April 9-13 Rescuing a Greenhouse

We were very lucky to have recently had a lovely couple get in touch with us about a 60 year old glass house that they wanted to find a new home for. It was built in the 60’s as part of a market garden and has served them well over the years but all of the wood framework had started to rot and it was becoming a bit dangerous to work in. We came to have a look and were blown away by the size, our imaginations were busy with ideas of what we could grow inside. James decided we could make use of it and so we set a date to come back and disassemble it.

The boys easing the large sheets of glass out of the rotten wood frame

Details shot showing deep ditch around one side of the greenhouse

Step one – removing the glass

First row of glass removed

Details shot of a metal bracket that held the beading around the glass windows in place

Details shot of crank handle for opening windows in the roof of the greenhouse

The weather was great and we got stuck in early with the help of Derek and Jane and had all of the glass out before lunch. Once the glass was out we could then begin to see how the structure had been built. Each section was made of a wooden frame that held 4 sheets of glass that was fixed to the metal frame underneath. We did think that the overall design needed to be adjusted some to prevent the wood from rotting as easily next time. Then there was the pile of glass which fell and smashed so it may be that we will rebuild the frame up against a wall or solid structure to save on having to replace all that glass. Whatever we do it will be great to see parts of this old beauty brought back to life.

All in all the breakdown took two days, we were blessed with great weather and great company for the takedown. It is now all neatly stored here at Rudah Mor while we figure out where it can go and what we need to do to rebuild it.