DIY: How to build your own hobby greenhouse affordably

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In this article, you’ll find out exactly how to build your own hobby greenhouse using old up-cycled windows. This style of greenhouse can be used for seed starting, potted plants, and more!

I. The basic types of greenhouses explained

What is a greenhouse?

A greenhouse is a structure where plants are raised and cultivated. Unlike conservatories, a greenhouse is typically a separate structure from a home, rather than being attached to the home.

When thinking about a greenhouse, you might conjure a mental image of a basic glass structure in your head, but the reality is there are many different types of greenhouses, some of which lend themselves to professional installation and some of which can be built by anyone, DIY style.

Types of greenhouses:

Greenhouses are typically divided into four general types depending on the internal temperatures maintained and the type of plants grown:

1. Cold greenhouse

A cold greenhouse is heated purely by the sun. Minimum interior temperatures are 28°F (-2°C) when exterior temps fall to 20°F.

A cold greenhouse is the least expensive and simplest to build.

2. Cool greenhouse

A cool greenhouse has some supplemental heat provided as-needed (example: space heater or sun-heated water barrels). The minimum interior temperatures are 45°F (7°C).

3. Warm greenhouse

A warm greenhouse has supplemental heat provided from fall-spring to maintain minimum interior temperatures of 55°F (13°C).

4. Stove house, aka hothouse

Finally, a stove house has supplemental heat to ensure interior temperatures are always at least 65°F (18°C). (They’re called stove houses because they used to be heated by wood stoves prior to the invention of electric heat.)

If you’re growing true tropical plants like bananas that won’t produce fruit below 60°F, a stove house is ideal. A stove house is the most expensive type of greenhouse to construct and maintain, and also the most difficult to build.

Under each category of greenhouse, there are countless styles and materials to choose from. Thus, there is no single “right” way to build your own greenhouse; they’re highly customizable to your space, location, aesthetic, and budget.

In this DIY greenhouse guide, we’ll show you how to build your own cold or cool greenhouse using old up-cycled windows, based on the design of two of our friends, Joan and Tony!

Tony and Joan standing in their hobby greenhouse, which they designed and built themselves. How to build your own cool or cold greenhouse. — Tony and Joan standing in their hobby greenhouse, which they designed and built themselves. Here Joan seems to be saying, “why not build a greenhouse for yourself?” We agree!

II. Interview with Joan and Tony (the DIY greenhouse builders)

What inspired you to design and build your own greenhouse?

We live in Greenville, SC (Zone 8a), and have potted citrus plants that were getting to be too difficult to move during cold weather and too large for our front porch. So we wanted to make a permanent outdoor structure to house our citrus plants plus a few other plants and seasonal seedling starts.

My husband and I are both retired and it was the middle of the pandemic, so it seemed like a good project to take on to help give us something fun and challenging to do together.

Did you design your greenhouse yourselves or did you find a greenhouse plan online?

We watched countless videos and read a classic DIY greenhouse book (The Greenhouse Expert by Dr. D. G. Hessayon) my daughter loaned me. However, we ultimately ended up designing our own greenhouse plan to fit our particular space, budget, and needs.

How long did it take to find the construction materials for your greenhouse?

The windows of the greenhouse are all recycled/upcycled from various sources. Those took the longest to find since we got them from a couple of different sources.

We weren’t in a huge rush to find everything and build it. We collected the windows over a couple of years prior to the pandemic. They could be collected easily in a few weeks if someone wants to build a greenhouse quickly.

Where did you source your DIY greenhouse materials?

(*Note: There’s a complete materials list in the next section of the article.)

We wanted to use as few new materials as possible in our greenhouse build, but a few things had to be bought new. For instance, the clear polycarbonate used for the roofing material was bought new as were some of the various odds and ends like wood screws and concrete for the footers.

A look up at the roof of the greenhouse in the fall/winter. It does take some work to keep fallen leaves off the polycarbonate panels and to keep the panels clean in order to allow maximum sunlight/UV in. — A look up at the roof of the greenhouse in the fall/winter. It does take some work to keep fallen leaves off the polycarbonate panels AND to keep the panels clean in order to allow maximum sunlight/UV in.

