EASY STEPS TO BUILD YOUR GREENHOUSE

2020-07-23 -

Gather your supplies

• Treated pine sleepers (optional)

• Recycled timber of various sizes

• Recycled windows and doors

• Polycarbonate roof sheeting and ridge capping

• Recycled shadecloth

You’ll also need Post stirrups; drill; 10mm masonry bit; 10mm masonry anchors; spirit level; hex head bolts; clamp; 100mm batten screws; easy-fit hinges; circular saw; nail gun and nails; stringline; angle grinder with metal cutting blade or tin snips; polycarbonate roofing screws; construction adhesive; shadecloth clips

For you to note Check with your local council for restrictions on the size and position of your greenhouse.

Here’s how

STEP 1 If demolishing an existing structure, keep as much as you can for use in your new greenhouse.

STEP 2 Draw a plan of your greenhouse with sizes of windows, doors and framing timber all worked out. Leave a gap of 5mm around windows and 10mm for doors. This will determine where your posts go.

STEP 3 At the post positions, fix stirrups to concrete. Predrill using a 10mm masonry bit and attach using masonry anchors. In areas without concrete, lay a row of timber sleepers on edge to act as the foundation.

STEP 4 Sit posts in stirrups, make plumb and brace. Mark a level line around all posts, then cut to length. Bolt posts in the stirrups.

STEP 5 Construct wall frames as per your plan. If using timbers of different sizes, make 1 side of the frame flush.

STEP 6 Put frames between posts and clamp to hold. Check for plumb, then screw frames to posts with batten screws. Screw frames together where they meet.

STEP 7 Predrill and fix bottom of frames to concrete or sleepers.

STEP 8 Li windows into gaps in frames. Use a block of timber to make sure they are even to the frame, then screw in place.

STEP 9 Attach easy-fit hinges to doors, then screw into frame. At the top of the opening, nail a strip of timber to act as a stopper for the doors when they close.

STEP 10 Prop ridge and brace above centre of end walls. Here the ridge is 700mm above the walls.

STEP 11 Cut rafters to run from ridge board down to the support walls. At top of rafters, make a plumb cut so it sits flat against the ridge board. Where rafters crosses the walls, make a cut known as a bird’s mouth. This is a small cut in the bottom of the rafters so it will nestle in the outside corner of the wall plate and sit flat. Once you have cut a rafters that fits, use it as a template to mark out and cut more rafters.

STEP 12 Mark out top of wall plate and side of ridge with rafters positions. Mark side of rafters on plate, then an X on the side of the line where the rafters will sit. Here the rafters are 450mm apart under the roofing and 900mm apart under the shade cloth.

STEP 13 Starting at 1 end, place rafters in position and nail to ridge and top plate of wall. Stretch a stringline along the top of the ridge to make sure it is straight as you nail.

STEP 14 Cut and nail blocking to fit between joists where roofing will sit so you have something to screw into.

STEP 15 Cut polycarbonate roofing to length using an angle grinder fitted with a metal cutting blade or tin snips.

STEP 16 Sit roofing on rafters with the cut edge at the top. Screw sheets to rafters using polycarbonate roofing screws. Make sure

TURN ON THE CHARM TO MAKE YOUR WORK SPACE A PLACE YOU WANT TO BE

your sheets are square to the roof before fixing. Screw ridge capping over the sheets at top of the roof.

STEP 17 Spread construction adhesive along timber frame where lining boards will sit.

Nail first board in place, making sure it is level.

STEP 18 Continue gluing and nailing lining boards to the frame. Cut boards around windows. Where you need to join boards along their length, make the join sit over a wall stud.

STEP 19 Stretch recycled shadecloth over the rest of the roof of the greenhouse and hold in place using shadecloth clips.