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This has completely changed my mind about manufactured greenhouses. Its gorgeous. (Where's the symbol for 'envy'?)
 
Looking good! I must say, even though I built mine, I wouldn't be able to work with glass-it would scare the heck out of me. They were smart to accept the goodies this time.
 
Looking good! I must say, even though I built mine, I wouldn't be able to work with glass-it would scare the heck out of me.

I always thought the same thing until I went to the Florian web page. That triple wall glass will give her an r-10 rating. Not bad. I also always thought a metal structure would transmit cold to the interior, I guess not. I always thought a casually thrown rock, or pine cone dropped from a height would damage the glass, but this glass must be impact resistant or some sort of safety glass. (I didn't read the web page too thoroughly for fear I'd get really envious. LOL!)

dang, all in all it looks like a really beautiful addition to the yard, too.
 
Some snow today prevented them from putting the final panels in the roof today, but hopefully tomorrow that will happen. Tonight they are working in the garage, putting together the automatic ridge vents, which they'll install tomorrow.

Today, they finished putting in the windows (awning), the fan and the vent:
G-Cinci-9.jpg


G-Cinci-8.jpg


and the door:
G-Cinci-10-door.jpg


Mormodes, my husband and I travelled from Michigan to the Florian factory in S. Carolina just to see how these were built. My husband, who is not easily impressed, was indeed impressed and convinced that we were making the right decision going with Florian.

This Cincinnati crew who are putting it together are really dedicated workers and craftsmen. They told us they put together several greenhouse manufacturer's products, and Florian is the best.

And they accepted hot chocolate and cookies twice today. :D
 
hi Dot,

how many more days till you being able to put plants in the greenhouse ?
these must be exciting times for you and Christmas is just around the corner !
are you going to test run the greenhouse empty for a few days ? or you trust the techniques to do the work flawless from day one ?
The waiting game must be almost unbearable seeing it so close to finish
good luck and keep us posted about your venture !
cliokchi
 
Mormodes, my husband and I travelled from Michigan to the Florian factory in S. Carolina just to see how these were built. My husband, who is not easily impressed, was indeed impressed and convinced that we were making the right decision going with Florian.

Well, its beautiful and you should be proud of yourself.
 
WOW!!!
..... That triple wall glass will give her an r-10 rating. Not bad.....
I always thought a casually thrown rock, or pine cone dropped from a height would damage the glass, but this glass must be impact resistant or some sort of safety glass. (I didn't read the web page too thoroughly for fear I'd get really envious. LOL!)
dang, all in all it looks like a really beautiful addition to the yard, too.
and I thought glass was a poor choice when it came to insulating.... :eek:
breakage would be a big fear for me & we have members here that have limbs take out panes.
Gorgeous Dot! :clap:
 
how many more days till you being able to put plants in the greenhouse ?
I would say at least two weeks. Tomorrow, the electrician is supposed to be here as are the guys to install the heaters and the plumbing. That will take this week. I am hoping that the floor will be put in the week before New Years. But that will depend on whether they have all the other work done then, and if the guy who is doing the floor will be free then.

these must be exciting times for you and Christmas is just around the corner !
are you going to test run the greenhouse empty for a few days ? or you trust the techniques to do the work flawless from day one ?
The waiting game must be almost unbearable seeing it so close to finish
good luck and keep us posted about your venture !
cliokchi
Yes, there will be several days, maybe even a couple of weeks, that the heaters will be going and we'll be testing out the system before plants will move in. I can't put the stands in until the floor is in, and even that will take a day or two.

Dot! How will you shade your greenhouse next summer? Just curious.
I'm not sure I'll need it -- I'll have to see about that as well as whether I need more humidity or not. There are tall trees on the East side of the greenhouse, and a fairly big tree, as well as our house, on the West. It will be the mid-day sun that will shine directly in -- not the best of situations, but it's what I have to work with. I have some shade cloth I can throw over, just in case. If I find shade cloth is necessary, I'll work something out for a more permanent (Summer) fix. The glass is tinted and triple pane -- that should help in both seasons.

