How to make a greenhouse out of window frames. Greenhouse from window frames: how to find a new use for old windows? Installation of window frames on a wooden frame

The greenhouse is a great option for organizing a healthy diet for the whole family. And who will take care of him, no matter how her head? The use of a greenhouse on the site makes it possible to grow fresh vegetables and herbs almost all year round, it creates the necessary microclimate for plants, which contributes to their growth.

Greenhouses from window frames: what are they good for

For a long time, greenhouses from window frames have become popular, which are easy to construct with your own hands. The material is very affordable, so this is a fairly profitable option to acquire a greenhouse.

Wood is a strong and durable material that, with proper care, can last a long time. High-quality processing and care makes the tree not vulnerable to the effects of precipitation and sunlight. In addition, natural wood is a breathable material, which is important in the construction of a greenhouse. Glass transmits light well and qualitatively protects the space of the greenhouse from the penetration of cold air.

A greenhouse made of window frames is good because any ventilation can be performed in it (if the frames are with working windows), regardless of the front door.

Advantages of window frame greenhouses

A few positive aspects of using a greenhouse from window frames:

Profitability. It is justified by the fact that the purchase of building materials requires significantly less financial costs than other types of greenhouses.
Practicality. Window frames are practical because, as a rule, they are already covered with all the necessary protective layers of paint and other mixtures, so they are reliably protected from natural influences.
Environmental friendliness. Wood is a natural material that is most harmonious for a greenhouse.
Durability depends on the type of wood from which the frames are made. On average, the service life of a greenhouse made of window frames is no more than 5 years, although this also depends on the climatic zone, as well as on care.
Heat capacity. No matter how old window structures are, they perfectly retain heat. Thanks to the unhindered penetration of sunlight into the greenhouse from the window frames, it warms up naturally.
Good lighting. Glasses have high light transmission, which allows the sun to illuminate the space of the greenhouse as well as the beds in the open air.

If the crops grown are very capricious in relation to ultraviolet radiation, it is better to stick a tinted film on the windows of the greenhouse from the inside.

Strength. Natural wood itself is a very durable material. And the processing of raw materials before use only increases this property.

If you got window frames without glass, you can use cellular polycarbonate instead - there will be practically no difference in performance. You can also use polyethylene.

Construction of a greenhouse from window frames: preparatory work

Before you build a greenhouse from window frames on the site with your own hands, you need to prepare:

Choice of location. in the sunniest place of the site, not covered by trees and buildings.
Soil selection. The soil on which crops are grown should not have a clay layer. If there is no such soil on your site, it is prepared for the greenhouse yourself. A pit is dug over the entire area of the greenhouse with a depth of a spade bayonet or a little more. The soil "pie" consists of gravel, sand and soil cleared of roots, stones and weeds.
. Its detailed compilation, taking into account all the parameters, makes it possible to accurately calculate the amount of materials needed for the construction and avoid mistakes during its construction. If you have window frames of different sizes, thanks to the drawing, you can draw up a preliminary layout of their placement, which will greatly facilitate the assembly of the structure.
Preparation of window frames. If you plan to use old frames (most often it is from them that greenhouses are built), then before installation they should be carefully inspected for damage. All fittings, glass (for safety) and old paint should be removed from old frames, rotten elements should be replaced with new ones. Then the wood is treated with antiseptics, the opening elements of the frames that are not planned for use are fixed with self-tapping screws or sealed with sealant, the frames are painted.

Walling

When the foundation is ready, you can start building walls.

Frame. Before installing window frames, it is necessary to build a frame, the volume of which is formed by vertical racks. For the frame, boards are used, the thickness of which is equal to the thickness of the frames, they should be fixed according to the drawn up drawing. Such docks will still be needed to install harnesses.
Frame installation. The frames are attached to the racks with a long side using self-tapping screws. The resulting gaps can be foamed, but the mounting foam tends to collapse under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, therefore it is better to use silicone or another substance for these purposes. From the inside, small-section timber supports can be attached to the frames for greater stability.

Roof device

The type of roof is selected at the planning and drawing stage. If the frames are not enough for a gable roof, you can make a shed. Frames are attached in the standard way, just like on the walls. For the ridge of a gable roof, you can use wood or plastic.

