I got some leftover wood and PVC 1/2 inch pipes from a project to make some smaller hoop hothouse. The length of the house is 71/2 feet long and the width is 31/2 feet..The pipes are 10 foot hot water PVC pipes from Lowes. It took me 1 hour to get the frame up..next will be the lights and plastic covering..
A hoophouse like that is very effective! I built one like that a few years ago so I could harden off seedlings. I imagine in your zone you can get a lot more mileage out of it.
very clever, I bet it will get a lot of use.
PVC has endless uses ................. I have an idea to share ( if I may ) ...................
I once used 4 10 ft PVC pipes to make a bird net frame for my strawberries.
I just stuck sections of re-bar in the ground and put the PVC pipe ends over them.
(at my Home Depot they sell 2 ft. pieces of re-bar )
This message was edited Dec 27, 2005 10:03 PM
Cool...neat idea..
Yours is somewhat similar to the one I built last year which was 8x4 as I recall.
You may have already finished yours but if you haven't I'll give you a couple of suggestions if you want them. In the larger picture version it looks like you have only one pipe bracket on each end of your PVC. I'd put in two per end, spaced as far apart as the board you're nailing them to will let you. This was a problem with mine last year in the winter storms because when the wind really gets to pushing against the ends the PVC wants to lay down. Two brackets per end will give them more stiffness.
I'd also reinforce the corners were you have your boards nailed together. The wood frame will want to rack (flex) if it gets moved at all and this will weaken the corners. I took care of this in mine by cutting some triangles out of wood and screwing them down on each corner. You'll have to drill a 7/8 (approx) hole in each corner to get your end pieces of PVC into their brackets but the wood will serve as the top bracket in the top pieces. More storm resistant.
I'd put in one more PVC pipe so that you have close to one pipe every two feet. Stronger wind resistance.
When I put the plastic on I folded each edge over three times then laid a firring strip on top then screwed the top wood to the bottom wood. No matter how hard the wind blew it never managed to work the plastic loose and I had no tearing.
Last year I didn't have a good solution for the plastic on the ends, but this year I'm using large binder clips (from an office supply store). On half-inch PVC they work very well.
This year I built a larger version using what I learned from last year's model. The new one is 8ft x 10ft with just a bit over 6ft in the top arch so I can stan up in it. Every pipe is in a T or cross fitting so they can support the other pipes against wind blowing against the house ends. Once the plastic was strethched the whole thing took on a nice rigidity. Haven't had the chance to test it against forty mph+ winds yet, but that last gusty front was getting over thirty when it came through and the house stood up well.
This year's learning adventure is in how to heat the thing without going broke. The small one last year a single 500w IR lamp was enough. The bigger one is taking two of the same and we haven't had an especially hard freeze yet. Those clear plastic solar pool covers are starting to look very attractive.
.....Alan.
This is a finish product.... I am just using this hothouse to start my seeds early ....
Here is the inside which I have some of my seed containers already in there...Stiil have 20 more containers to go to put in there by tomorrow..
The photo shows the "Grow Rack" sold by White Flower Farm. It's called a mini-greenhouse on the box. They say it will protect plants down to 29 degrees.
Sorry...posted this in the wrong place.
This message was edited Feb 9, 2006 4:44 PM
Big Lots sells them for under $20
