Greenhouses can be costly to build, however, which leaves many DIYers looking for inexpensive alternatives. One way to cut costs when building a greenhouse is to use as many recycled materials as possible. Glass and polycarbonate panels are the most expensive components in a greenhouse.
Fortunately, old windows are abundant just about everywhere and can be found for cheap or free with some searching. When you consider how many glass windows and doors are disposed of every time a building is torn down or remodeled, it makes perfect sense to seek some out and reuse them in your greenhouse.
Want to see how other people are doing it? Here are 15 fabulous DIY greenhouses made using old windows. This homeowner salvaged old windows and doors from neighbors who were replacing theirs. She built her own trusses and painted the wood and window frames blue before putting everything together. Her husband and son assisted in the framing and window installation, and the result is absolutely beautiful.
Via Fine Homebuilding. One of my favorite greenhouses made from recycled windows is this one, which we featured in an earlier article. This couple used reclaimed windows and wood pallets to build a functional and practical greenhouse. It is the centerpiece in their garden and is used to grow flowers and climbing vegetables, overwinter annuals, and even serves as a shelter for their chickens and quail.
Not too shabby, huh? This greenhouse — built by the husband and wife team at Vaughan House — is the envy of many greenhouse dreamers! It is absolutely beautiful. It is used to house plants, of course, but also for photo shoots and as a rentable wedding and event venue. The frame consists of cedar beams, and old wood-framed windows make up the walls. During the last month I brought out an electric heater to keep the temperature more consistent overnight.
This year I was able to obtain a large picture window and decided to install a windowed roof this spring. It will allow much more light in and therefore heat. I used the same deck screws to affix the windows to the roof frame I already had built. For the roof vents, I took two windows and screwed them together. I found old door hinges and used a piece of PVC as a brace. I added a screw holding it to the frame as a cotter pin.
Lastly, In case a huge gust of wind came along and tried to yank open the windows, I nailed a small chain to the frame and window to prevent the window slamming backwards onto the rest of the roof. I also modified the south facing bench. It connects to the frame on one end and still uses cinder blocks on the other. This will hopefully allow me to utilize the space inside better. It's filling quickly! Now that the roof will allow so much light through, cooling will be a greater issue this summer.
I also have obtained some reflecting fabric. Lastly, I think in the future, I will completely rebuild the roof, using the windows for a gable type structure.
It will force me to use some sort of poly material to cover up the gable ends. The current pitch of the roof is not enough to slope water off the windows completely. The frame was already designed to fit the window into it.
I decided to have it slide up and be held in place. I started by salvaging some hinges from an old entertainment center. They are the kind that sit completely outside the door. Plus these had a unique shape that fit around a right angle. This allowed the wooden "stops" to swing in place and hold the window up while I was venting or when the fan is in place. Across the frame I nailed some boards to hold the fan window against the frame. Lastly, I found an old pulley and fastened it to the window so I can pull it up easily.
Had a major score! A local community greenhouse was torn down and replaced. I was able to get some great parts. Here is a picture of the new window system. It originally opened the windows on the side of the greenhouse. The wheel is turned and rotates the gear attached to the pipe opening the windows.
Makes opening and shutting easy. While every window now must be open at the same time, I can control the angle at which they are open. Also pictured is a gutter claimed from the trash. The hinge side of the roof windows always leaked profusely. The gutter catches the water and stores it in a bucket for easy watering. Bought secondhand some rolling shades which are working great.
They easily roll up and down the south facing wall while not taking up too much room. Here is the greenhouse in a mild winter. I overwinter many potted perennials inside. To insulate the roof, I stretch a sheet of poly across the top to keep out the drafts.
Last October, , I repainted both the inside and out. All the wood is doing well. I hope that, with care, the greenhouse will last over 10 years. It has changed the way I garden, making my back yard much more productive. I like the framing, it's is nice and solid and independent of the windows, so it will hold up better over time, and doors and windows are more likely to keep opening properly.
Changes and improvements can be made without stressing the old windows, which might have cracked glass or made gaps appear. Good job. Reply 1 year ago.
Question 3 years ago on Step 8. The wood from 20 untreated standard pallets and 2 extra long pallets approximately double the length of the former. I used 16 but they were really good quality and I recuperated all the wood. Recently I've noticed pallets are not so well made and the wood often splits - so to be on the safe side I've over estimated - you can never have enough pallets anyway!