Greenhouse glazing

At the last stage of the construction of the greenhouse from window frames, the glass removed early is fastened with glazing beads.

And what and how will tell .

In order not to lose the material, be sure to save it to your social network Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook by simply clicking on the button below.

The level of thriftiness of each summer resident is determined not only by ingenuity and a wallet, but also by the ability to make everything necessary for giving with their own hands. Today we will consider greenhouses from old window frames - an option with minimal cost, practical and convenient. Moreover, the materials for the production of such a greenhouse are always at hand.

Changing windows? Does your neighbor change windows? Do you see how they change windows "wholesale" in a kindergarten opposite or another institution? Here is the answer to the question of where to get window frames for building a greenhouse. Otherwise, you can always negotiate with your neighbors or even post an advertisement for the purchase of window frames inexpensively, with self-pickup or self-pickup (many throw them away for free, and here they also offer money). That is, it is not difficult to find material for production, if there is a desire.

But, in addition to materials, you need to know the correct algorithm for creating a greenhouse from window frames.

The base of the greenhouse is necessary here, since the wooden frames have some weight, and if you add the cover of the greenhouse, consumables, and so on, then its mass will increase even more. This means that in order to prevent and completely prevent subsidence of the greenhouse and its destruction, as well as to provide the greenhouse with reliability and stability, it must be installed on the foundation.

Larisa 08.08.2014

31.05.2018

bullshit

Galina 10.04.2019

Can anyone tell me how much it costs per square meter to install a greenhouse from old window frames ???

Add a comment

Old windows, which today are often replaced with double-glazed windows enclosed in plastic, are usually sent to the scrap later. But they can be given a second life by using greenhouses in the construction. Especially when there is not enough money for a factory product made of polycarbonate, for example, and a profile. And here at hand is solid, safe for plants and, most importantly, free material. Window glass has sufficient strength and perfectly transmits light, which is important for plant life.

Getting old frames is not difficult, especially when you need only a few for a small greenhouse. It is good if they were preserved after the dismantling of the old building or replacement with double-glazed windows. In extreme cases, the required number of old frames can be asked from friends and neighbors who carried out major repairs to their homes, or negotiated with plastic window installers who simply take their dismantling products to a landfill.

From the material obtained, you can assemble the main parts of the greenhouse. This process is creative. You will have to delve into the nuances of the foundation device for the intended design and determine the location of each window frame in it. If there are problems with fitting the constituent elements of the structure, pieces of polycarbonate, mounting foam and screws, sealant and ordinary cement can come to the rescue.

In general, there are three main options for assembling a greenhouse from old windows:

Sheathe the bottom of the frame with wooden boards. This will ensure that when watering plants or digging the soil, the glass of the greenhouse will remain intact.
Glaze the finished frame with material taken from old windows. Then the greenhouse will look full, and the frames can be used at your discretion.
Dock window frames into a single structure. If they are of different sizes, you will have to be creative. To begin with, draw up a plan for placing frames in the structure so that the structure looks harmonious.

Advantages of greenhouses from old windows

Due to the availability of material and simple assembly, even a beginner in this business can make a greenhouse out of window frames with his own hands.

The advantages of such a structure "on the face":

The wood is strong enough, with good care, the frames made from it will last for more than one year. High-quality processing of wooden products makes them invulnerable to the influence of precipitation and sunlight.
The glass of the windows, in addition to its good ability to transmit light, qualitatively protects the interior of the greenhouse from the outside cold air.
The assembly of the structure from window frames attracts many because in such a greenhouse it is convenient to carry out ventilation through any window.