Most of the lumber framing is new but some of it came from a nearby friend who had a bunch of extra lumber he didn’t need.

Another new item is the automatic greenhouse window openers. Those are really neat because they’re not powered by electricity or batteries. Once the interior greenhouse temperature reaches the mid-70s (~24°C), the heat causes expansion within an internal mechanism and they automatically start pushing the windows open.

We also have an old fan in one window that comes on at approximately the same temperature as the window openers, so the ventilation/cooling system of the greenhouse is totally automated.

Our greenhouse windows were all old. We got some of the windows from an antique store and others from Habitat for Humanity. You wouldn’t believe how many old windows we were able to load into our Prius! Old windows (especially old single-pane windows) are better for your plants from a lighting standpoint because they don’t have the UV protection of newer windows. On the flip side of that, single-pane windows don’t insulate as well.

For the larger items that wouldn’t fit into our car, we had to do a bit more planning since our old truck finally gave out on us a few years ago. We did a one-day U-Haul rental for $19 + mileage. With some upfront planning, we were able to pick up everything else we needed to complete our greenhouse build in a single day.

So you really don’t even need to own a truck if you want to build your own greenhouse like ours!

What was the total material cost of your greenhouse?

It cost us a little under $1,500 for all the materials used to build our greenhouse and I think that’s a reasonable cost expectation for anyone else looking to do the same thing. If we’d purchased a new greenhouse of comparable quality to the one we built, it probably would have cost us $2,000-$5,000, but some kits are not as strong as a build-it-yourself greenhouse.

Is building a greenhouse like yours something anyone can do or does it require above average “handy” skills?

My husband and I are fairly handy and crafty people, but it doesn’t take a great deal of skill or equipment to build a comparable greenhouse to ours.

It does really help to have someone else to work with you though. Neither of us could have done this project by ourselves — from the upfront collaboration on planning to the actual buildout, two minds and sets of hands are better than one!

Broadly speaking, what was your DIY greenhouse design and building process?

(*Note: Detailed step-by-step buildout with photos is covered in final section of the article.)

First of all, I did research to see how other people built their own hobby greenhouses. Once I had a basic understanding of what was involved, I had to come up with a plan for our unique setup. For instance, our yard has a strong slope to it, so that had to be factored in.

We also didn’t want a huge greenhouse. Our greenhouse is 9’W x 11’L x 9’H.

The biggest challenge in our situation was designing and building around a bunch of old, differently-sized windows. That meant we had to get our windows first before we really went into any meticulous, detailed design planning.

Once we had our windows, we put them into a spare room in our house, measured them, and labeled them. Example: Window #13 with a piece of painter’s tape with corresponding entry in our plans that had the exact dimensions of Window #13 (24” x 24” x 2.5”).

Then I used graph paper to draw and plan out each wall of the greenhouse to scale including the windows. That way, we could figure out exactly where to put each window, how to frame things out, where extra lumber would be needed, etc.

From ideation to design to construction. A closer look at some of Joan & Tony's greenhouse plans on graph paper. — From ideation to design to construction. A closer look at some of Joan & Tony’s greenhouse plans on graph paper. This represents one side wall of their greenhouse.

So everything was drawn out to scale on paper before we actually started building our greenhouse, almost like having a miniature paper version of our actual greenhouse.

How much warmer is it in your DIY greenhouse than it is outside on a cold day?

Our greenhouse gets a lot of shade from large trees in our yard and our neighbors’ yards. The same greenhouse built in full-sun would be completely different from an internal heat perspective.

We’re now experiencing our first winter with our new greenhouse. We have a gadget that tells us the lowest temperature reached outside and inside the greenhouse every night. On freezing cold nights, our greenhouse has managed to stay 5-10 degrees warmer than the outside temperature without supplemental heat, which is great!

