HOOP-GREENHOUSE BUILD

[300wtby]

Well my wife wanted a greenhouse,and after looking at prices for "real" greenhouses we decided to go with the hoophouse style,

There are a couple of dealers in our area that sell the hoophouse kits we went to a few of them and liked the houses,and we were just about to purchase a kit from one of the dealers,when i found this web sight that sells the bender needed to bend the hoops yourself.well after doing the math I found i could bend the hoops myself and save money at the same time,because the kits are basicaly just the bent tubes and the poly covering and a few bolts...You still have to buy the lumber,tek screws,purlins(emt. coduit) hinges...ect.

All in all i was really suprised at how easy they are to build,and how sturdy they seem to be,it will take a pretty good blow to bring the structure down,dont know about the poly covering yet,should be able to let you know after this winter because we get some good winds here...

I have about 500 into this build,I had some of the materials,but i can bet you wont be out much more than 600 or so .....with the bender

Harbor Freight wants 800 for a 10x12, I built a 12x30 for 500 and have a 100 dollar bender to make more if i so desire,.....Maybe not as pretty as Harbor freights,But when theirs blows over your out 800 bucks when mine blows over just put another 150 dollar sheet of plastic on and your good to go...:thumbsup:

 

[Mousefield]

Nice job. :thumbsup: Thanks for posting the nice pics.
How high is it in the middle?

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

hmmm, i like that...

eventually.......it's on my list....

 

[300wtby]

Nice job. :thumbsup: Thanks for posting the nice pics.
How high is it in the middle?

It is a hair shy of 8',I debated making it higher,then lower,and decided on 8' I think you can go from 6'6" to 10' high,or higher,but I think it becomes an issue with the wind once you get over 10', I am 6'2" and wanted the extra headroom an to be able to hang planters off the purlins.

They say to keep them low to the ground so they are cheaper to heat in the winter.

Also that is a 7 foot step ladder in one of those photos..

 

[RonMar]

What website did you find the bender on?

 

[AlanB]

More details and pictures please The roller is in the basement where I bought it last year to do this project and have not got a round tuit yet plenty of square tuits in my toolbox though.

Anyway, it would really help me, if you would be willing to provide more details on how you did it, the joints you did, and why. Did you use the wiggle wire and track to secure the plastic? Wood over the bottom band board and screwed together? How did you join the EMT? or top rail pipe?

Tons of questions from my end (just my nature I guess) but would like to work out as many kinks as possible from others experience rather than my usual style of doing things wrong, and then having someone walk up and say, "why did you do it that way, it would be easier, cheaper, quicker, better to do this"

VERY nice by the way.

 

[300wtby]

thanks Alan,
This is going to be real short because I am sitting at the airport,heading down to houston for a job,dont know how good the internet will be where I am goeing last time I was there it was spotty at best,so dont think I am ignoring you if I dont reply in a timely manner its because I cant...

the poles are chain link top rails as you know,what bender do you have?I have the c bender ..one thing to remember is keep rolling your pipe towards you with your wrists, and make the pylwood jig as he says i messed up a couple poles by not keeping the end on the slats as i was bending it...oh...have to get on the plane will try to get more info to you tonight..........

 

[jinman]

I'm torn between a hoophouse and a traditional framed greenhouse with staight sides. I know that once you place tables along the walls with a center walkway, that you don't really need vertical walls. I probably will not build until this fall, so I have some time to continue to waffle between the two.

I'm really impressed with your design and build 300wtby. Your job and description sure makes a hoophouse sound like the way to go. Impressive!:thumbsup:

 

[mmurphy]

Looks nice. I am interested in where you got your bender and what it looks like.

 

[Egon]

One could laminate some wooden hoops.

For the covering does anyone use two sheets of plastic and then pump air between them to keep them expanded?

 

[randy41]

i've got a couple of hoophouses. they are not heated. i don't use them as greenhouses but more like cold frames. i plant directly in the ground inside the hoophouse. if you are going to heat the hoophouse then you need to have 2 layers of plastic like egon described for insulation.

 

[300wtby]

I'm torn between a hoophouse and a traditional framed greenhouse with staight sides. I know that once you place tables along the walls with a center walkway, that you don't really need vertical walls. I probably will not build until this fall, so I have some time to continue to waffle between the two.

I'm really impressed with your design and build 300wtby. Your job and description sure makes a hoophouse sound like the way to go. Impressive!:thumbsup:

Well Jinman its not my design by any means, but it is my build so thanks for the kind words..
As for traditional vs hoophouse hands down traditional is the better looking of the 2, but a traditional house of this size is going to set you back 4-6 grand from the ones I have seen anyway..
I was looking for a way to grow my own produce into the winter months and not so much into the "Bling factor" so the hoophouse was a no brainer for me and who knows in 3 or 4 years I may want it somewhere else on my land and I dont think it will be to hard to relocate it, by that time the plastic will probably need replacing anyway???

 

[300wtby]

What website did you find the bender on?

Heres the sight, real nice people to deal with will answer any question you have. Cheap-Homemade-Greenhouse-Quick-Hoop-House-Bender

and another I found with some good picts.Welcome to STEVESGREENHOUSES.COM - Home of the Hoop Greenhouse

 

[300wtby]

One could laminate some wooden hoops.

For the covering does anyone use two sheets of plastic and then pump air between them to keep them expanded?