In addition to all of the above, there are many more positive aspects in the construction and use of such a structure:

Economy and practicality. They are due to the fact that at low costs for the purchase of consumables, you can get a ready-made greenhouse protected from external influences as a result of your work. Most often, old frames are covered with paint and not even one layer.
Environmental Safety. Wood as a natural material harmoniously fits into the interior of the greenhouse.
Durability. It depends on the type of wood that was used in the manufacture of the frame. The hardiest species are oak and larch. A greenhouse with a wooden frame can last an average of 5 years. However, this period varies depending on the care of the building and the climatic zone of its location.
Heat capacity. Window frames perfectly retain the accumulated heat. The sunlight passing freely through them contributes to the heating of the greenhouse in a natural way.
Quality lighting. Due to the high light transmission of the window glass, the space of the greenhouse is illuminated no worse than the beds in the open air. Harmful to some plants, ultraviolet radiation can be eliminated by sticking a tinted film on the glass from the inside of the greenhouse.
High strength wood. This quality is indispensable for the stability of the window frame greenhouse. It can be increased by impregnating products with modern preparations.

Advice! If there are no glasses in the frames assembled for construction, cellular polycarbonate or, in the worst case, plastic film can be successfully used instead.

Technology for mounting a greenhouse from window frames

The structure of the greenhouse from frames includes a support, a frame and a cover. Consider the phased manufacture of each of these elements.

Preparing to build a greenhouse

This stage of work includes the choice of a place for the structure, its design, preparation of materials and the necessary tools.

Before you make a greenhouse out of window frames, you need to draw up a detailed drawing of it with a frame layout, especially if they are of different sizes. Each frame will need to be measured first. The total width of all products determines the length of the greenhouse. To make it symmetrical, it is recommended to select frames of the same height.

The width of the building should be chosen in accordance with the planned dimensions of the beds and passages, which are convenient in terms of walking and passing the household cart. The width of the beds in the greenhouse is usually 1 m.

After drawing up a detailed drawing, it will not be difficult to calculate the consumables needed for the construction of a greenhouse: fasteners, key parts, fittings, etc.

When the dimensions of the future greenhouse have already been determined, you need to choose a place to place it. The functionality of the structure will depend on how correctly this is done. It needs a flat, well-lit area. There should be no objects near the greenhouse that can shade it: tall trees, a fence, other buildings, etc. In addition, such structures are not recommended to be located in the path of the prevailing winds. In the winter period of the year, this will reduce the heat loss of the greenhouse. Ideally, the longitudinal axis of the greenhouse should be oriented from north to south.

The soil for a structure made of old windows should not be damp and strong, since the mass of such greenhouses is very significant, and excess moisture is detrimental to a wooden structure. A successful soil structure for greenhouse farming should consist of a lower sandy layer and an upper layer of fertile chernozem.

If the soil on the site is clay, the place for the construction of the greenhouse must be covered with gravel, on top of it make a pillow with a thickness of at least 100 mm from sand, tamp it down and ennoble it with fertile soil. For such a “pie”, you first need to remove the top layer of soil from the entire building area to a depth of 30-40 cm.

The level of groundwater occurrence is of great importance. For a greenhouse, it must be at least one and a half meters down. Raw soil for the construction of such structures is not suitable.

Treatment of old windows

If you plan to build a greenhouse from old window frames, they should be prepared properly. Previously, the material must be carefully examined for damage. To facilitate this and subsequent work from the frames, it is required to remove the glass and all fittings - latches, handles, etc. After that, the surface of the products must be cleaned from paint to wood. If rotten elements are found, they must be replaced with new ones.

Cleaned frames must be treated with an antiseptic, which will protect the structure from dampness, mice and insects in the future.

The presence of small cracks is easily corrected with a special putty for wood. After it dries, problem areas should be sanded with sandpaper. Then the prepared surface of the frames must be painted with enamel for outdoor use. Such paint is not afraid of moisture and frost.

The height of the walls of the future greenhouse from the frames should be planned at least 1.7-1.8 m. The total height of the structure depends on the slope of the roof slopes. For a film coating, it must be greater than for a polycarbonate or glass coating.

Building a foundation for a greenhouse from windows

A stationary frame structure, which is not dismantled for the winter and can serve 3-5 seasons, has a solid weight and therefore requires a strong foundation. Another need for its construction is the small height of the window frames, it averages 1.5 m. It is not enough for comfortable movement inside the greenhouse. Therefore, two or three dozen centimeters missing to the norm can be built up with foundation walls. Another advantage of this solution is the exclusion of direct contact between the wood of the bottom of the frame and the ground. This means that the window frames of the greenhouse will rot less.

