I don't do jigsaw puzzles ever, so to have hundreds if not thousands of bits in a pile with no idea how it all went together was very daunting. At this point I was wishing I had dismantled it myself. There are many lessons to be learnt from how I went about this project! If like me you get a greenhouse already dismantled and no instructions on how to rebuild it this is how to do it.
1. Ensure you have in stock extra greenhouse nuts and bolts, the cropped head type are extremely useful later on if you have missed out putting the standard square ones in. They can be slid into the rails after you have already bolted it together. For Cropped head see image below. Also extra glazing clips as you will not have all you need.
2. Sort out all your parts in to piles, each pile containing the same parts. From here you can work out what parts are what and if you have all the required frame. As if its already dismantled on arrival you just do not know its all there. Luckily for me it was.
3. Make sure you have a greenhouse base in place. I did not do this first, I skipped straight to step 4. As i understood it from reading online your greenhouse will be bigger that the stated size by a few inches. So I built my frame first to gage its true size. My base is made up of some old paving slabs that were already in the garden. Most people either use something like this or lays down a concrete either as an entire floor or for just under the frame. Make sure it is level and sturdy as this is what anchors your greenhouse to the ground.
4. Intuition and Common Sense. build your frame starting from the sides. I built my entire frame in half a day without instructions. I found that the greenhouse was designed in a way that makes it simple to erect, parts seemed to me to go on certain place by just taking of consideration. This said I did put things together and then take them apart again as i had done it wrong. If you can have a second pair of hands and another brain you should easily figure it all out! So build your two long sides first and then add your apex's. One you have these in place you can add the roof and you have a complete frame. Stand in side of it its starts to feel like a greenhouse a little.
5. Put your frame on your base and fix it down. I drilled into my slabs and fixed it down with 4 inch screws. The fixings were one in each corner and several along the sides. so it was well and truly anchored. Only a tornado is going to shift it.
6. Level your frame, it will be a little wonky and sqew in places. To do this take a level and check were its out and adjust your frame by loosening bolts and strong arming it into position. This pays dividends later when you come to glaze it all.
7. Glaze you greenhouse, when i bought my one I knew I was going to be short on glass so I ordered in some 4mm polycarbonate for the roof only so I would have enough glass for the sides. As it turns out even with this I am short as I broke several panes. When glazing, Glaze your roof first as you will have easy access to it while you have no sides on. The glass will be dirty and needs to be cleaned and the best was to do it is with warm water some cleaning product like flash and the big tip.....SAND. Place your payne on a flat surface drop a small blob of sand and scrub your pane with a sponge. It will come up like new. If like my greenhouse you have different sizes of glass take a moment to work out what glass goes where. With my greenhouse the sides needed one small pane and 2 large on the long sides. You will need to clip the glass to the greenhouse and the video below helped me work out how you did it.
When adding glass to the middle and top you will need another clip that the glass hangs on. There are to types and I used both. The first one is prefabricated and useful for the middle panes of glass as it keeps the level of the glass perfect, I think its called a Zclip. This is what it looks like....
And it works like this, you hook it to the bottom pane and sit the upper pane into it.....
With all this you can get glazing and you will have it done within no time I promise. If your unfortunate like me the angles apex may be broken so invest in a glasscutter or buy some pre cut to size.
8. Get Growing!
I am sure I will have missed something out but if your doing this project you will work it out. It can be a little daunting at first but you will feel fulfilled by the end with your achievement. I know I am as I have a 12 x 8 greenhouse that has cost me less than £200 and some of my time.
If anyone has any questions regarding there own greenhouse build dont hesitate to ask I may be able to advise a little.