We do have things set up so that the space can be heated safely and efficiently with a small space heater if necessary during really cold winter nights (25°F or lower) to keep the temperature above freezing.

An important tip here for other people interested in building their own DIY greenhouse: get a thermostat for both inside AND outside your greenhouse so you can know what to expect with temperature differentials, especially when it comes to the extremes. That way, if you see a nighttime forecast of 20°F, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what the temperature inside your greenhouse will be and can plan accordingly if you need supplemental heat.

Some people will also insulate their north-facing greenhouse wall or add water barrels to trap heat in order to better retain internal heat throughout the winter. We opted to maximize space and aesthetics of our greenhouse and use a small space heater instead.

What do you plan to do with your greenhouse now that it’s done — grow seedlings, mature plants, something else?

Our potted citrus plants are now in the greenhouse and it has been wonderful not having to move them with the cold weather. We’re probably going to hang an LED light over them so they get enough sun both in the winter when there’s not a very high UV index and in the summer when the leaves are on the old oak trees overhead, which throws off a lot of shade.

We also have lots of other plants and even a terrarium. Plus the greenhouse is a great place to get seedlings started for transplanting.

Is your basic greenhouse design modifiable for someone else considering doing what you’ve done? Could it be made larger, smaller, etc?

Yes, you could use the same basic idea (building/designing a greenhouse around old windows) to build a larger, smaller, or differently-sized greenhouse than what we’ve got. One of the neat things about using old windows is that every greenhouse is going to be unique and different, which gives it a lot of character and personality.

You could also skip the old windows entirely and probably build a greenhouse much faster using either plexiglass or clear polycarbonate panelling for your windows and/or walls. That way, everything would be uniformly sized and wouldn’t require as much time and customization to plan and frame out. We just like the look (and cost) of our “old window” greenhouse, so that’s the direction we took.

Anything you’d do differently on your DIY greenhouse if you had a do-over?

Yes! We should have tried to get our greenhouse windows for free based on an idea a friend told us after we’d already finished…

We wish we’d called local window replacement companies to see if they would give us old windows they were removing during a job. They actually have to pay to dump those old windows at commercial dump sites, so they might have been happy to drop them off at our house for free instead.

So that’s something other people might consider to cut costs even further when building their own DIY greenhouse.

Anything else you’d want someone else to know who might be considering a DIY greenhouse?

Be creative and resourceful! You don’t have to have a big budget, lots of tools, or building experience to build your own hobby greenhouse. However, you will need to have a lot of time and patience.

We did a lot of googling along the way to help us find detailed information about how to do things we had never done. There were several things Tony was intimidated by (installing the roof, installing the window lifters, etc.). Once he “just did it”, he realized that his intimidation was unfounded.

We initially assumed we could build the greenhouse in a few weeks based on some videos we watched. From initial idea to completion, it took us about one year to build our dream hobby greenhouse.

We could have built it much faster, but we weren’t in a rush and there were long time spans when we didn’t do any work on it, like in the summer when it’s too hot and there are too many mosquitos to be out there. Other people have completed similar DIY greenhouse projects in as little as 4-6 weeks, but they typically have some building experience and/or someone with building experience helping them out.

Bottom line: don’t be intimidated or think you can’t do it. Just be resourceful and go at your own pace… But keep at it!

Now, one of my favorite things to do is sit in the greenhouse and enjoy what we made.

III: Materials list: what you’ll need to build your own DIY greenhouse

What tools and materials will you need to build a DIY hobby greenhouse like Joan and Tony did?

A. Tools

Below is a list of tools you’ll need to build a similar greenhouse. * = a tool is essential to the buildout. ** = a tool is helpful, but not essential.

