Compare Greenhouse kits

I have begun research on purchasing a smallish GH - 6X???. Have noticed Rions mentioned a lot as well as Harbor Freight. Money is an issue but might be able to spring for a somewhat better one if worth it. I'm in zone 5a. Will install it on lumber base on top of a cement slab - left over apron of a swimming pool. Anyone willing to venture an opinion of one brand vs another or to tell me your experience? I am a fairly good do it yourselfer and am planning to hire a pro for building the base - MUSt be level and square I hear. Plan to use it for extending the season and for processing the canna bulbs and such in the fall and spring. Have electricity already on the proposed site and plan to run a water line from the house - just a buried hose. Many thanks.

I have a Rion GH46 on almost an identical setup. Existing concrete pad from an old shed. 4x6 treated base, bolted to the concrete, and the greenhouse screwed to the wood. I use mostly to over-winter, but start a few cuttings and seeds too. I have no complaints thus far, tho some have had issues (but I suppose that's going to be true with just about anything). I did add clear silicone caulk (2 cans total) at each joint on the inside. There were a few small gaps here and there, but nothing major. It gets cold here, and I just wanted to conserve as much heat as possible.

Speaking of heat, I use two small 1500BTU space heaters to heat it. Thermostats are set to 65F, and on the coldest of nights (0 to -10), it's never got below 45F. I'm ok with that temp, if only for a few hours.

I'd think hard on that idea to bury a hose to get water in there. You may have issues with water freezing in it. *shrug*

HTH,
Eggs

I have a Rion 8 x 16. Fairly easy to set up if directions are followed. Once the base was fininished, It took 5 of us two days to put up. The whole house is held together with pins, but it's sturdy. The hardest part was drilling into the cement to attach the lumber. Ours is on a old cow pad and the cement had a lot of gravel in it. It was very hard on the drill. You probably won't run into that problem. I don't heat mine. It's expensive enough just to heat this 100 yr old house. I overwinter a few perennials and a couple evergreens that are in very large containers used on the patio in summer. We get some hellacious winds here so I've had some problems with a couple windows blowing out. I think that is a universal problem no matter what GH you get. The windows on a Rion come with UV protection, so I haven't had yellowing problems like some other brands. All in all, I'm happy with my Rion.

I've found that caulking my panels into place really helped with the wind, no more blowouts since I did that. Mine's a different brand but a similar type of construction.

ecrane - would you mind telling me what brand you have? Pasttime and eggs - did you look at other brands and why did you choose Rion? I have done some research and notice Rion wieghs more than the others I looked at. Thanks for all the advice.

Mine is Sundog. It's not any better or worse than the Harbor Freight and Rion as far as I can tell--really the only reason I got it instead of a brand that others around here had more experience with was that I wanted a GH that was larger than 4x6, but width-wise I could only fit something that was 5 ft wide and most other brands the next size up from 4x6 is 6x8 which wouldn't fit in my space (and I didn't have room for two 4x6 GH's). The Sundog came in a 5x9 size so I got the square footage I was after while keeping the width to what would fit in the space.

I bought the Rion after checking out other GHs on the MegaGreenhouse site. For the size I wanted, the Rion was the best price. They (MegaGreenhouse) offered a special that year. If you bought the 16.5' house, they added two extra roof vents, automatic openers, two louvered wall vents, and a shade cloth. The total was $2,300 in 2005. I'm only sorry I didn't listen to my DH who wanted me to get the 23' instead. There is an 8' extension kit available, but haven't bought one. I don't know about weight. It's mostly made of a PVC type material. The two of us could have assembled it, but you need 4 people to carry and place the roof on. The completed roof goes on before the side glass is installed. Shortly after I bought my GH, Rion came out with clear glass panels, mine are opague. I do not like the Rion's double doors. They open out and tend to catch the wind. I always place heavy capstones against them, whether opened or closed, to keep them from flapping. They need beefing up.

I used to have a much heavier GH, call the Clicker. It was $2600 back in 1993. It had a lot of metal parts. It also had sliding doors which I like better than the Rion's doors. I woke up one morning after a terrible fall storm and found the GH had collapsed. Some of the parts were never found. Probably in the next county.

EGGS -ZACHTLY
THOUGHT OF ANOTHER QUESTION. WITH THE GH UP ON THE TIMBERS DO YOU END UP WITH A GAP UNDER THE DOOR AND IF SO HOW TO YOU DEAL WITH IT? THANKS.

DUH- IGNORE MY LAST QUESTION. MUCH TOO EARLY IN THE AM TO BE THINKING! JUST FIGURED OUT THE ANSWER TO MY QUESTION FROM SEEING JOANNABANANA PICS.

I took a look at Joannabanana's GH. I noticed the glass panes go in last, including the roof. One nice thing about the Rion is the whole roof assembly, including the glass and roof vents, are put together on the ground. No ladders or stretching to reach the peak in order to install the glass. The completed roof is then carried over and placed on the pre-installed supports. Kind of looks like a picnic shelter at that stage.

I bought a 6x8 Easy2Build greenhouse off of e-bay. It has an aluminum frame and thick poly plastic. It sits on a frame made from 4x4x8 treated lumber bolted and set in concrete. The aluminum sits on cedar screwed into the 4x4s. I use a Mr. Heater Buddy propane heater connected to a 20lb propane tank. It has worked like a champ. I didn't caulk everything and make it air tight because the Mr. Heater needs some fresh air to keep it on. The small gap between the frame and wood under the door allows enough fresh air to keep the heater on. It heats up quickly when the sun comes out even when it's in the 30's. I also use small Christmas lights for added warmth around the soil with and without the heater. It's my first gh and I'm very pleased with it.

I have outgrown it though and have plans to turn an old shed into another greenhouse in the spring for the BIG plants. My 6x8 was only $300.00 including shipping. It isn't real big or very pretty but it keeps my plants protected.

We are having problems with our Rion greenhouse shutters not shutting tightly enough when they close. They are on these automatic louvres and there is 1/4" between the shutters when they are supposed to be closed. Has anyone had a problem with this and found out how to correct it?
Annie

Annie is there an adjustment knob for the louvres? Or, are they electric, opening when a fan comes on?

There is a manual adjustment to the louvres. They are supposed to operate on the premise of the oil inside them getting hot or cold and that is when they open/shut. I have tried to make this adjustment as loose as possible and it takes me manually closing them to get them to be somewhat tight. I figure I must be doing something wrong because I have not read of this problem with others using the Rions.
Annie

Are you speaking of louvres, or roof vents?

I have auto-opening roof vents that work that way. It can take a bit of tweaking to get them to open/close at the temp you want, but once set mine have worked flawlessly. I'd check to make sure that there isn't anything hindering their ability to close.

The roof vents close fine. I will go check the adjustment on the louvres again. Maybe I am turning them the wrong way. Maybe I have them too loose or too tight. Engineering is not my thing. Thanks,
Annie