How To Build A Greenhouse From Scrap Materials With Your Own Hands - Step By Step Instructions With Photos, Videos And Drawings

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

How to build a greenhouse from scrap materials with your own hands

A greenhouse, like a greenhouse, is an integral part of every summer cottage. In our region there is no opportunity to grow vegetables and greens all year round, so summer residents prefer to purchase or make on their own various types of such structures. And it is not always necessary to purchase expensive materials for this. Most of the craftsmen solved this problem by starting to use various improvised means, from which you can easily and quickly make a greenhouse with your own hands at minimal cost.

Content

• 1 Variety and selection of scrap materials for a greenhouse

  • 1.1 Pallet greenhouse
  • 1.2 From old window frames
  • 1.3 From plastic bottles
  • 1.4 From metal mesh
  • 1.5 From sleepers
• 2 Preparation for the construction of a greenhouse from plastic bottles: drawings and dimensions
• 3 Calculation of the required number of plastic containers

• 4 Step-by-step instructions for building with your own hands

  • 4.1 Greenhouse of whole bottles: instructions and step-by-step photos
  • 4.2 Greenhouse made of plastic plates
  • 4.3 Tips for summer residents
• 5 Video: Overview of greenhouses and greenhouses from plastic bottles

Variety and selection of scrap materials for the greenhouse

Currently, there are a large number of improvised tools that are ideal for building a greenhouse. You can build a temporary structure where you can grow seedlings, vegetables and herbs only in certain months, or you can try and make good lighting and heating in the greenhouse, and then it will already be a winter version that will allow you to have fresh salads on your table throughout the year.

Pallet greenhouse

It is quite simple to build a greenhouse from wooden pallets, since it is wooden structures that can be found everywhere in summer cottages. Usually, a certain number of pallets are disassembled for construction, and then a frame with a gable or gable roof is assembled from the resulting individual boards. Also, the structure can be assembled from whole pallets using metal plates and self-tapping screws.

For greater strength, a chain-link mesh or an ordinary mounting metal mesh is fixed inside the frame. As a cladding, an ordinary dense polyethylene film or a more durable reinforced and light-resistant film is often used

Benefits:

• Fast assembly of the structure;
• Long service life with proper care of the wooden frame;
• The ability to make a greenhouse of any shape;
• Strength;
• Good thermal insulation characteristics;
• Excellent light transmittance;
• Cheapness of materials.

Disadvantages:

• The susceptibility of wood to decay, the appearance of mold and bark beetles;
• The fragility of polyethylene;

• Frequent painting of wooden elements.

  

  Greenhouse made of pallets, covered with plastic wrap

From old window frames

Old window frames can be excellent building materials. To build a greenhouse, you only need to collect a certain number of windows of the same size. Despite the seeming simplicity of building a greenhouse from such an improvised material, the complexity is still present. For a greenhouse, it is necessary to make a foundation or a special supporting structure from windows, clean all wooden frames from old paint and cover them with various antiseptic and antifungal agents.

Benefits:

• Long service life;
• Ease of material selection;
• Structural strength;
• High thermal insulation properties;
• High light transmittance;
• Attractive appearance.

Disadvantages:

• The complexity of the design;
• The fragility of glass;
• Long construction period;
• Wood's susceptibility to decay;

• Requires constant care.

  

  greenhouse from old window frames

From plastic bottles

Plastic bottles have become an excellent building material for summer residents. They can be used to construct various architectural forms, including greenhouses. To build a greenhouse, you only need a certain number of bottles, material for the frame and a minimum of tools.

Benefits:

• Perfectly transmits light to plants;
• Does not let in snow and is resistant to strong winds;
• It can be operated all year round;
• Does not need heating and artificial lighting;
• Build quickly;
• You can grow plants from March to the end of November. Even in December, vegetables can be grown at a suitable temperature.

Disadvantages:

• Short service life of the joints if you use a fishing net or construction threads;

• Plastic can be easily damaged by various sharp objects.

  

  Types of greenhouses from plastic bottles

From a metal mesh

A greenhouse can be made from a simple construction mesh, wire or netting. As a basis, wooden boards and metal supports are used here, on which a mesh or wire is pulled. A regular polyethylene film is stretched from above. For such a greenhouse, no foundation is required. This design is quite simple, but short-lived.