*Power drill
*Ladder (ideally 8’ or taller)
*Circular saw
*Level
*Shovel (to dig foundation)
*Measuring tape
**Track for circular saw for cutting straight lines to length
**Compound miter saw

B. Materials

Below is a list of supplies you’ll need to build a comparable hobby greenhouse. The amount of material needed depends on the size of the greenhouse YOU want to build:

i. Foundation/floor:

Concrete blocks
Rebar
J-hooks to insert in concrete to hold 2×8 to foundation blocks (with same-sized washers/nuts)
2×8 pressure treated lumber to put on top of concrete blocks
Concrete pavers to fit dimensions for permeable surface (you could also use gravel, pebbles, wood chips, or other material)

ii. Wall/window/framing:

2×4, 2×8 and other lumber necessary to frame the windows and build a proper roof.
Door (typically glass exterior door or storm door)
Old windows (single pane windows let the most sunlight/UV in but don’t provide much insulation value; newer and/or double-pane windows provide better insulation but generally block more UV)

iii. Roofing & guttering:

Polycarbonate material and appropriate accessories to fasten the material to the roof (*This link goes to the product Joan & Tony used from Home Depot along with screws and closure strips from the panel material manufacturer. You could also get these materials from a greenhouse supplier.)
Guttering is optional but something you should consider in case runoff from the roof causes erosion or degrades the foundation of your greenhouse. A single strip of guttering + downspout will do for a lean-to style greenhouse like Joan & Tony’s.

iv. Heating, cooling, venting, electrical:

*Heating & electrical disclaimer: Consult a qualified, licensed electrician if you plan to run electricity or heating to your greenhouse. Running a space heater off of a standard extension line is a fire hazard.

Space heater of your choice plugged into proper outlet if you want a COOL house. If opting for an unheated COLD house, no space heater is necessary.

As Dr. D. G. Hessayon mentions in his book The Greenhouse Expert:

“There are times when a series of rapid air changes is necessary within the greenhouse. If the temperature rises above 80°F or the humidity approaches 100 per cent, it is essential to have about 40-60 air changes per hour. Unfortunately, the ventilators fitted on most standard models are inadequate. There should be at least one root ventilator (‘ridge vent’) and one side ventilator (‘side vent’) — a single ventilator along the ridge is not enough. The root ventilators are all-important — hot air rises and this is the means of escape. The total ventilator area along the ridge should be 16-20 per cent of the total floor area — these hinged ventilators should open to at least 55 degrees. Side ventilators need not open so widely and louvred ones are generally better than the traditional hinged type. Make sure they close properly. Side ones should be set low down to ensure proper air circulation… it is a good idea to have ventilators on both sides of the [green]house.”

automatic greenhouse window openers – these operate automatically by internal expansion when temperatures go into the 70s
Optional but recommended – fan to assist with air circulation and heat removal

vi. Finishing:

1 gallon primer paint
1 gallon exterior semi gloss or gloss paint
Or paint alternative: wood stain
paint brush

IV. Step-by-step in pictures: How to build your own hobby greenhouse

Below are photos of Joan & Tony’s DIY greenhouse buildout, from dirt to done. Along with each photo, they also provide tips and advice that will help you build your own greenhouse like their’s.

A. Greenhouse foundation

Greenhouse foundation - Begin building the foundation for your greenhouse making sure to square your corners. Hanging a string helps! — Begin building the foundation for your greenhouse making sure to square your corners. Hanging a string helps!

Greenhouse foundation - Here you can see the outline of the foundation progressing. You can use a brick or large block to compact the ground below the foundation. — Here you can see the outline of the foundation progressing. You can use a brick or large block to compact the ground below the foundation.

Greenhouse foundation - Make sure your height is level on your foundation. This is even more important than squaring your walls! — Make sure your height is level on your foundation. This is even more important than squaring your walls!

Greenhouse foundation - At least one piece of rebar is placed in every concrete block and driven down below the edge of the block. — At least one piece of rebar is placed in every concrete block and driven down below the edge of the block.

Greenhouse foundation - Concrete poured in and j-bolts come up over the level of the concrete block. The j-bolts secure your wood foundation to the concrete foundation. One j-bolt is placed in every corner and evenly spaced around foundation walls. — Concrete poured in and j-bolts come up over the level of the concrete block. The j-bolts secure your wood foundation to the concrete foundation. One j-bolt is placed in every corner and evenly spaced around foundation walls. (See more about j-bolts in photo below.)

