Greenhouse Part II

After completing the foundation, which I discussed last week, it was time to build the frame of the new greenhouse. In this case, I took some time before starting the build to sketch out detailed plans of the greenhouse.

Here is the “short” wall, 12 ft long and 4 ft tall. This should allow for a row of vegetables to be planted right inside this wall.
The “tall” wall, 12 ft long and about 7 ft tall. Notice the space on the right side for our door we bought from the Habitat ReStore.
The side wall, about 6 1/2 ft long. I didn’t add measurements for the inner studs, but measured them real time after installing the roof trusses.

Sketching out the plans really helped me to visualize the design and make any adjustments I needed to before I made my first cut. Once again I was able to reuse a lot of the 2x4s that we had left over from tearing down the original shed that was in this location in our backyard. I’ve pretty much used all of the reusable wood from that shed, and it was definitely worth it to take apart the shed in a mostly controlled manner, instead of beating it with a sledgehammer.

After finishing the plans, it was time to build all of the frames. I started with the top and bottom plates of each wall and measured out and marked each stud location on the bottom plate. Then, by lining the top and bottom plates together, I transferred each location over to the top plate. This makes it much simpler to make sure that every stud is being installed straight and in the correct location.

Clear stud markings on both the top and bottom plates help make framing clear and quick.

After building both the “tall” and “short” walls on the “level” ground in my garage, I was able to stand them directly onto the foundation. Using 16d galvanized nails, I set the walls into place and then used scrap 2x4s to provide support until I could measure, cut, and install the roof trusses.

The framing of both walls went quickly, but I still needed to add support before putting the roof on the next day.

In order to avoid doing math (it’s hard sometimes), I held up a stud and traced the cut I needed to make in order to have the roof truss rest directly on the short wall, and fit into a hanging bracket on the tall wall. I then cut and made sure that truss fit before transferring the pattern to the other 6 roof trusses. From there I was able to install each roof truss before measuring the heights needed for the two side wall studs (once again to avoid math). A few more cuts and it was relatively straightforward to install the side walls onto the foundation and connect them to the outside roof trusses using leftover brackets from the old shed.

The side studs in place and ready for the final angle cut using a jig saw. This allowed me to get the angle between the stud and roof truss correct for each piece.

It took a couple of days of work to finish all of the framing of the new greenhouse. I ended up using some new 2x4s that I had bought previously for the workshop, and I had to buy pressure treated 4x4s for the long side foundation. All in all, the cost of putting up all the framing was probably around $60 since I was able to use a lot of the old wood we had lying around from the old shed. Not too shabby for what is going to end up being a great new addition to our backyard.

Here is the finished frame, complete with the door hung and painting started.

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