I'm not sure if this place is close to you or not, but the Mt. Shasta General Store sells Riga and others. I also don't know if they keep them in stock or if they are purely an online seller.

http://www.mountshastageneralstore.com/Riga/Riga_Greenhouse.html

Another thing to try would be to contact gardening clubs or the folks that organize garden tours to see if anyone owns one of the models you are interested in.

Bozeman is a haul from Western WA but you are welcome to come over for a tour of our Riga. I have been getting a lot of curious visitors lately, wanting to come see the RED tomatoes inside.

Good luck and happy shopping!

Wow, super speedy response!

I did look into Mt Shasta, but that's about a 600 mile drive. :O I should probably mention that I'm in the Seattle area to, perhaps, narrow the scope a little.

Contacting local gardening clubs is a great idea though!

I've seen your pictures of the Riga, and that's really what made me start looking at them! I was initially considering a Rion, but after seeing all the problems with poor fittings in the roof and considering the amount of wind we get here... that idea went out the window.

Ah, Seattle - so yeah, Mt. Shasta would be an unreasonable drive. Another place to ask would be at a good garden center that knows their clients.

Well I'm glad my Riga photos were helpful! Let us know how your search goes.

Hi Joe,

You're right in that it's going to be hard to actually find display models anywhere. I don't have a great setup like Karin, but I've been lucky enough to check out Riga's line since I'm in Austin, where the Riga distributor is located.

As far as pricing, definitely shop around. Some online retailers have much more leeway in terms of how much discount they can offer. And as strange as the tax laws are, you're better of purchasing from an out-of-state online retailer to avoid sales tax, which will be significant for a purchase this large.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hobby Greenhouse

Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on this. I went looking at greenhouses yesterday to get a feel for the size of the Riga V. After finding a few comparable sizes and designs, I put the order in.

GH Kit + Base + 1 upper shelf = $5,097. I ordered from CSN and called instead of doing it online so I could ask for a discount. $250 off the top just for asking.

I'll be starting assembly the weekend after Labor day!

Congrats on your purchase!!! I hope you get years of enjoyment and production out of it.

I remember reading up top people talking about them being made from aluminum? The biggest caution I can give anyone that has an aluminum greenhouse(and I speak from experience): If you pour concrete anywhere.... make sure it does NOT contact any aluminum ANYWHERE.

We have a large aluminum saw tooth greenhouse (decent size, about 100'x200') that was originally built in the 70's used for 20 years, disassembled moved 300 miles and reassembled and going strong for the past 4 years. Its amazing how durable a well designed greenhouse can be. Only problem we had was after the move and the reassembly we had some guys pouring concrete, and needless to say the end of one of the horizontal cross members got buried in concrete... We didnt notice until about 2 months later... well the concrete had totally oxidized the aluminum that it was in contact with into dust.

Other than that 1 drawback aluminum greenhouses are wonderful. Easy to modify and secure panels to due to the ease of drilling into aluminum with self tapping screws etc...

Exciting! Now we have two new Rigas on the greenhouse forum to watch. Looking forward to hearing how it goes and seeing pictures!

Ggarner, thanks for the advice! I'm actually going to be burying some timbers and mounting the foundation to them.

Karin, I should be receiving the GH next Tuesday, and hopefully I'll have it all set up and ready to grow by Saturday or Sunday.

Status reports will be coming as quickly as I have time!

Add me to the list of Riga owners. We are located in Round Rock just north of Austin. We purchased via the Megagreenstore.com site to be picked up locally in Austin at the distributor. They did a best price match and we did not have to pay sales tax or delivery. We purchased the Riga V, base and top and bottom shelves for one side. I can't say enough good things about Andrew who operates the distibutor in Austin. Top notch customer service.

gwrace-
I second the motion on Andrew. I got my Belgian-made Janssen greenhouse through him and he was good to work with, particularly when the shipping company damaged one component by apparently running a forklift blade into one of the packages! He also was very helpful with providing technical advice on a couple of assembly questions. When you're spending that kind of money, it helps to have confidence in the seller.

The Riga is up and operational.

Started by burying some 6x6 pressure treated timbers - squared and leveled:
{{gwi:303071}}

Finished the first round of assembly as the sun went down:
{{gwi:303073}}

Another picture for good measure:
{{gwi:303075}}

Door, window, and vents installed:
{{gwi:303076}}

In a rush, but got broccoli (big pots), beets (white buckets), and spinach (long planters, upper shelf) in:
{{gwi:298463}}

Also have some Brussels Sprouts in the white planters, and the power outlet:
{{gwi:303078}}

Water spigot:
{{gwi:303080}}

I'll be doing more work over the next several weeks to spruce it up a bit and do something about the floor.

Awesome!!
It's so cool to see another Riga as I've never seen one other than ours. Looks super exciting! Nice work on the build and the setup. The table lamp is a nice touch. :)

I'm super impressed with how sturdy this thing is! It was a whole lot more work putting together than I expected (though, that's partially from digging two long, deep trenches to put water and power inside), but I'm really pleased with the results.

