Once the top bolts are in, it's a simple matter to drill and place the bottom bolts. We were able to get the baseboards on both sides done today. I hope I didn't bore too many folks with the detail on this bit, but I figure there's other folks that don't have a ton of carpentary experience and might benefit from all the pics and learn from my boo-boos. Because the baseboard is actually optional, the instructions included with this kit aren't as thorough as an inexperienced person might like.
Anyway, thanks for your patience and have a good evening...
Jay
Homestead High Tunnel
Jay, I love your pics. I didn't realize you were on dial-up. I remember those days!
We are on wireless now. What a difference!
Your project is looking really good. I remember you saying it gets windy there. We have the same problem here. Have to fasten everything super good. We put wind braces in each corner. A 2 x 4 long enough to get from the end to the 3rd hoop. Fasten about 4 ft off the ground on the end & at the ground on the 3rd hoop.
If you get done soon you can come help me with mine, LOL!
Have a good day!
Bernie
Good Mornin' Bernie,
LOL, in your dreams! I'll be busy planting and weeding by then. =0)
I think the bracing is next, along with the poles that go across the ends that the end fabric will be anchored to. If it doesn't get too windy today, maybe I'll be able to get to that. =0)
I was looking at all my hundreds of tomato plants the other day and realizing I had no place to plant them.... they're supposed to go in the tunnel, and set-out date is April 15th (target date, you know how that is). OMG, I hope the weather cooperates! LOL
Jay
I'm feeling pretty gloomy today; it's windy, gusts over 40 mph, and I'm wondering what form of insanity befell me that I thought I could get a high tunnel up in the spring here. =0( We've got a week of high winds predicted, and then I'm going away for a week.
Here's the next step, which we did last week before the snow. There are four braces, one on each corner. A couple of clamps were slipped onto each of the end rafters before raising them and now one end of a brace is bolted onto each one of those, thus attaching it to the rafter. The rafter needs to be squared with the baseboard before the brace is bolted to the baseboard...
While my patient and cheerful assistant held things just so, I pre-drilled the hole and then screwed in the lag screw to hold the other end of the brace to the baseboard. I'm using an adjustable wrench, not the best tool for the job, but I didn't have a socket in my socket set that was the right size... one of these days I've got to get a new set, it seems I never have the size socket I need.
Okey-dokey, here we go! A ton of pictures and tales from the plastic side of life...
Once the frame is up and braced and you've waited for weeks for the stinking wind to quit, the next step is to lay out the ends, center them and clip them up. Here's a picture of one of the clips that holds the end plastic...
Those clips just push on, pretty easy with a little umphf. And to take one off, if you need to move the fabric a bit, just grab the loose edge of the fabric and give a hard yank up and it pops right off.
This next pic shows one of the ends (Sue, if you ever work with me, this is what I mean as an end LOL) clipped up. As you can see, this fabric comes with panels that will zip up and roll up out of the way.
We centered the end panel across the frame while the fabric was laying on the ground, then we lifted it up and clipped the top center to the center of the rafter. We stretched it across the bottom and clipped it, then worked from the top center down each side to the bottom, moving from side to side to keep things centered as we went along. We did need to adjust the first bottom clips we put on, but they kept things from flapping and moving too much, so they served their initial purpose.
This part went pretty quick. We were able to get both end panels on by lunch time. =0)
Boy, I sure hope I have fun! LOL Or I am gonna be seriously out of joint...
Here's both end panels on. Once we had them as tight as we could get them, we trimmed the excess edges.
Those are the same clips we called "wind clips" when we were working construction. They were used to hold plastic on the scaffolding in winter so it could be heated. A good wind would get most of them off.
Good luck!
Strawberries we planted in the high tunnel troughs now have a couple leaves. All else looks great, too.
I need high tunnels to cover 5 acres!
Bernie
At this point, I'm getting religion as they say. I've started praying the wind doesn't come up at this point and test the strength of this frame. =0)
The next step is to put up what's called the ribbon board. It's a board that runs the length of the structure that the channel which will hold the topper is attached to. It also makes the frame much more rigid. We put ours 4' high... the instructions said from 4-5'. It just depends on how high you want your sides to roll.
