Sunday, July 15, 2012

Greenhouse Build - Part 4


Sunday morning was wonderfully still.  This is important since our goal was to put the 4000 sq. ft. piece of plastic over the hoops.  One must realize that a 4000 sq. ft. piece of plastic functions much like a sail and in a strong wind can easily lift a person several feet into the air.

We started by installing the channel on both end walls.  This took about an hour and we had help again.  Doug came back (we were surprised too) and my brother, Scott, came up.  Between the 4 of us, we got the channel on and the site ready in about an hour. 
Channel on the South wall

A friend from work, Brent Ragsdale, came to help put the plastic on about the time that we were done with the channel.  It was finally time to cover the hoops!

We spread out the plastic in the field next to the greenhouse and managed to immediately poke a hole in it on one of the cedar stumps in the field.  Fortunately, Doug had some amazing tape in his car that we used to patch over the hole.  Then we were ready.  We all fanned out on the edges of the plastic and started pulling it over the hoops.  It took a lot of pulling, lifting, fanning and yelling from one side of the greenhouse to the other, but we got it over the hoops. 
Patching the hole

Laying out the plastic

Pulling it over the hoops

Once it was in place, we started locking it down into the channeling.  We did the east wall, then the west wall, then the 2 ends.  Locking in the plastic took much longer than we expected – almost 2 hours – but was mostly uneventful.  All of our helpers got to enjoy actual shade inside the building before leaving for the day. 

We finished up at the farm around 1:15 and gratefully headed for home.  Lest you think that the greenhouse is actually finished, we still have to build and install the doors and paint the end walls before the structure will be legitimately weather tight and finished.  That will have to wait for another day.
Covered!

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