Greenhouse foundation - Deeper dive into how to use the j-bolts to secure your foundation: 1 - Close up of a J-bolt and the bolt & washer. 2 - Setting the J-bolt in the concrete block showing about how much of the threads should be above the sill plate so it can be bolted down. 3 - J-bolt ready to have concrete added to the hole. After adding the concrete make sure the hook is fairly straight (vertical) before the concrete sets. 4 - The sill plate is bolted down. — A closer look at how to use j-bolts to secure your foundation: 1 – Close up of a j-bolt and the bolt & washer. 2 – Setting the j-bolt in the concrete block showing about how much of the threads should be above the sill plate so it can be bolted down. 3 – J-bolt ready to have concrete added to the hole. After adding the concrete make sure the hook is fairly straight (vertical) before the concrete sets. 4 – The sill plate is bolted down.

B. Greenhouse framing

Greenhouse framing - Getting lumber! Try to plan and get all the wood you need at once using your drawings or plans. — Getting lumber! Try to plan and get all the wood you need at once using your drawings or plans.

Don’t have a truck? Don't let that stop you! Rent a u-haul for the day to pick up all the extra materials & supplies you need. — Don’t have a truck? Don’t let that stop you. Rent a u-haul for the day to pick up all the extra materials & supplies you need. The Christmas tree stand was extra – ha!

Greenhouse framing - Place lined-up boards on top of j-bolts and smack it with a rubber mallet to make j-bolt indentations in wood, then drill holes in wood. (Place lined-up boards on top of jhooks and smack it with a rubber mallet to make j-hook indentations in wood. Then drill holes. Attach the washer and nut to set wood foundation. (Two people are best here!) Attach the washer and nut to set wood foundation, as shown previously. — Place lined-up board on top of j-bolts and smack it with a rubber mallet to make j-bolt indentations in wood, then drill holes in wood at indentations. (Two people are best here!) Attach the washer and nut to set wood foundation, as shown in previous picture.

Greenhouse framing - Wall framing begins. The blue tool is a post level, which is very helpful! Brace your corner posts as you go. — Wall framing begins. The blue tool is a post level, which is very helpful! Brace your corner posts as you go.

Greenhouse framing - One half of an old French door is the first glass section installed. — One half of an old French door is the first glass section installed.

Old windows for greenhouse - Trim old window edges to get them to fit just right. A track saw/guide makes this process much easier. — Trim old window edges to get them to fit just right. A track saw/guide makes this process much easier.

Greenhouse windows starting to go in and get framed out. — Greenhouse windows start to go in and get framed out.

A closer look at framing the greenhouse windows. Clamps and a rubber mallet are help tools! — A closer look at framing the windows. Clamps and a rubber mallet are helpful tools for this step!

More greenhouse windows going up... — More windows going up…

And more greenhouse windows... / Building a greenhouse with old recycled windows. — And more windows…

We should stress that framing can be tedious when using old windows because every window size is likely to be different. — We should stress that window framing can be tedious work when using old windows because every window size is likely to be different.

C. Greenhouse roof framing and flooring

Hobby greenhouse roof construction - Now moving on to the greenhouse roof construction! The red line marks the slope of the roof as crossbeams go in. — Now moving on to the greenhouse roof construction! The red line marks the slope of the roof as crossbeams go in.

Connect vertical beams to start framing the roof of the greenhouse. — Connect vertical beams to start framing the roof.

Install sloped/horizontal joists. Notice how each joist has a notch cut for front and back beams. Greenhouse roof construction. — Install sloped/horizontal joists. Notice how each joist has a notch cut for front and back beams.

Put supports between each joist to help serve as anchors for the roofing panels. If you plan to have gutters, they'd attach here as well. — Put supports between each joist to help serve as anchors for the roofing panels. If you plan to have gutters, they’d attach here as well.