Unfortunately for the good of the Planet and paradoxically fortunately for us, there seems to be an unlimited supply of virtually brand new, as well as interesting and beautiful old, glass doors and windows. To judge by the veritable mountains outside joiners and carpenters businesses en route to landfill, many people change their windows as often as others might paint the frames.
Over the years we have collected dozens of examples, including, in the UK some very pretty leaded lights. These latter turn up in architectural salvage yards or 'junk' shops, with the very best examples finding their way into auction rooms and antique shops.
In a greenhouse or house these can be used to great effect. For a supply of general glass windows and doors though, there is nothing like your local joiner's shop or double-glazers.
I made contact with the owner of our local one, having seen a huge pile of material in his yard and he was delighted we wanted to take it away and make use of it. We also sent him photographs and film links for everything we made and when we were looking for a front door for the house, he even carefully got us a door with the doorframe and keys intact! As a matter of fact over the past five years, from just this one source, we and our friends have glazed two entire houses one of them completely doubleglazed and built several greenhouses.
Everyone will have a different idea for a greenhouse, depending on size of garden, what you intend to grow, how many windows you can find. The following design will give you an idea and as I go through I'll give you the sizing and amounts of materials, these are obviously just for this design but they will give you a rule-of-thumb for your own build. Just as an aside, make something you can stand up in!
This is not only for the good of your back but also because this greenhouse makes a wonderful extra outdoor room. It is a great space if you want somewhere to paint or read or even just sit and eat on a rainy day. We notice it particularly because we have an old house which is very dark inside on a dull day! The idea for the greenhouse was to have something that was both decorative and practical.
In particular as it was going to form the centrepiece for the flower garden. We wanted plenty of height both for aesthetics and because we intended to grow many climbing vegetables and flowers and also to incorporate our solar shower. The sides and the back were to be made of windows set on pallet wood walls, similar in design to those of the hen house. On each side there was also to be guttering for the collection and harvest of rainwater.
The front was designed to incorporate a matching set of old French windows and glazed panels with the addition of a panel of leaded lights incorporated into the gable end. The French windows and the door on the rear elevation were both of the same height and these together set the height for the greenhouse. The very first step in constructing the greenhouse was to decide on the size for it.
We'd earmarked a vegetable plot where it was to go and as it had a hedge along one edge and a rose border on another, both of which we wanted to retain a practical size of 5m long by 3m wide - approximately 16' by 10' was decided. This gave adequate space for access with ladders or steps during construction.
Although it is a large sized greenhouse and in itself quite an imposing feature, it actually fits very well into its surrounding landscape. Being surrounded by greenery as it is now, obviates the need for shade cloths, which in the early days were necessary to prevent the scorching of leaves in the very hot, clear days of Summer.
We live near the sea and at times the light here can be very intense. For the south end I had recuperated some French windows and these and the entrance door on the North end set the wall height of the greenhouse. Having now decided the overall dimensions of the greenhouse the preparatory work could begin.
All of the windows I'd collected were casement windows, that is, windows that open on hinges attached to one vertical side of the frame.
Most of them were paired and had a weather strip where the two windows met in the middle. Along the bottom edge of all these windows was a weatherboard to deflect rain running off the window onto the window sill.
As the casement window fits into a frame this moulding is not flush with the bottom but is attached about mm from the bottom edge. Some hinges can be removed by unscrewing but, bearing in mind that these are old windows, the screw heads will usually be sealed under several coats of paint. Nevertheless, with a little care they will usually come out. I clean the paint away from around the screw heads with a sharp awl and ensure the screw heads have all the paint removed so that the screwdriver fits tightly.
If after all this effort the screws refuse to budge then you have to resort to drilling out the heads, it won't matter if the rest of the screw remains in the frame.
Alternatively, you can use a hacksaw or angle grinder to remove any protruding part of the hinge and leave the remaining metal plate complete with screws in place.
To bring the windows' heights to that of the French windows I decided to support them on walls made from pallet wood. Now that I knew the wall lengths I could sort the windows to fit, number them and mark their position on a plan.
Before making the walls, the bottom of each window projecting beyond the weatherboard was sawn off providing a wider face to rest on the wall.
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