Having decided on the desired height of the structure, it is easy to calculate the vertical size of the above-ground part of its support. The total height of the frames and walls of the foundation should allow you to move around the greenhouse without bending over.

The most reliable is the concrete strip foundation. After choosing a place and laying out a site for construction along its perimeter, you need to dig a trench 50-70 cm deep, depending on the level of soil freezing. The standard trench width is 15-20 cm. The large excavation depth will make the structure frost-proof. This will enable early planting in early spring.

The bottom of the trench must be covered with crushed stone, and a sand cushion 10 cm thick must be created on top of it. Then it must be impregnated with liquid concrete, the trench filled with stones and the remaining mixture poured into it, filling the recess to the level of the soil surface.

The next day, you need to install a panel formwork to raise the walls of the foundation to the required height. Usually it is 15-25 cm. Stones or reinforcement can be laid in the formwork, which will make the above-ground part of the support under the greenhouse stronger. After that, everything should be poured with concrete and left for 28 days for it to completely solidify.

You can ignore the formwork device by making the above-ground part of the support from a wooden beam with a section of 150x150 mm. To obtain an additional 30 cm of greenhouse height, eight bars must be placed in pairs on top of each other. Before installation, they should be impregnated with used car oil. Between themselves, the bars must be connected with brackets, and the end joints of the structure should be strengthened with metal corners. The frame from the foundation must be separated with roofing felt waterproofing.

To build the foundation of a miniature greenhouse, it will be enough to dig a trench 30 cm deep, fill it first with rubble, then sand, and then immediately mount the supporting frame from the bar from above. The downside of this solution is that such a greenhouse can freeze in winter.

Installation of a frame for a greenhouse from window frames

It consists of racks and two harnesses - upper and lower. For strapping, you can use metal corners or timber and boards. Horizontal lower trim of steel angles should be performed when pouring the upper part of the foundation for a strong connection of metal parts with a support. The side racks of the structure in this case must be made from the same corners, then welded or bolted to the bottom trim. The height of the top trim must be determined with great care. It is important that the wooden frames do not suddenly end up behind her line - higher or lower.

For the manufacture of a wooden frame for a greenhouse, you will need a beam with a section of 100x100 mm, eight boards 40 mm thick, four side racks and several intermediate ones. Their number depends on the number of windows that need to be installed. For example, if the frame consists of four frames in length and two frames in width, three racks will be needed on each of its sides and one on the end.

The size of the cross-section of the beam for the racks must be at least 50x50 mm. All connections of the wooden parts of the frame must be made with metal corners, pre-drilling seats for screws in the wood. It is desirable to protect steel parts from rust with anti-corrosion enamel.

The frame assembly should be carried out in the following order:

Attach a beam 100x100 mm to the foundation with anchor bolts. It will serve as the basis for the further installation of the frame.
Install the side racks, checking their verticality with a building level.
Performing a half-tree cut at the junctions, use nails to fix the boards that form the lower trim of the greenhouse frame.
Install intermediate posts. The distance between them should correspond to the width of the window.
Run the top strapping with boards on the racks.
To protect against rot and insect invasion, the frame racks must be treated with an antiseptic.

It is convenient to knock down a gable roof frame below on the ground, and then install it on the walls of the structure. The central risers, which serve as a support for the roof, are recommended to be made of a more powerful beam than the one that will be used for the rest of the roof elements. For rafters and ridge, you can use a beam with a section of 50x50 mm. Intermediate rafters of the roof frame can be made from a thick board instead of timber. The distance between them usually corresponds to the width of the frames.

Greenhouse cover device

The coating of such a greenhouse is recommended to be made of polycarbonate or polyethylene film. Frames are less suitable for this. The fact is that they greatly increase the weight of the structure, and it is inconvenient to fix glass on the roof slopes. Another thing is plastic or film. They can be easily removed for the winter. And the glazed frames, which are difficult to disassemble, will accumulate snow caps in winter, creating an additional load and thereby shortening the life of the wooden frame of the greenhouse.