Benefits:

• Assembly speed;
• Cheapness;
• Minimum materials;
• Ease of construction.

Disadvantages:

• Minimum service life;
• Low stability. In strong winds, the structure can be demolished if it is poorly fixed to the ground.
• The fragility of polyethylene;

• Corrosion susceptibility of mesh.

  

  Greenhouse made of welded metal mesh

From sleepers

Very often, when building a greenhouse, it is necessary to make a solid foundation. And many summer residents choose such a durable material as railway sleepers for this. When does a greenhouse need such a foundation?

• In low soil conditions;
• The frame is deepened into the ground at a level below its freezing;
• Has a frame made of wood;
• Built on a slope, near buildings, or vice versa, too far away;
• Provides for year-round use;
• It is too large.

All these factors speak in favor of such material. But the fact is that for durability the sleepers are treated with creosote, which is a substance dangerous to human health and at the same time exudes a very unpleasant odor. Therefore, it is best to purchase such materials that have already "served their time" and have been taken out of use. Naturally, the air and the sun will not make the sleepers environmentally friendly, but after a while the pungent smell can disappear and then the railway elements will be suitable for the foundation.

Greenhouse sleepers foundation

Preparation for the construction of a greenhouse from plastic bottles: drawings and dimensions

We will build a greenhouse from plastic bottles, as they have become the most popular and cheapest material at hand.

In this case, a special project and complex drawings are not required, since we only have to make a wooden frame, and for this we need to know the height, width and length of the structure.

The length, width and length of the greenhouse will be 3x4x2.4 meters with a gable roof. Such a roof will prevent snow and rainwater from lingering.

We will need about 500-600 plastic bottles, stripped of labels. It is necessary to collect both transparent and colored containers in order to be able to use them from the north side of the greenhouse.

Plastic two liter bottle for greenhouse

It is necessary to decide on a place for a greenhouse, as this is very important for the development and proper growth of plants. Usually, a greenhouse is built in the south, southeast or southwest of the rest of the buildings. This is necessary to ensure maximum illumination within the structure and to protect the seedlings from cold winds.

Greenhouse wooden frame drawing

The territory must be cleared of excess vegetation, debris and leveled. The clearing area should be slightly larger than the area of the future greenhouse.

Calculation of the required amount of plastic containers

• For a greenhouse, we need about 500-600 plastic bottles of 1.5 or 2 liters, depending on the thickness of the walls.
• Wooden board or timber - two pieces of 3 meters and two pieces of 4 meters (section 10x7 cm). Railway sleepers can also be used for the foundation.
• Bar - 4 pieces, 2 meters each.
• Mounting rail.

Tools

• Construction knife and cutter;
• Thin awl;
• A hammer;
• Electric or cordless screwdriver;
• Set of screwdrivers;
• Nails and screws;
• Thick fishing line, strong nylon thread and reinforcement;
• Any sewing machine (you can use a manual one);
• Building level, corner and 10 meter tape measure.

DIY step-by-step instructions for building

We will consider two types of plastic bottle greenhouses that have become the most popular among summer residents.

Varieties of greenhouses from plastic bottles

Greenhouse made of whole bottles: instructions and step-by-step photos

1. Since the construction of the greenhouse is light enough, we will not make a monolithic foundation, but will stop on a regular foundation. Supports for it can be made of cinder blocks, bricks, foam blocks, gas blocks so that the greenhouse is slightly raised above the ground.

   

   Foundations for a greenhouse on cinder blocks

2. Next, we make the base itself from wooden boards, beams or sleepers. It must be said that sleepers can make the foundation more durable and reliable, but it is necessary to take only those materials that have not been used for their intended purpose for a long time. We knock down a rectangular structure measuring 3x4 meters, and then we install vertical supports from a bar with a step from 1 to 1.5 meters.

   

   Greenhouse frame made of plastic bottles

3. We assemble the entire frame of the greenhouse and tie it up in the center with a bar at a height of meters from the very base. This is necessary in order for the greenhouse to acquire greater stability and strength in the future.

