Just got my 10'x10' from Northern Tool. Frame went up today. I will do the cover tomorrow.
Too early to tell but so far seems like good materials for the price.
Instructions so far have been clear.

Kyle

Kyle
How did the finished product turn out? What do you think of the sturdiness and the quality of the covering?? IM wondering if I should build a frame for the door?? Hope it turned out well..I havent ordered mine yet..but probably will next week
Thx
Casey

Sorry but I had some things happen recently and had to put the greenhouse on hold. While it is not completely up, I do feel it will hold up well.

I will update when it is done.

Kyle

I have finished it. With the rachet system and ground anchors, it seems very sturdy. I expect the covering to hold up well, although only time will tell.
Appears to be a good value product.
I do not know how you would build a frame for the door.

Kyle

My 10 by 20 Shelterlogic greenhouse arrived yesterday. Today is the fun day..Should be interesting putting it together..Also..Now we have a cold front coming in today and predicted frost Sat.. Hope this goes well.
Kyle
Have you filled yours up yet?? THe materials do look good.but now comes the fun part.>Will update on how it goes. If it goes together well..Cant seem to beat the price for a 10 by 20..
Casey

Interesting...I've got a 10x20 ShelterLogic party canopy w/ sides, and it was of good quality and has stood up to several sudden storms that weren't forecast.

Now my regular greenhouse is slam full up for the winter, so this might be a good option for the huge ficus and banana that won't fit. Yeah, you can't beat the price....

With any greenhouse structure, the key is thermal mass. You need something to soak up the heat during the day and release it at night. The greenhouse has several tons of crushed stone and concrete pavers, but I strongly suggest paving stone even for a 'temporary' structure like this....

Cheers

SO far I really like the greenhouse, It has zippered vent windows at each end..and does appear really sturdy..the anchors and ratchet system do seem efficient. I hoep the cover lasts..It seems sotnrg and reinforced. I really dot think the size and quality can be beat for that price. It is 8 ft tall also. We are goig to build some shelves and also some hanging basket racks (using posts and chain link toprail pipe..To utilize more space. I had soem old hay bales I used arund the bottom sides for a little more insulation. It did not seal at the bottom..you have to use dirt or clay etc on the edges..not sure I am explaining ti well. Anyway..at the front we will be using something on the outside to seal the bottom of the door.
I do have some 12 by 12 white paver blocks I can use in it too..Will at least use them i the front part where I put the heater..
Speaking of heaters... What are recommendations???I have used electric space heaters before..Looking for other options now maybe>>
Casey

The safest you could use are the oil-filled "radiator" style. These will have a thermostat, so they aren't on all the time. But an un-insulated, single wall, poly structure is going to be hard to heat in anything but a benign climate. I'm gonna use mine just to keep the frost off....

Anything you can use to increase thermal mass will be to your benefit. Use concrete blocks and wood planks for shelves. Fill a trashcan with water...or use 5 gallon buckets, or water bottles. The more thermal mass, the less the highs and lows each day.

Cheers

I have one of those oil filled radiator type heaters.I think I will use it in my 10 by 12 polycarb greenhouse. THx for the suggestion. I dont think it would circulate enough to reach throughout the 10 by 20.. So far have not had to use heat..Im in South Ga. It reached 29 one morning..but the plants look fine..except some suncoleus..butI really expected them to..they look bad at anything below 50..and Im just trying to overwinter things now..things that can live in the 40s and just above freezing.

That's my plan...just keep the frost off. Now that it's up, I can make a few comments on the thing....

You get what you pay for.

It's functional, but nothing more. As someone who has been sailing since before I had a memory, I appreciate a "taut rig" so to speak. End walls are downright slack with no real way to tighten 'em up. I installed the structure on pressure-treated 4x4's so it's bolted in place. Even with the strap tensioners, there's a lot of air infiltration. Heating is going to be a problem - if it ever gets cold again.

Now several of the plants were too tall even after pruning. "If you can't raise the bridge, lower the river." Banana and ficus trees were dropped pot and all into 2' deep holes dug inside.

The real greenhouse gets heated with a thermostatically-controlled electric blower - about 1,200 watts IIRC. Oil filled radiator comes on later. But the greenhouse has virtually no air "leakage"....

