the snow slides off it too. Our neighbors down the road turned one of those into a green house. To make something stronger for snow load, you space the bows closer together or you add a cross brace. We use the cross braces (purlins) to hang the baskets on in the spring. I can take pictures of both the cross braces in our green house and the frame we got from NH.