In the last picture, you can see some weather stripping on the ground. There are 4 long strips, and I haven't yet found a home for them. I suspect that they might go on the curved upright profile on the 4 corners, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet (the greenhouse is a 40 minute drive from home... long story). Any suggestions before I make a stab at it this weekend?

Very nice job. Could any of that weather stripping be for sealing the door?

Door is sealed.

Window - Check.

Roof vents - Check.

All around the foundation - Check.

I'm at a loss unless it's the curved upright corner profiles. But, keep the ideas coming if you've got them!

I'd call the manufacturer to see what they say. I had some extra pieces with mine (different brand), and, when I discussed this with them, they said that they packaged extra in case the buyer messed up and needed more.

I hadn't seen you post before when I did a search on Riga.
Very nice.
You did not put 6x6 in the front or back? Just the sides? Was that because of your water and electric lines?
You sure did get it up quickly. How many people helped you?
What if anything would you do differently if you were to do it over again?

I want to get one after I saw karin post hers. Now I see several others are posting about theirs as well. I understand they are really well made.

Julia

Joe,

Nice. Couple of questions.

What is the growing medium for the spinach?

I see how the frame is connected to the 6x6's but how are the 6x6's connected to the ground?

Robert

Joe: Thanks for the additional info. You referred to a video you reviwed in previous posts with karin. Is that something you got online? I wanted to see the video to get an idea of the steps involved before I order one but I can't seem to find any site that has the complete building process. YouTube just has segments.

I did see the revised video on YouTube about the automatic window opener and using 2 instead of 1 opener.Thanks for the tip about putting extra bolt in channel ahead of time.
The issue with high winds is something we experience here as well.

Robert has a good question on how you secured your 6x6's to the ground. Rods? Anchors?

Did you get the free sun shade cloth with your GH? If so, how does that work with having automatic openers?

Thanks for answering so many questions.

Julia

Robert:

The spinach is just growing in topsoil.

As for the timbers, the pictures make it look like the timbers are flush with the ground, but they are buried at this point and have about 6 inches of soil/clay packed over them. With the weight of the greenhouse, timbers, and soil I didn't feel the need to also drive anchors into the clay... lets hope that I never have occasion to find I was wrong!

Julia:
Exaco Trading has roughly an hour's worth of Riga assembly videos on Youtube that cover just about everything. They will also mail you a video in advance of receiving the greenhouse. There were some slight variations between the Youtube videos and the DVD, but the vast majority went together the same.

I did have one or two issues putting it together where the parts did not match the directions (the door handle is one example that comes to mind) and I was able to talk with Alan at Exaco to walk me through the updates. Alan said they were working on an updated DVD to reflect the parts changes.

For the above mentioned door handle, the parts list and the video both show a small metal door handle with some additional pieces, and what was received was a rather large plastic "loop" handle with no additional pieces.

The variations were minor, though. Just make sure you open up all the boxes if you cannot find the instructions in English! They send the original instructions (printed in German) with the DVD packet, but I found an English translation at the very end when I opened the last box containing the window kits!

Oh, another tip I'd suggest is to have some duct tape (or other easily visible tape) to mark the UV-coated side of the polycarbonate panels when you are removing the film prior to installation. Once you remove the film, it's very difficult to tell which side of the panel has the UV coating.

I did not get the sun shade cloth with mine. I am planning on making my own based on another thread found here that should work fine with the automatic openers: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/strucs/msg081228458217.html?1

The shade panels will go on the inside and will not cover the vents.

Joe, I agree the assembly is tricky because the GH has no structural integrity while you are assembling it. I was so worried about a gust of wind like you had, so I'm glad you were able to get the part replaced and get everything built. It's like a barn-raising event once your foundation is set, your helpers arrive and you do the big push to erect the greenhouse in the course of one long day.

Now that it's built and you've moved in, how are things growing?

Great tips. Thank you.
BTW, who is CNS? I've been researching all the companies that sell Riga Greenhouses but haven't come across CNS.

Julia

Karin:

Things are going very well now! I have several plants coming up, but winter growing is always slow... so, hopefully I'll have spinach by Christmas!

Julia:
Shortly after ordering my GH, CSN Stores changed their name to WayFair.

Joe, good to hear that your plants are coming along. I'm in the same boat with newly planted greens growing far slower than my appetite. But it's still fun to tend them and treat yourself to a salad every now and then. I have some that are just at the seedling stage and I hope they can get some nice growth before it gets much colder. Amazingly, with almost any amount of sunlight the greenhouse is pretty warm during the day.

Indeed!

I'm still amazed to walk into the gh on a 38-degree day and it's 60-degrees inside! A few times, I've actually had to open the vents for fear of cooking my cold-loving plants.