For a film coating of a window frame structure, the slope of the roof slopes must be large. This is useful so that rain water does not linger on the film when it is deflected and flows down well. Polycarbonate sheets are more rigid than film. Therefore, when they are used for covering, the slope of the roof of the greenhouse may be less than in the previous case.

Sheets of cellular polycarbonate must be fixed to the rafters and gables using bolts with wide washers. To protect the walls of the greenhouse from rainwater, it is necessary to leave roof overhangs, which should protrude beyond the side enclosing structures by 150-200 mm.

It is convenient to mount the film on the frame simultaneously from different sides. Therefore, this operation is best performed by two people, easily controlling the amount of material tension. For its fastening, thin wooden slats are suitable, which, after pressing the film, must be fixed with nails on the roof frame.

In order to minimize the sagging of the film on the greenhouse, it is recommended to lay the cover on a wire mesh frame stretched between the roof rafters.

Fastening window frames to the frame

After making the roof of the greenhouse, window frames can be installed in its frame. The fixation of these elements of the structure should be carried out from its outer side with the help of screws. The gaps between the frames must be filled with mounting foam, and then closed with thin strips for maximum tightness.

Glasses in frames must be laid on a sealing compound, and then fixed with glazing beads. In this case, the movement of air through the closed frame will be excluded.

When mounting the frames, it is necessary to check the condition of the vents. They must not be skewed. If necessary, they must be corrected. To hold the vents in the closed position, hooks must be nailed. In addition, you should come up with a latch that holds them open.

Greenhouse doors should be installed at the end of the structure. If it is narrow, then its end can be left without frames at all - they will not fit there. It will be easier if in this case the entire end, except for the doorway, is sheathed with a film.

The door frame must be made of timber. The door leaf can be hung on it using the hinges taken out of the window frames. After that, it remains to fill the fertile layer of earth into the greenhouse, make beds and start planting.

How to make a greenhouse from window frames - look at the video:

As you can see, an environmentally friendly and convenient greenhouse from window frames can be built independently for mere pennies. Think about this opportunity when you are going to change the old windows in your home for new modern double-glazed windows. Good luck!

Any gardener who wants to get a high-quality crop builds a greenhouse on his site. The simplest and most reliable option is greenhouse built from old window frames. It can be built with your own hands at no special cost. The first question that arises is where to get window frames? The answer is simple: the people who make repairs. Old windows can be purchased for symbolic money or for free. Thanks to this approach, you will save a lot of money and build a structure that fits perfectly into your exterior.

Did you know?

How to build a greenhouse with your own hands from window frames?

Foundation creation and foundation options

Before laying the foundation, the site must be cleared. Mark the design plan, having previously leveled the ground. Be sure to take into account the degree of shrinkage of the soil. The foundation is the foundation of the structure. The choice of foundation will depend on how long the structure will last, as well as what material is required from which it is constructed. If you plan a solid durable construction of metal-plastic windows, then it would be advisable to lay a foundation of brick or pour cement. But if the design is planned for one or two seasons, then it is enough to use bars. So that the wooden foundation does not rot, it can be wrapped with roofing material.

Frame erection

The frame of the greenhouse will serve as window frames. There are several options for attaching them:

Corner fixing. A very reliable method, but it requires some skill and expense. The corners are fastened between the frames from the inside and bolted, connecting the two frames together.
Self-tapping fastening. A fairly simple method in which self-tapping screws are screwed into the base of the frame, thereby fastening its individual parts together.
Fastening with bars and slats. Along the perimeter of the greenhouse, thin bars or slats are attached from the inside, which are nailed. Such a design will be quite strong.
Clamps and wire. This assembly method is the easiest. The frames are fastened by simply twisting the wire together. This type is suitable for a structure that is built for one season.

Installing the greenhouse on the foundation

Installing the greenhouse on the base is the most important point. The frame can be attached to the foundation by installing a corner and welding the parts together. If the base is made of timber, then it will be enough to attach the structure with bolts. The most important thing is to develop an action plan that will help to properly install the structure. It is necessary not only to correctly fix the greenhouse to the base, but also carefully connect the frame with each subsequent one, ensuring its stability.

