Having finished glazing the roof, we were on a roll,
and installed glazing on both sides of the
greenhouse in one hour. The excitement was mounting . . . the end was in sight! All we had left to glaze were the two gable ends. Got the polycarbonate panels out of the garage and started to tape and cap them, when --- here comes the Oops! --- we discovered that four of the panels were too narrow, as in the photo on the right.

That went beyond frustration, to sheer anguish. . . to be so close to finishing, and yet so far away! Well, it was a Sunday, and all I could do was e-mail Vince at National Greenhouses, and keep my fingers crossed.

 

At the end of that day, I had a greenhouse with terrific ventilation:

 

As with previous problems, Vince got back to me promptly, on the following day, apologized for the defective parts, and explained that the factory had only two of the necessary panels on hand, but would ship them immediately, and that the other two would follow as soon as possible. True to his word, three days later the first two panels were waiting in my carport when I got home. Today, Saturday, as we were installing these panels, a UPS truck drove up and delivered the other two panels. I was pretty impressed with this service: problem discovered on Sunday, partially solved by Thursday, completely resolved by Saturday. That's awesome customer service these days, and I have to reiterate my complete satisfaction with the support I've had on this project from National Greenhouses.

Well, the glazing is done: an enormous feeling of satisfaction: smiles and high fives with my partner, Preston. We both started this project with great trepidation, but here it is . . . Wow!

Can't rest on our laurels, however; the door and the ventilating system are next. And I must say, I'm already suitably impressed with the need for ventilation --- after we got the last sheet of glazing installed, the temperature inside the greenhouse evoked sweating, with the vent wide open and without a door or intake louvers in place. While the weather is unusually mild for November, I was still surprised by the degree of warmth inside, but I guess that's the whole point of a greenhouse!

http://www.faculty.sbc.edu/simpson/Greenhouse/Part 10.html
This page created by Margaret Simpson
Last modified 05/06/2002