In the photo, you can see some of the anchors to my greenhouse kit.\u00a0 The right l-shaped one is the one that came with the kit and the probably the t-shaped one is one of the extras my husband put in.\u00a0 You can tell this by the slight too-high of the top screw in this photo.\u00a0 All the advice I read about constructing a kit greenhouse was use all of the anchoring materials and do more than you think you will need.\u00a0 So that’s what we did.<\/p>\n
The advice was also to silicone all of it.\u00a0 All of the panels.\u00a0 It’s my understanding that not only will this help with resistance to wind, but it’ll help you seal it up for keeping your temperature that you want in it.\u00a0 You can better control drafts and airflow.\u00a0 Of course, if you live in a zone like 6b and want to keep the house going in the winter, like me, you’ll end up doing more for winterizing, but more on that later.\u00a0 As to what kind, you need one that’ll work with plastics and resists mold.\u00a0 I admit I did not take a big part in choosing one, but what makes more sense than outdoor use and for things like windows?<\/p>\n
One thing we also found early on, it rained overnight before we were finished.\u00a0 We had all the panels in and that was fine, but not all of it was siliconed yet.\u00a0 Water filled a lot of the inside of the polycarbonate panels.\u00a0 Some of the water was able to drain out, especially on the roof panels but other water ran down and sat there inside the walls.\u00a0 After a while, it had no where to go and we were unable to drain since we’d already done the silicone at the base of those panels, so I ended up using a t-pin to put tiny pin holes near to the floor as possible, to drain the water.\u00a0 The last thing I felt like I needed was for that water to freeze in there when winter rolled around.\u00a0 So keep that in mind also, don’t silicone until you are for sure ready as you are not going to be moving that panel once it is set.<\/p>\n
Back on the subject of wind, though.\u00a0 Sealing up the panels will help guard against it, but I see complaints online a lot that a kit was destroyed in the wind.\u00a0 Of course, you need to choose wisely your type of construction considering carefully where you live and where you will put it.\u00a0 My location is perfect as it is quite shielded by the house and the hillside that the house is built into.\u00a0 I may be singing a different song if I had built a greenhouse up on top of our hill where I have my outside veggie garden boxes.\u00a0 There’s a definite difference on windy days to the top of the hill and the spot where the house and greenhouse are.\u00a0 If you’re in a very windy area or putting your greenhouse in a very unprotected space, you may need to just go with something more sturdy in construction.<\/p>\n
Then, of course, and not pictured, he put down silicone sealant in the cracks between the pavers, too.\u00a0 I am not going to go into a lot of detail about ways to seal up other kinds of greenhouses, but this has worked well for me.<\/p>\n