Post your greenhouses/winter covers

[raganwald]

Here's my DIY. There's enough room to walk around the pond, and I confess it makes a nice cigar retreat... Materials were electrical conduit, duct tape, and a 46' by 32' piece of 6mil greenhouse poly. I could have gone shorter, 40' by 32' probably would have worked, but now that I know I can enjoy sitting out there under the greenhouse, next year I may make it a little larger.

[Terri]

Very cool. How did you support the conduit?

[Jackie Ramo]

I'd be interested as well, this is something that would fit over mine.

[GregBickal]

You must not get any wind or snow :lol:

[Peg]

Here's our winter pond cover. It is 16x18 one of those car storage units. Worked well and held up to the snow and wind. this year we duct taped the doors shut to keep more wind out. Water has warmed up 3 degrees over 24 hours. In the last pic that's all the ice we got on the pond all winter.

[raganwald]

You must not get any wind or snow :lol:

It *is* a little sheltered: it's a very small yard, and it is next to a fence on the West side, a garage on the North side, and our house is less than ten feet away on the East side.

We'll see about the snow, but we have had some windy days in the last week and it has been fine so far. I haven't even anchored the poly yet. I do intent to go out and clear the snow. Since I can get inside comfortably, my plan is to knock off any snow from the inside using... my ten foot net!

That being said, one of the reasons it is so tall is to make it easy for the snow to slide off. Let's see what happens...

[raganwald]

Very cool. How did you support the conduit?

I was experimenting as I went along, so I can report the following:

1. The 1 1/2" conduit fits neatly over 3/4" conduit, so you can cut a ten foot length of 3/4" inch conduit into four stakes. You pound those into the Earth and slide the 1 1/2" conduit over them.

2. The 1" conduit doesn't fit over 3/4" conduit, and 12" spikes don't hold it very well. I am going to try rebar. 1" was much cheaper than 1 1/2", but it isn't as strong.

3. The conduit has its own join system. I didn't glue the joins, because I want to take it down and re-use it. I did use a lot of duct tape.

4. The sides are 1 1/2" conduit, the center line is 1".

[GregBickal]

A few years back I experimented with a hoophouse. A 6" snow made this one of mine collapse!! It was 10' wide by 40' long. The ribs were 2' apart and made with 3/4 PVC pipe. It was 7' tall inside. It needed a center ridge made of wood and out of metal pipe instead, and it would have been fine I think. If the snow doesn't slide off, it will collapse the roof.

[raganwald]

A few years back I experimented with a hoophouse. A 6" snow made this one of mine collapse!! It was 10' wide by 40' long. The ribs were 2' apart and made with 3/4 PVC pipe. It was 7' tall inside. It needed a center ridge made of wood and out of metal pipe instead, and it would have been fine I think. If the snow doesn't slide off, it will collapse the roof.

Was it only supported by the ribs and at either end?

[Ian]

The dome shape PVC cover like Raganwald's tied together at the top will make a huge difference in structural strength. All the PVC hoops have an attachment together at the top...I like that. The plastic being the weak link in our winter build stradegy as some use similar material to push tons through the water...sailors... If the plastic is anchored down well...like sandbags and such it could stand a fair storm. May pay the price for not glueing pipes together??? If it fails or one pulls out in a storm during hard winter...

[GregBickal]

Here's another pic from inside. The plastic was attached to a wood border that ran around the perimiter and then a board over the plastic to act as a flange all around. The plastic was tight.

If it had a beam running down the middle to keep the top from bucleing I think that would have made the snow slide down the side and it would have survived.