There's no single right way to do a greenhouse floor. This is a porous floor installation, so water can spill and run right down between the blocks into the sand below. — There’s no single right way to do a greenhouse floor. This is a porous floor installation, so water can spill and run right down between the blocks into the sand below.

Porous greenhouse floor finished up! This floor was made from blocks Joan & Tony already had on their property.

Doing end joists on greenhouse roof last since they need to be flush with outer wall. — Doing end joists last since they need to be flush with outer wall.

Just a friendly reminder to keep your tools clean throughout the buildout!

Final touches on the greenhouse framing. The door is actually the very last thing to be framed and installed.

First primer paint coat applied to the hobby greenhouse. — First primer paint coat applied.

D. Greenhouse roof installation (using clear polycarbonate paneling)

Start of polycarbonate roof panel installation on the greenhouse. Don’t do this on a windy day! Also, having a partner to help here is highly recommended. — Start of polycarbonate roof panel installation. Don’t do this on a windy day! Also, having a partner to help here is highly recommended.

Here you can better see the closure strips on top of the roof frame which keeps the polycarbonate roof panels snug.

Clear roof panelling on greenhouse - installation completed. — Clear roof panelling installation complete on the greenhouse!

E. Making the greenhouse tight but adequately vented

Fill in gaps between old windows on DIY greenhouse. — Fill in gaps between windows.

More filling in... You want to make sure your greenhouse structure is nice and tight in order to hold heat. — More filling in… You want to make sure your structure is nice and tight in order to hold heat.

It's essential that your greenhouse have windows that open/vent on warm sunny days. — It’s essential that your greenhouse have windows that open/vent on warm sunny days.

Installation of heat-triggered automated window openers. These allow the windows of the greenhouse to automatically open any time temperatures exceed about 70 degrees. — Installation of heat-triggered automated window openers. (Product links are included in materials list in previous section.) These openers allow the windows of the greenhouse to automatically open any time temperatures go into the mid-70s.

Move-in day! You can also better see the automated windows from the exterior of the greenhouse.

An old window fan is set to come on automatically at the same temperature that the automated window openers open the windows. This helps ensure adequate airflow and humidity levels inside the greenhouse on warm days. — An old window fan is set to come on automatically at the same temperature that the automated window openers open the windows. This helps ensure adequate airflow and humidity levels inside the greenhouse on warm days even if Joan and Tony aren’t around.

F. Final touches

Joan's potting table made from an old pallet. Also note the black-colored water jugs under the table which help maintain some interior heat in the greenhouse in the winter. — Joan’s potting table made from an old pallet. Also note the black-colored water jugs under the table which help store and maintain some interior heat in the winter.

Greenhouse adornment - shelves installed to allow for pots or storage on the wall. — Greenhouse adornment – shelves installed to allow for pots or storage on the wall.

Final greenhouse painting done! — Greenhouse painting done but still missing the door.

Finally! Door framing and installation starts…

Greenhouse door installed. This door was the other half of the French door shown in the early pictures. French door used on greenhouse construction. — Greenhouse door installed. This door was the other half of the French door shown in the early pictures.

Personalizing things in the greenhouse and bringing in plants, such as potted citrus which would otherwise be killed outdoors in our cold winters. — Personalizing things and bringing in plants, such as potted citrus which would otherwise be killed outdoors in our cold winters.

The greenhouse is also home to a terrarium created inside an old fish tank.

Christmas lights make a hobby greenhouse look extra inviting at night!

Ready to build your own greenhouse now?

We hope Joan and Tony’s efforts help inspire you to build your own greenhouse. Start planning today and be sure to think of them gratefully when you’re sitting in your greenhouse enjoying what you made – just like they do.

Other DIY gardening projects you’ll love:

20 Comments

Deanna Horwitz says:

September 3, 2025 at 8:27 am

We bought 21 windows yesterday to get started on a greenhouse of our own! Thank you for these detailed instructions. They will be very helpful! We are in Hendersonville NC, just north of Greenville, SC!