Roof covering

Covering is the final stage in the construction of the greenhouse. There are several ways:

Glass roof covering. This will be a durable coating, but it significantly makes the structure heavier.
Covering the greenhouse with plastic wrap. The method is very economical and simple, while lightening the weight of the structure. To cover the roof with a film, you will need to nail the slats around the perimeter of the roof and make a crate. Polyethylene is easy to fasten with clamps or clips.

After the frame is erected and the roof is stretched, the structure must be checked for strength. It is also very important that the greenhouse has a ventilation mode. In such a structure, the vents of old window frames will do this function. If there are gaps in the structure, they must be repaired. For this, building foam is suitable. The last important point is light transmission. The greenhouse should let in light from all sides. After checking the functionality, you can start planting plants.

Requirements for the condition of window frames

For the manufacture of even a small greenhouse, you can use almost any type of window frames, especially since the choice of material for construction is not very large, most often what is at hand or managed to be exchanged from neighbors is used.

The minimum requirements for the material for a wooden greenhouse come down to two points:

The wood of the window frames must be solid, without cracks or signs of rotting of the material due to fungal attack or natural wear and tear;
The window frame should not have deformations, deviations from the plane, "propeller" twists or distortions.

To build a greenhouse from old window frames with your own hands, even boxes with cracked glass are suitable, provided that the cracks do not threaten the destruction of the glass sheet. Before making a greenhouse out of window frames, the cracks are sealed with adhesive tape or silicate glue, peeled paint is cleaned off with a brush and a sharp knife. The dried surface of the wooden parts of the window frames is painted with white enamel and dried in the sun.

Where to get old window frames

One of the problems that one has to face when planning a greenhouse is the task of selecting the material. For a small greenhouse, 15-16 single frames 100x110 cm in size will be required, for a full-fledged greenhouse 8x3.5 m in size, 30-35 pieces of old window frames will need to be prepared. There are several options to get the specified amount of materials:

Redeem materials from pensioners who ordered the installation of new double-glazed windows;
Negotiate with workers involved in the installation of metal-plastic windows for individuals;
Buy frames for greenhouses in municipal or school institutions.

Usually, the massive replacement of windows in institutions is associated with the accumulation on the territory of a large number of old frames, doors, window sills, all that can serve as an excellent building material for building a greenhouse. Most often, the leaders themselves are interested in getting rid of the garbage as soon as possible, and will be glad for any help.

We build a greenhouse from old frames

Although the window frame looks strong and durable, it must be used very carefully as a building material, any vertical or shear load, such as from gusts of wind or snow on the roof of a greenhouse, can lead to cracking and destruction of the glass.

Therefore, when planning greenhouses from window frames, two simple construction principles are followed:

Initially, a frame is assembled from a wooden beam and a metal corner, as is done for all frame buildings, which include greenhouses;
Old window frames are inserted inside the frame, which are fastened together with steel plates and self-tapping screws.

Important! As a result, the entire load, including the weight of the window frames themselves, falls on the frame base of the greenhouse. This type of construction allows you to replace or remove any of the frames without the risk of destroying the entire greenhouse.

For the same reason, summer residents prefer to make a glass roof for a greenhouse from lightweight polycarbonate or tighten it with ordinary plastic wrap. If it is planned to manufacture a glass roof from window frames in the plans for the construction of the greenhouse, then the weight of a very heavy transparent roof must be compensated with the help of struts, approximately as in the photo, and the frame itself from the frames should be made in the form of an extension to the house.

Arrangement of the foundation for the greenhouse and the first tier of the strapping

A place for a greenhouse from window frames is chosen on the sunny side of the site on the leeward side. The top layer of soil along the contour of the future building is removed and replaced with a mixture of crushed stone and sand. The weight of the greenhouse is small, so you can use the pile-column option as the foundation, as the simplest and cheapest. In the corners and at the midpoints of the rectangular base, pine poles 20-25 cm in diameter are driven into the ground, which will simultaneously serve as supports for the roof. The supports are driven into the ground to a depth of 70-80 cm, 180-200 cm remain above the soil. All six pillars are tied at the upper level with a bar with a section of 90x70 mm, and you can proceed with the installation of window frames.

