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Greenhouses & Garden Structures

My 10 x 12 HFGH build

4 years ago

Been working on my HFGH over the past few weeks. So far it has gone up ok. The only big issue I've found is the corner connectors on the foundation are drilled wrong and makes the corners not line up right leaving a gap.

The slab was already there when we bought the house. It was a kids basketball court. I drilled and set 1/4" wedge anchors every 18" or so to secure the foundation to the slab.

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I put down the closed cell sill seal foam and wrapped the foundation metal in a tar and foil flashing tape to prevent rusting. I think later I may fold the foam up to touch the side of the foundation and secure a piece if right angle flasing to prevent water from penetrating under the foundation.

Below is a picture of the flashing tape on the metal foundation.

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I thought it was silly that the bolts on the bottom side of that right angle joining plate were sandwiched between the foundation and the bottom plate of the green house. It made that section bow up and my OCD nature wouldn't put up with that. So I drilled holes in the foundation so the bolts could come from the bottom side of the foundation and up through the plate. This sucked the plate tight to the foundation thus adding a stronger anchor point than just the clips. I did this on all 4 sides of the green house.

The structure went up as per the instructions.

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I've braced the walls like most others. I put a section of 1/2" EMT conduit from side wall to side wall in the middle going front to back of the green house. I mounted L brackets and drilled holes in the conduit and bolted the two together. This took the flex out of the walls.

Cross bar of conduit

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Said L bracket connection

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To brace the front and rear walls I attached another L bracket just to the left and right of where the cross bar is mounted. I also attached L brackets to the front and rear walls. I made a brace out of conduit that will tie the side walls to the front walls.

Just above the door

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There will be one of these braces at each corner

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These braces keep the front and rear walls from moving in and out.

At this point rain is holding me up. I'm going to seal the ends of the pannels with silicone in my garage to stay out of the rain. We're forcasted rain off and on the next two weeks so I don't know when I'll be able to get the pannels in.

I'll post more later when I get more done.

Comments (6)

Randy Montgomery
Nice job on the bracing. I haven't used any yet. It seems that once it was all together it got stronger. I even think the panels added to the structural integrity. I did use self tapping screws and caulk to tighten and seal the panels. Other than that mine is all stock so to speak and seems very strong even though I fell through the roof when I was finishing up and had to make some major repair.
4 years ago
Matt Smith
I'm in a fairly good area for wind. As the pictures show I have it right up next to the fence and about 20ft away on the other side is my house so I have a significant wind break. I have a Davis weather station out in the open about 30ft away and it sees far less wind than my dad's station that's about a mile and a half away. We have a lot more obstructions here.

I'm going to put 4 screws in the pannels at the cross bars and then clips along the edges. I figure that should work for my situation.
4 years ago
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Matt Smith
Here's some more pictures of the bracing. As you can see the weather is better today so I was able to work. Tonight after the kids go to bed I'll seal the ends of the panels with caulk so they can cure.

This is the side wall where the corner braces and side wall braces connect. They are anchored at the top of three center most studs.
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Showing where the ones connect on the back wall
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And a closer view on the back wall. Bracing this wall is mandatory as far as I can tell. Far too much give in it as designed.
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This thing is rock solid now. Its going to take some major wind to hurt it. I'm a huge fan of this green house and the design (for the most part). The track design to hold the bolts makes adding stuff down the road super easy. I'm already thinking of adding bolts to let me attach shade cloth to the inside of the roof. Grommets in the shade cloth and fender washers would allow you to attach the cloth right to the ceiling snugly. The back wall at the peak is just begging for a fan too. I won't caulk the panels in so I can take them out to add things to the structure as needed. Oh the options are endless!!!!!!!
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
Matt Smith
Posting a tip for making spacers to keep your panels flat where the screws hold it down.

I cut this tubing 1/4" long and then place it between the panel and the cross bar where the screw comes through. This is much cheaper than having to buy washers and you can cut it to any length you want to fit your needs.
4 years ago
oakhill (zone 9A, Calif.)
Good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.
4 years ago
Matt Smith
Everything is up and secured. We've had some good wind and rain the past few days and all seems well.

The first test was after dark the first night so I was out in the rain putting in a few clips I missed at 11:30 at night. That was fun.

What have people done about making latches for the doors? I'm just using the trusty clamps I have lying around for now.
4 years ago

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