1. Aaron von Frank says:
  
  September 23, 2025 at 11:39 am
  
  Awesome, best of luck with your greenhouse construction, Deanna! Cheers from down the street in SC!
  
Ingrid says:

August 29, 2025 at 3:13 pm

How big is the greenhouse and does this type of foundation work in cold climates?

1. Susan says:
  
  September 2, 2025 at 4:42 pm
  
  Hi Ingrid! This greenhouse is 9’W x 11’L x 9’H. This type of foundation would work perfectly well in colder climates.
  
Mary and Ken says:

December 22, 2023 at 8:51 am

Thanks so much for posting this detailed article. We followed the steps to build our own and we love it!

1. Susan says:
  
  December 22, 2023 at 10:15 am
  
  Wonderful to hear! I’ll share your gratitude with Joan and Tony. Hope you enjoy your greenhouse for many years to come!
  
Vicky Cooper says:

December 3, 2023 at 7:00 am

We are in the early planning stages of our greenhouse project, I hope it turns out as great as yours! I’m wondering how you got power to the window fan and space heater, did you wire the greenhouse? Also, is there water piped in? Thank you!

1. Aaron von Frank says:
  
  December 3, 2023 at 2:52 pm
  
  Just checked in with Joan about your question. Here’s what she said:
  
  We pulled a heavy outdoor grade drop cord from our back shed. It’s partially hidden along the edge of the flower beds and is slipped through a low window that remains slightly open all the time. A more permanent solution would require permits. We use very little electricity out there; we only turn on heaters when there is a hard freeze. No water – I pull the hose in to water the plants.
  
Elisabeth says:

November 17, 2023 at 3:37 pm

I must have missed it..but i wad just wondering..the sloped roof..is it faced south? Or dies it not matter much? Greetings feom the Netherlands

1. Aaron von Frank says:
  
  November 21, 2023 at 10:47 am
  
  Great question! The greenhouse is sloped and oriented to be south-facing so as to allow as much solar energy in as possible during the cool months.
  
Bonny says:

September 15, 2023 at 6:48 pm

Thank you so much for posting this and documenting your journey! And inspiring others!
I’m in Greenville as well and working on my own build now 🙂
Is there a DIY greenhouse club around town? lol

1. Aaron von Frank says:
  
  October 3, 2023 at 10:25 pm
  
  Ha! I don’t think there are any DIY greenhouse clubs here in Greenville, Bonny. There are some online gardening groups, but we’re not on social media very often to participate.
  
Samantha says:

August 6, 2023 at 8:09 pm

How long is the rebar?

1. Aaron von Frank says:
  
  August 7, 2023 at 12:19 pm
  
  Hi Samantha! Joan and Tony said the rebar on the greenhouse foundation is 2′ long.
  
Preston says:

May 26, 2023 at 12:48 pm

Hi. I am curious how they attached the wood windows to the framing. I imagine it’s easy to split the old dry wood around the glass.

1. Aaron von Frank says:
  
  June 1, 2023 at 12:47 pm
  
  Hi Preston! Great question. Joan and Tony said they pre-drilled pilot holes when attaching the windows to the greenhouse framing in order to prevent wood splitting. Hope this helps and good luck with your hobby greenhouse buildout!
  
Joanna Rajchert says:

May 7, 2023 at 10:09 am

Is it possible to get the exact draft of this greenhouse? I am interested in the slope of the roof details.

1. Aaron von Frank says:
  
  May 9, 2023 at 12:46 pm
  
  Unfortunately not, since they don’t have the plans.
  
Sam Montgomery says:

January 14, 2023 at 10:05 pm

This article is interesting, detailed and extremely inspiring! My wife and I want to build one almost exactly like the one shown. After reading this article I’m more convinced than ever that I have the skills necessary to successfully build this greenhouse. Just wanted to thank you for a well written blog. Thank you.

1. Aaron von Frank says:
  
  January 19, 2023 at 11:44 am
  
  That’s great to hear, thanks Sam! Best of luck building your own hobby greenhouse.

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