Here's a shot of the ribbon board up with the channel on it. We plumbed the rafters as we screwed on board to them... don't forget that part, it makes for a stronger structure when snow comes.
After I got this done, it was lunch time! Things were moving quickly! The excitement builds...
Hey Bernie, check out the Haygrove high tunnels... folks are indeed putting acres of crops under cover with them. Cut flowers, tomatoes, cherry orchards...
The clips are aluminun, so they hold a screw, because indeed if this was all that held the sucker together, it wouldn't last a day in our winds. LOL The top clips are also screwed with a Tek screw into the frame.
But here's the part that really holds things one... and it's kind of a stinky one. After installing the ribbon board, more channel is screwed onto the tops of the end arches. And the channel is straight and though aluminum, isn't all that fond of bending. So clamps, vice grips, what-have-you will definitely be needed to hold the channel in place while you stand in all kinds of awkward positions on a ladder to screw more Tek screws into hardened conduit. }=oP
So this is a pic of a piece of channel clamped down to be screwed.
The channel is started from one side and goes over the top to the ribbon board on the other side. Here you can see clouds have started to move in, the breeze is starting to 'freshen', and I am in the process of wondering how to propitiate the storm deities... I didn't mention that we started this in the mud from our 6" snow fall on Friday. Early on in the morning I'd slipped and fell right on my biblical end... splat! LOL We were installing the end panels with 10# mud boots. El yucko! And by midafternoon things had pretty much dried off, so the prospect of both wind and rain was not a pleasant one...
The ones we used were plastic, no strength.
A gal from Romania was talking about how they grow lots of the commercial veggies in high tunnels. Same thing in Spain & China that people have posted pictures of. If California runs out of water, there might be more of that here, too.
The wiggle wire on the top of the gables might give you problems. Sometimes doesn't hold good there. It works great on the sides & bottoms.
I managed to get all the channel screwed on, and quit for the day. We were plumb whupped, I'll tell you. Leftovers for dinner...
Next day and it's a little breezier than the day before... hmmmm. But we badgered on. So we drag out the topper and lay it out, measuring to see which is the longest side. Then I punched a couple of small holes about a third of the way along the top edge of the fabric in this pic and tie small ropes through it..
Good to know about the wiggle wire failure... I got strapping for anti-billow, so maybe that will help.
Toss the ends of the rope over the purlin (the pipe that runs lengthwise at the top of the arches) and drag the cover over. Have a ladder handy inside, 'cause the topper hangs up and needs to be encouraged a few times.
The previous picture is where things kinda went south for us. As I was up on the ladder at one end, trying to get things centered, and the lively breeze was trying to defeat our efforts, that disagreement over terms came up. I hollered go to the other side and pull it over and charming assistant ran to the other end... which of course I can't see, I just know suddenly she's not where I need her! I holler where are you and her voice comes from behind me... I'm where you told me to go! She's at the other END! Well, I'm sure you all can imagine how the breeze kicked up right then to fan the flames...
Anyway, in this picture we've regrouped and are working on getting the second end tied down. The instructions said to center from end to end and side to side, but we only did it side to side... I realized if we played our cards right, we could end up with a useful width of fabric for future cold frames or ? We got about a 4' x 28' length of fabric! Wooo-hooo!
This is my charming, patient, and thankfully forgiving partner pulling the fabric tight and wiglling in the wiggle wire that holds the fabric in the channel...
Here's a sequence showing the use of the wiggle wire. This is clamping down the sides, which is next after the tops of the ends are done.
You literally wiggle it up and down to get it in the channel...
The wire is made of spring steel, so it holds its shape and creates a tension clamp inside the channel.
