Tops for your growing benches

I had a new greenhouse built this fall and need to get my growing benches set up.

What do you use for you tops?

I found the following info for a Dura Bench top...have any of you had experience with this?

http://www.benches.usgr.com/benches_dura.html

I built my own benches using steel stud & hat channel material. Very reasonable priced & easy to do yourself. All you need is a pair of tin snipes & a cordless screw gun.
You can make it to fit your containers. Even numbers like 2, 4, or 8 feet don't work. Lots of wasted space.
Here's a pic.
Bernie

You can get this material at a company that supplies commercial construction contractors.
If you see a new bank being built, (they seem to be going up all over), stop & ask someone working there. You may even find a nice guy that will come & build them for you.
Here's another pic.

These are what I use:
http://www.gothicarchgreenhouses.com/benches.htm#A-V%20Greenhouse%20Bench%20Tops

Very similar to DuraBench, but a bit cheaper. I have both sizes, and have had no problems with either.

HTH,
Eggs

Pretty expensive, looks to me.

Wasn't bad. I bought enough to do 7 benches, and it was under $100. Plus, if I ever want to move the benches around, it's a lot lighter than steel (not to mention they won't rust, and a GH is a pretty humid environment). =)

I went really cheap on my benches. There is a cedar mill near me that I can get slabs ( outside 2-4" of the tree) in 8 ' lengths. I used them for the legs of the benches. Also got 1X6 rough cut 2nds for the top frames. I then found a grocery store going out of business that had piles of the plastic bread trays. These are used for the tops. Three years and they still work great. The cedar legs give me the look I wanted. Very happy with this set up. The tops hold the plastic flats from a greenhouse perfectly.
My GH is 12X16 with benches running down both sides. Cost for all of them was under $25.

I bought regular closet shelving at Lowe's and Home Depot (wire type) and it's worked great over wood benches. Not too expensive either and looks like the high priced greenhouse stuff. Used it last year. This year I moved those into the basement to hold plants under lights and now there are shelf units in the GH to hold more plants.

MollyD

I built 3 foot by 8 foot benches from treated lumber, and then put hardware cloth on top and bottom shelfs. I wanted 9 guage wire, but could only find 14 guage. The 14 gauge is not as stiff as I would have liked, but it will do for now. They should all last for a while.

I just bought the Rubbermaid 5 Tier Stands for mine and they work great. But not so well if you need to spread things out and use larger pots.
Hey Eggs! Long time no see! ♥

These benches came with a used greenhouse I bought.
Trays don't slide on them, which is a pain. 1" X 1" wire.
Also have trouble with dirt on the 2 x 4 edges, probably carrying disease. Will be replacing with steel benches soon.
The steel I was talking about does not rust.
Bernie

Bernie, you said:

I just wanted to point out something about the steel you're talking about, so you're prepared. =)

The steel rails in your photo are galvanized. Simply, that means the steel gets coated in zinc, which resists corrosion due to oxidation (like the orange rust you're used to seeing on steel), and protects the iron beneath it (in the steel). It's not like a paint coating, that you could easily remove, and then have the piece rust. It becomes bonded to the metal, but it can be compromized. Prolonged exposure to water can cause what's known as "white rust". This can consume the zinc, exposing the steel, which then rusts.

I doubt the I-beams in the photo are galvanized. They appear painted. If that's the case, keep some rust-o-leum on hand. =) (note the welds at the joints)

Anyway, since a greenhouse bench is a fairly wet location, I thought you should know what can happen, in the future. You've chosen a very sturdy option for a bench top, but it seems someone told you that it's somehow, rust-proof. I just wanted to point out that that's not really the case. Here's a great read about white rust: http://www.corp.indgalv.com.au/technical/whitrust.htm

HTH,
Eggs

Had a nice long post going & it deleted. Don't feel like retyping. Some of my steel benches are 17 years old.

CountryGardens, I hope you didn't take my post as saying your bench materials are all wrong. That wasn't what I intended. It was just for information, and nothing else. I'm glad they're working for you. =)