All of the commercial nursery's that use hoophouse's in my area do,I might also see what happens this winter??

AlanB..

No I did not use wiggle wire,just because I did not have it I stapeled the plastic to the bottom board then nailed a 1x4 over the plastic then folded plastic up and nailed another 1x4 over that,and let left over plastic fall back to ground and covered with gravel,as kind of a gutter.

Ihave read that if you are going to double plastic it that the wiggle wire is the way to go...it is really cheap, I just didnt know where to get it until now

I used 3/4 emt for the top center purlin and 1/2 for the two on either side
the center purlin. I had some of the saddles like if you where going to attach the emt to a wall, and tek screwed them direct into the hoop.with one 3/4" tek screw through the saddle into the emt,to keep it from sliding,seems to have worked

The 1/2" purlins(side)are tek screwed direct through the emt into the hoop you could use brackets there also but I did not have any,and they are doing fine without them.

The studs are attached by 1/4" lag bolts through the base board and the hoop on the top side,then the plywood is attached to the stud and then tek screwed to the hoop .and thats about it you can pretty much do anything you want,lostcreek has a pdf you can download and that is what I followed for the most part and looking at pictures of other hoophouses ,I still want to put a trim board over my plastic on the front an rear to make it look a little cleaner,but its not needed thats just me.

Oh yeah,I just rolled the plastic by hand on the front and back and stapled it to the plywood,pulling tight,and staple, I left about 3 inches from the top of the plywood to the rolled up plastic and also cut little wedges in the plastic so that it conformed around the circle better??/

Ps. I am no expert by any means but the next one I build will be easier.....

 

[AlanB]

Wow, Thanks Chris,

Where is Willapa Valley?

I have the roller from Harbor Freight that I was thinking of using, but at $100 I need to send that gentleman my money for all the info he is providing and get his tool as well.

- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

That sounds like a great, straight forward way of putting it together. I tend to complicate things and it usually involves welding.

I am also fooling about with different ways of crimping the ends so that I can have those smooth socket ends like you get with toprail, and if I can figure it out right (I had it last year and lost my notes) I can take my cuts and make the nursery benches from them using toprail with one swaged end.

I am in Clarksville, TN, North center of the state, about 5 minutes from Ky and there is a decent sized Amish / Mennonite nursery supply house about 30 minutes from me. They have the wiggle wire, etc. etc. from turn key kits to any individual piece you want.

I grew up in the area of Apopka, Fl, and there are zillions of suppliers there as well, and we go down occasionally as well.

Current thought is to produce some smaller houses and accessories to market to homeowners wanting to step up their level a bit.

Wife has a landscaping business and we are registering as a Nursery / Farm this year as well to produce more of our own plants.

Your PS line about sums it up to me.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share your knowledge, drop by sometime if you are in the area.

Alan

 

[schmism]

did you use chainlink fence toprail for the hoops?

 

[TBDonnelly]

How will the hoophouse be ventilated?

Don

 

[300wtby]

Wow, Thanks Chris,

Where is Willapa Valley?

I have the roller from Harbor Freight that I was thinking of using, but at $100 I need to send that gentleman my money for all the info he is providing and get his tool as well.

- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

That sounds like a great, straight forward way of putting it together. I tend to complicate things and it usually involves welding.

I am also fooling about with different ways of crimping the ends so that I can have those smooth socket ends like you get with toprail, and if I can figure it out right (I had it last year and lost my notes) I can take my cuts and make the nursery benches from them using toprail with one swaged end.

I am in Clarksville, TN, North center of the state, about 5 minutes from Ky and there is a decent sized Amish / Mennonite nursery supply house about 30 minutes from me. They have the wiggle wire, etc. etc. from turn key kits to any individual piece you want.

I grew up in the area of Apopka, Fl, and there are zillions of suppliers there as well, and we go down occasionally as well.

Current thought is to produce some smaller houses and accessories to market to homeowners wanting to step up their level a bit.

Wife has a landscaping business and we are registering as a Nursery / Farm this year as well to produce more of our own plants.

Your PS line about sums it up to me.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share your knowledge, drop by sometime if you are in the area.

Alan

AlanB
I like that roller,I have wanted one of those for other metal working projects,But if I was you I would look at lostcreeks design and roll out the two pieces of pipe and build a jig like his,I dont know how well you would be able to repeat the bends over and over again, might get time consuming,but if you can figure the arch that you need and set the bender once and roll it the same everytime it should work well,

you can use plain non swaged pipe,go to home depot and look where they keep the top rail you will see these couplers for hooking two straights together,if you look close at the link steves greenhouses you will see them in use in some of his photos,would be cheaper than buying swaged top rail..

I two was thinking of a way to weld it together,I did see commercial nursery house's with tabs welded off them for bolting studs and plywood to the hoops,but I did not want to burn all of the galvination.(cant spell) off of it,and I hate the smell, not good for ya.

TBDonnelly...just the double doors until I get power out to it, and then probably just a fan??Until I find a cheap wall mount..........

 

[valley]

I envy you being able to use the hoop, you must not get much snow. I could use that here in the mountains if I pulled the plastic off in late fall. Looks good have a great growing season.

 

[Egon]

. I could use that here in the mountains if I pulled the plastic off in late fall.

The Hoop shape could be altered to give a steeper vertical.