Once we got ends and sides clamped down with the wiggle wire, we could take a few deep breaths. If a strong breeze came up, not much would happen but to flap the sides. Sheeeew! =0)
The next step is to create the roll-up sides with the remainder of the fabric hangin down below the channel. Pieces of conduit are screwed together and clipped to the long edge... measure and mark for distance from the ribbin board so the fabric will roll up evenly. They don't ell you in the instructions, but the pipe needs to extend about an inch past the frame on the end you'll be putting the roll-up mechanism. So I had to do this step twice... or more, cause it takes fiddling to get things to roll up evenly. {{sigh}}
The roll-up mechanism is assembled and installed, tested, fussed with, taken apart, side taken apart, rerolled, tested again.... this was probably the stinkiest part. A) They aren't kidding when they say 1/2"... a hair off and you'll need to redrill. B) Drill straight, not at a tiny angle or you get to redrill. C) The folks are Farm Tek are friendly and helpful when the instructions are sufficiently instructive and they agree the instructions are a little vague on a couple points here.
After you've had a fine opportunity to practice patience, and gotten the roll-up part done, all that's left is installing eyebolts in ribbon board and base board and running a rope through to prevent billowing of the sides when they're down.
Voila! It's done!!!
That looks to be a right fine job you've done a a really neat contraption. Congrats!
Looks great, Jay... what's the size?
that is AWESOME !!!! congrats on doing such a wonderful job :)
i must say , me and my DH are not that talented at construction LOL remember tape is my friend :)
i think there is a real need for these high tunnels. Lots and lots of people will be doing this . IMHO :)
great job Jay
hugs
sue
Jay, AWESOME!
Nice job! Is that rabbit wire on the inside that I can just barely see.
What are you going to grow in there ?
DW & DS put T-Tape down in our newest tunnel this afternoon. Things are growing very fast in there.
Bernie
Thanks guys! =0) We're pretty impressed with ourselves right now and excited about the new addition.
It's the smallest tunnel Farm Tek offers... 14 x 24. We just going to grow our veggies in it, on sort of a french intensive scale. I am really looking forward to some vine ripened melons. =0) What are you growing in yours, CG?
That is indeed rabbit wire/dog wire/chicken wire along the inside. I wasted some time putting it up and wrapping it around the corners before I quickly realized that was going to get in the way of installing the end panels. So now I have to come up with a way to fasten it on the ends. It's all a process.
Tay, there are so many things around here held together with duct tape and hay string... I miss baling wire. I really do think the world is coming apart because there just isn't enough baling wire to hold it together anymore. LOL Hay string just isn't as good. IMHO
Ours got the wind test today. The big timbers we used for the foundation slid out of place. My son pushed them back with the tractor & put some stakes through them. Wind was up to 40 MPH!
Holding together otherwise.
Some really old plastic on another house tore some. Should have a new cover anyhow.
Bernie
Nothing like a good stiff wind to show you what needs to get done next! LOL
Sounds like yours is more of a porta-hoopy? Do you plan on moving it seasonally? Show us yours! =0)
It will stay where it is. This was easier to put up this way. We had no ground stakes & the timbers are out of our old barn that was tore down last fall.
This one is 24 x 60.
Inside.
Nice! Where'd you get the frame from? What are you using for covering? Neat use of rain gutter for 'flats'. =0)
Could you show us how you did the ends? That's seems to be the biggest flummox. =0)
From everything I've read and seen, anti-billow straps/ropes would be a good idea...
This one was sold by Poly-Tex. It was intended for a retail sale house that they set up in a parking lot. The wind caught it & bent some pieces. I went to the company & bought replacement parts.
It is covered with 6 mil poly. I am a scrounge. I bought the plastic, 40 ft x 100 ft on an online auction last year for $20.00.
There were brackets to bolt the 2 x 4 's to the hoops to make an end.
Updated pictures.
Company trimming trees under power lines give the chips to whoever wants them. Delivered right to my yard.
All things are planted in the house now. Some are plants, some seeded.
Big advantage, outside temperature today started at 39º & now is 49º with heavy overcast. Inside is probably about 75º & growing!
Thanks! I think I can get some of those brackets from FarmTek... already I'm not happy with the zip doors... the straps to hold them require a ladder to reach!
We're getting 40 mph gusts today, things are looking right and tight. =0) I've got the sides up just a tad to prevent overheating, and the billowing is not too bad. So the anti-billow straps don't have to happen TODAY.... LOL
We only have the big doors on either end to open. We may need to roll up the sides later in the year.
It was 89º the other day with the big wind & didn't overheat.
Bernie