   

   Preparing the frame for the construction of walls from plastic bottles

4. Now we start assembling the walls from plastic bottles. To do this, you need to cut off the bottom of each bottle with a knife so that they can be easily put on each other. It is necessary to cut off at the point of transition from the bottom to the wider part.

   

   Preparing bottles for assembling frame walls

5. We make the first row from bottles in which only the neck is cut off. We put all the bottles on the base next to each other very tightly so that the wall is “monolithic”. We fasten each bottle with self-tapping screws around the entire perimeter.

6. Then we begin to string rows of dense columns from bottles using fishing line or strong nylon thread.

   

   Assembling the greenhouse wall

7. In order for the posts to stand exactly, it is necessary to pull the fishing line well between the supports and nail wooden blocks.

8. Then we fix each post on the upper beam of the wall, pulling the fishing line and fixing it on specially driven nails or screwed in screws. The received "wall" of bottles should be level and not sag.

   

   We fix all the bottles on the frame

9. We will make a gable roof from plastic bottles. To do this, we knock down rectangular frames (2 pieces) with a size of 3x4 and triangular (2 pieces) with a size of 3x3x3 from wooden boards. In each, we make a frequent crate of wire or mesh so that the bottles do not sag under the force of gravity.

   

   Greenhouse roof part

10. We also attach bottle posts prepared in advance to the frames. You can string bottles on thin fittings or bamboo rods and then the roof will be more reliable.

    

    Greenhouse roof sides

11. When the roof is assembled, we install it on the top of the greenhouse and fix it with metal brackets or in another convenient way.

    

    Greenhouse roof from the inside with dressing

12. For greater reliability, we cover the roof with plastic wrap so that rainwater and melted snow do not flow through the small gaps between the posts.

13. We collect doors for the greenhouse from boards. Everyone chooses the width of the door at their discretion. We knock down the frame and also string the bottles on the fishing line and attach to the structure. You can sheathe the doors with plastic wrap. We fasten the hinges to the loot and hang the doors. The greenhouse is ready for use.

    

    Ready-made greenhouse construction from plastic bottles with doors and windows

Greenhouse made of plastic plates

1. You can make a greenhouse from plates that we cut out of bottles. The dimensions of the frame are similar to the first option.

   

   Greenhouse drawing from plastic plates

2. We cut off the bottom and top of the bottle, and then we cut the resulting cylinder in width. It turns out a rectangular plate.
3. There are a lot of such rectangular elements from the calculation of the area of all greenhouse walls. We make four canvases for an area of 4 walls of 12 sq. meters.

4. You can smooth all the plates with a warm iron, ironing them through a cloth or paper. We sew all rectangles using an awl, nylon thread or fishing line. But you can sew everything with a sewing machine. We must sew all the elements with a slight overlap.

   

   We sew plastic plates for the walls of the greenhouse

5. After the frame of the greenhouse is fully assembled, we put the canvas on one of the walls and attach it around the entire perimeter using wooden slats. They can simply be nailed or screwed on with screws.

   

   Greenhouse walls made of plates

6. The roof can be made in the same way as in the first version and plastic sheets can be fixed to all elements. Or you can just pull on dense polyethylene. The roof will require two canvases, an area of 12 sq. meters and two - with an area of 3.9 sq. meters.

   

   Ready greenhouse made of sewn plastic plates

Tips for summer residents

• In order for the greenhouse to serve as long as possible, it is necessary to treat all wooden structural elements with special antifungal and antiseptic agents and paint with any oil paint.
• It is advisable to stretch an inexpensive welding mesh on all walls of the greenhouse in order to make the structure more durable.
• All doors, windows and the roof of the greenhouse can be made simply from plastic foil, which can be replaced if necessary.
• Each seam of the plastic sheet must be treated with a sealant so that they do not disperse over time and do not start to pass moisture and cold air.

Video: Overview of greenhouses and greenhouses made of plastic bottles

youtube.com/watch?v=d-QZCLum7Bw

A greenhouse made of plastic bottles will be an excellent option for your garden in order to grow various vegetables, herbs and even fruits for your family for a long time. You will not need to make great efforts or purchase expensive materials for its construction, but you will get a wonderful greenhouse for many years.