Cheers

Update on the greenhouse..so far..so good and we have had temps in low 20s. Mine is tight..only problem is the end around the door..I have cats pushing in..We are putting up boards to prevent that.Will have to figure an end wall bottom somehow.
We ended up with a propane heater for night time and an electric with blower for daytime.Record cold so far..Gonna be a long winter. Hubby built two nice tables using 4 by 4 s for legs and 2 by 6s for side and metal hog panels for tops..Works well..Copied the idea from a local nursery that used the panels with blocks.. I like the 4 by 4s better.
Looking forward to spring...
Happy Gardening!
Casey

I just got the 10x20 and put it up New Year's Eve. I too, wondered about securing the endwalls at the bottom, but luckily, I have a stash of "treasures" that I was able to raid for what seems to be a good solution so far. There's a "pocket" at the bottom of the endwalls, if you look, and you can run a heavy 10-foot pipe through that. (I used a 10-foot pipe on the door side, too, because that's what I had on hand, but I have to squeeze through the door unzippered on one side and can't get through with bulky supplies, so I'll have to cut pipes that are the right length for each section to fix that. Maybe have the pipe for the door larger or smaller so it can fit inside or outside the ends of the short wall pipes to lock it in...? Still thinking this solution through.)

Another thing I did to secure the greenhouse better is instead of attaching the webbing for the cover to the frame, I installed extra earth anchors just *outside* the frame and ratcheted it down to them. (The endwall webbing is attached to the frame per the directions, however.) This also allows a gap where the pipe and endwall fabric can fit more easily than the way the instructions would have you do it, so you can secure the bottoms of the endwalls.

I did not care for their instructions for anchoring the greenhouse with that little cable and clamp. I couldn't get it tight enough to keep the bottom completely stationary on the ground. It can get ferociously windy here, so this thing has to be locked down TIGHT! (I learned the hard way about the wind here with a run-in shed a few years ago...) Hence my adding the extra anchors - I happened to have some extras laying around here (from the run-in shed incident, ha, ha), but you can get them for a few bucks apiece at home improvement or farm supply stores. I also added an anchor on either side on the middle posts and used the curtain rails to attach them. I also found that I could get the cover more taut on the frame this way.

The directions don't really say this, but make sure all your bolts are inserted nut-side IN, so the end of the bolt does not rub on or poke a hole in the cover. There was one bolt on each corner leg that rubbed on both sides anyway, so I covered the end with duct tape to protect the cover.

I hope all this makes sense - it's really hard to explain. Again, I'm only 2 days into greenhouse ownership, but we had 35-40 MPH winds yesterday and last night, and it held up well. Now I'm waiting for the 60-70 MPH gusts that are inevitable from time to time here...

So far, I'm pleased with the greenhouse, and for the price, you can't hardly go wrong! I really like that it's easily movable and disassemble-able, so if/when I want to move it, I can. Or I can easily take the cover off for summer so things don't cook in there. I'm already planning on getting another one, and maybe one of their pop-up canopies with the screen kit and enclosure kit to create a "convertible building" that I can use as a screened summer kitchen/gazebo in the summer and a storage building in the winter.

Hope this helps!
Diana

P.S. My husband says I should add that this little educational experience was not all smooth sailing. A breeze picked up after we put the cover on New Year's Eve, and I hadn't followed directions and anchored the frame first, and things got a little dicey. I managed to get it anchored without incident, but I was tired and cold and wet and panicky because it was getting dark and windy and I was having run-in shed flashbacks, so I did a little crying and rather a LOT of swearing. So, for anyone reading this who hasn't put their structure up yet, please, follow the directions and anchor the frame BEFORE you put the cover on. If you have to, you can re-do the anchors one at a time on a windless day. ;-)

A follow up:

As others have said, the end walls have pockets that will take up to 1" pipe. For the door end, I cut some PVC - which facilitates rolling up the door - that is just long enough to drop in behind the ground anchors. I secured the frame to pressure-treated 4x4's and these are half-lapped/bolted together at the corners.

Had a near-record snowfall the day after Christmas - third heaviest of all times. 15". Ain't that big for some of y'all, but around here, it was epic.... happy to say that the snow avalanched off before it could build up on top and do any damage.

Cheers

my 10 by 20 coming tomorrow...

wow...a lot of good info here...I'm in Milwaukee trying this setup to learn the ins and outs of greenhouse-ing.

After this test, build my own.

Welcoming any input with pictures!

I have 3 existing wooden beds 4 x 4 x 1 foot each. Bed path is 3 feet....

...so that comes to 11 feet! Shelterlogic is 10 x 20.

Gonna have to cut a foot (probably 2 ft) of bed off to get the thing to fit over existing beds.

Need to organize all posters suggestions into some kind of logical sequence as they differ from the manual.

This probably means it won't go up the day I get it....

...paving stones for floor?
...pipes for pockets?
...anchors on all legs?
...secure to 4 x 4's?

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!
AJ

more pics...don't know how to paste multiple pics in one post

more pics...