Here is what they did today:

This is the view I saw at first light this morning. They were working on the ridge vent area -- notice that all the awning windows are installed. I have five on each side, two on the North end and 4 on the South end:
G-Cinci-11-roof.jpg


Installing the ridge vents on the East side:
G-Cinci-12-roofvents.jpg


Then the West side:
G-Cinci-13-roofvents2.jpg


Usually, they walk on the roof and can install the vents and the glass very quickly. But because it was snowing all day, they had to work from the inside, and went up on the roof only to finish it off -- they used pads so that the snow-slippery glass wouldn't make them fall off. It took them probably a half day longer than they thought it would because of this:
G-Cinci-13-roofvents3.jpg


Installing the rod that will open the ridge vents:
G-Cinci-14-ridgeventrod.jpg


And then the motor. The guy on the outside was finishing sealing the roof glass.
G-Cinci-14-ridgevent-motor.jpg


They finished caulking (with a special caulk -- actually, they said they used 4 different caulks) about 6:30 tonight. They said this caulk cost $14 a tube -- not the kind you'd get at your local hardware. In fact, they left some for our main contractor because they said he'd have a hard time finding it.

When they finished, they put a heater our general contractor had left here for that purpose, inside the greenhouse so that, hopefully, by morning, the snow inside will be gone and the ground unfrozen so they can do the other installing mentioned above.

Tomorrow, I'll take a photo of the finished product -- but I'll keep posting in this thread until all my plants are moved in. :D
 
hi dot,
you might want to consider to make a contraption that allows you to put the shade cloth 1 0r 2 ft above the maximum height of your aeration vents opening
experience has taught me that it's better to keep shadecloth of the windows/roof because the airflow between the greenhouse roof and the shade cloth gives extra cool insulation and makes sure that there is no transmission heat as would occur as you attach the shade cloth directly to the greenhouse roof.
furthermore the saran/shadecloth also will protect your windows from direct contact with hail
just some ramblings from me
cliokchi

I'm not sure I'll need it -- I'll have to see about that as well as whether I need more humidity or not. There are tall trees on the East side of the greenhouse, and a fairly big tree, as well as our house, on the West. It will be the mid-day sun that will shine directly in -- not the best of situations, but it's what I have to work with. I have some shade cloth I can throw over, just in case. If I find shade cloth is necessary, I'll work something out for a more permanent (Summer) fix. The glass is tinted and triple pane -- that should help in both seasons.
 
I'm not sure I'll need it --

Check Ronald A Coleman's 'Orchids' article for how he shaded his gh in Tucson. April 1996 pg 376. 99.999% of it doesn't apply to you!!! but the way he elevated the shade cloth off the gh structure was sensible, visually appealing and might provide inspiration and/or a springboard for your own creativity.
 
Dot, can you post a link to the manufacturer's website, please? TIA
Happy to: http://floriangreenhouse.com/index.html Dave Anderson is the contact person: [email protected]

hi dot,
you might want to consider to make a contraption that allows you to put the shade cloth 1 0r 2 ft above the maximum height of your aeration vents opening
experience has taught me that it's better to keep shadecloth of the windows/roof because the airflow between the greenhouse roof and the shade cloth gives extra cool insulation and makes sure that there is no transmission heat as would occur as you attach the shade cloth directly to the greenhouse roof.
furthermore the saran/shadecloth also will protect your windows from direct contact with hail
just some ramblings from me
cliokchi
Good advice -- this is something I have to see about this Summer. The shade cloth I have is a "stop-gap" measure, if needed.

Makes a great stocking stuffer...
http://www.squeegees.net/
:)
Great idea! Thanks for the link., Clark.

Check Ronald A Coleman's 'Orchids' article for how he shaded his gh in Tucson. April 1996 pg 376. 99.999% of it doesn't apply to you!!! but the way he elevated the shade cloth off the gh structure was sensible, visually appealing and might provide inspiration and/or a springboard for your own creativity.
Thanks -- I'll try to look that up. I wasn't a member of AOS in 1996, and was barely into orchids. But I know some members of our society who would probably have that issue.

Here are photos I took today. As things progress inside, I'll post some of that process.
GH---finished-from-NW.jpg


GH---finished-from-NE.jpg


GH---finished-from-SW.jpg


In the bottom picture, you can see the vents for the heaters. They were put in today, though not hooked up because the ground is still frozen inside. We have a propane heater inside going continually to thaw out the ground so the plumbing, gas and electric can be hooked up. Winter -- ugh!
 

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