The greenhouse frame is assembled in the following order:

Note! The use of wooden poles and piles will require very high-quality wood treatment with an antiseptic and bituminous coatings.

The remaining three long and two side spans are assembled in a similar way. The poles and the lower tier of the strapping are painted and covered with a vapor barrier film. To prevent the wind from tearing the insulation, the material is attached to the window frames of the greenhouse using wooden planks and staplers or pneumatic nails.

An air gap of 20-25 cm high remains between the lower beam, on which the window frames rest, and the ground. It is usually used as a duct and ventilation of the interior of the greenhouse. When growing certain varieties of some heat-loving crops in a greenhouse, for example, tomatoes or eggplants, ground ventilation is required, therefore, in addition to the windows and transoms in the window frames, the basement of the greenhouse walls is covered with folding boards made of boards sheathed with polyethylene.

Roof and additional parts of the greenhouse

The size of the greenhouse frame and the low strength of the walls made of window frames do not make it possible to make a glass roof. Alternatively, cellular polycarbonate or polyethylene can be used. The roof for the greenhouse is easiest to make according to the classic gable scheme.

The length of the greenhouse is quite large, eight meters, so to fix the ridge beam, you will need to make and install three additional supports from a profiled pipe. First of all, roof gables are installed on the walls from window frames, between which a marking cord is pulled. But the stretched markings expose T-shaped metal supports and the central run of the beam. To prevent the knocked-down roof ridge boards from falling before the rafters are installed, the racks are temporarily sewn to the trim and window frames using a slab.

It is easiest to make a ridge beam from three sections of 2.7 m each, the individual parts are interconnected by bolts with metal plates 4 mm thick and 40-50 cm long. the season is almost out of whack.

After assembling the ridge strip, you need to assemble the truss system. The rafters can be cut from a slab or timber, all you need is the help of an additional worker to saw down the right angle to support on the walls of the window frames.

In order to lay polycarbonate on the roof of the greenhouse, in addition to the rafters, you will need to sew a lathing rail in increments of no more than 40 cm. This is one of the best roofing options for a conventional greenhouse. For the construction of window frames, there is no particular need to use such an expensive material.

Moreover, due to the fact that the walls of window frames have 40% higher light transmission, the roof of the greenhouse can be made translucent. On the one hand, this will reduce the heat head with an excess of sunlight, on the other hand, it will allow you to seriously save on materials. Instead of a polycarbonate roof for several hundred dollars, it is much cheaper to build a roof on polyethylene or agrotextile.

To equip the film roof on the rafters, it will be enough to stretch the steel wire - wire rod and glue the polyethylene using construction tape.

Small greenhouse option

There are no rules without exception, all of the above applies to full-sized greenhouses and greenhouses. A small greenhouse of 10-12 m 2 can be assembled by simply connecting several frames using the upper beam trim. To prevent the walls from moving apart under their own weight, window frames are installed on a foundation of wooden piles.

A steel profile frame is mounted on a pile foundation, on which walls from old window frames are exposed. Instead of metal, you can use oak timber impregnated with oil to protect it from moisture.

The third power element, fastening the window blocks into one frame, are four pairs of wooden rafters from a bar 70x50 mm, connected into rigid triangles. The rafter frame must be reinforced with crossbars made of boards or timber.

Triangular horizontal braces are additionally installed in the corners on the upper trim of the timber, which gives additional rigidity to the entire greenhouse box. The result is a fairly strong frameless structure that does not require external struts and a heavy concrete foundation.

For the roof, you can use polyethylene in early spring or an agro-textile fabric that protects greenhouse plants from sunburn.

Conclusion

Greenhouses from old window frames have one significant drawback. The wood of the window block after several decades of service is covered with a grid of tiny cracks. Therefore, every year, window frames will need to be painted with weather-resistant enamels and gaps sealed with mounting foam. At the same time, the lower edge of the window frame is filled with mastic waterproofing. Any attempt to lay a foundation of bricks or blocks under the window blocks will require the arrangement of very serious waterproofing and the installation of a protective cladding made of PVC panels.