Hi Lonriver..

Congrat on your gh's.. I am unsure of the cement... I hope one of our experts pop in...I do know that aluminum and pressure treated wood do not mix well from what I was told....Make sure you use cedar in the gh or something else... I just wanted to say congrats and cant wait to see pics...Barb

A poured concrete floor would seem to be the ultimate in any GH and had I been willing to bear the cost, would have one, but being impermeable, it requires a drainage system.

If you plan to excavate for concrete, laying a drain in the center would be easy enough, then have the concrete finished to drain to it, but it would then need a place to discharge. If you don't have access to a storm water drain, in your climate, a shallow dry well below the GH drain would probably do as well, but you still might need some discharge lines. It really depends on how permeable the soil is below your GH site.

Otherwise, excavate about a foot down, lay in 3/4" gravel and cover it with crushed stone siftings to pack down as a solid base for bricks or patio blocks. Or, just lay heavy, commercial weight weed blocker fabric over it, to avoid kicking up the stone every time you clean. It also prevents tracking it out on your shoes.

Pea gravel is very handsome and an ideal surface for a duck yard, but a real headache to maintain for human use.

I was going to do a concrete floor, but decided I didn't want to bother with a drainage system, possible water puddling, and slipperiness. Instead, I dug down about 8", put in a couple of inches of gravel, 2" of sand, and laid clay pavers on top. Then I locked the pavers in place by sweeping sand into the cracks. Looks good and, when I have a spill, it goes immediately down the cracks into the ground.

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I have paver bricks in my HFGH 10x12. Glad I did it!

We have a fully insulated poured concrete floor with two floor drains. We also sealed the floor with epoxy. It works great, water drains well, it's not slippery and it's real easy to keep clean. We're very happy with it. As far as pressure treated lumber and lauminum, it depends on the lumber itself and how it was pressure treated (i.e. what chemicals).

Many thanks to you all. I will take the advice with the crew to build floor.

Oh, your floor is gorgeous!!! And congrats on the greenhouse. Mine is washed gravel and pavers, drains nicely but is a pain when I need to move benches since the legs dig into the gravel.

It's a little hard to see here, but I used 1/2 to 3/4 crushed rock.

I would have LOVED to pour a slab with a big fat drain in the middle but the crushed rock only cost about $50 for 3 yards.

It's crushed river rock, so there is a lot of round edges. If you get crushed quarry rock it is much better. NO FINES.

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OLD picture from January I think. I'm eating the peas now :)

It stays put very well while walking and moving things around. big enough drainage to hose soil spills down the cracks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Greenhouse gravel flooring

I used pea gravel and it was a huge mistake. It rolls. It doesn't pack like crushed gravel. Pain in the rear to walk on and I constantly have to rake it. Anything but pea gravel!

I agree buyorsell..It is hard to keep clean...Live and learn..Lol

When you say "pea gravel" do you mean 7mm little stones? I have just put down about 4 inches of that. Am wondering if I have done the wrong thing (nothing is installed yet ... )

I second the bricks, as that is what I have, although mine is all new and I have not actually gotten to use my greenhouse yet ;(

We are just finishing the edges with cut bricks and we still need the sand. I think we are going to use polymeric sand between the bricks, since here in south texas I would be fighting that dang bermuda grass if you leave it very permeable. I have antique bricks that all had to be chiseled clean see "So my dh is building me a greenhouse from scratch..." thread I am updating photos now.

Annuschka,
Yes, "pea" gravel is about 7-10 mm long and wide (the size of a green pea...) It will work, but as others have mentioned, it is harder to clean, sticks in your shoes, etc. None of which are major problems however. You might consider adding a few centimeters of "crushed rock" over the top of the pea gravel, if you have room. It is about 2 cm. wide and long, and avoids the problems mentioned above.