Posted: 7/1/2025 2:45:16 PM EDT
I've got an area of land where I'd like to build a greenhouse. The question I have is how do they handle a slope of land? I haven't measured the exact slope, but rough guess right now is I would have to build one end up by at least three feet for a 36' long greenhouse. It would be something like this right now, though maybe a slightly different style. We are limited to no more than 16' wide and up to about 36' long. We also don't want high side walls because one corner of aesthetics for that part of the property. So the second style we are considering is the Dakota:  In that image they built up the low side with wood. Am I going to need to do that too or would the structure stand even if there was a slight angle on the support structure? |
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The one we had the side posts were driven into the ground about 3 feet, if it was on a slope you would have to drive the posts on an angle to match the slope. The second one you posted it looks like the side posts are attached to the wood. If it's just setting on the ground I don't see a problem as long as it is anchored to withstand wind. This one was 30x75 commercial with 220,000 BTU propane furnace and a 48 inch exhaust fan at the back. Two layers of green house plastic with a blower separating them about 18 inches at the top for insulation. 
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Originally Posted By turtle2472: I've got an area of land where I'd like to build a greenhouse. The question I have is how do they handle a slope of land? I haven't measured the exact slope, but rough guess right now is I would have to build one end up by at least three feet for a 36' long greenhouse. It would be something like this right now, though maybe a slightly different style. https://growerssolution.com/cdn/shop/files/Untitleddesign-79_5000x.png We are limited to no more than 16' wide and up to about 36' long. We also don't want high side walls because one corner of aesthetics for that part of the property. So the second style we are considering is the Dakota: https://growerssolution.com/cdn/shop/products/Untitleddesign_6_2048x.png In that image they built up the low side with wood. Am I going to need to do that too or would the structure stand even if there was a slight angle on the support structure? I can't answer the slope question. For my tiny greenhouse I dug a bit on one side then built the other side up with gravel. It's just a cattle panel greenhouse and sits on the grade. I'm not finished and still remains to be seen how it will work. HOWEVER the reason I posted in response to this is to tell you what I've seen with that second style of greenhouse. Now I could be dead wrong here and YMMV but for all the greenhouses I've seen, it appears that the hoop withstands strong wind bursts better than either that "Dakota" style or the gothic frames. I think it's the span of straight pipe. My sense is that the curve gives more resistance to straight line winds than the straight pipe does. A guy up the road has a gothic (which I actually love as far as looking at it). He's had it nearly destroyed twice in twelve months by straight-line damaging winds. Nothing else around was destroyed like that. His has as much windbreak as is normal for a residential area in southern Kentucky--a fence beside the greenhouse with espalier fruit trees, a tree line about a hundred feet to one side, his house to the back of it probably 60 feet or so, open gardens on the leeward side. I don't know if his is just a particularly bad spot or what's going on, but both times it bent the crap out of the straight pipe sections. This second time it was beyond repair. He had to take the thing down. I've spent a lot of time in hoop style houses and I'm amazed at what they can withstand. No guarantees and this is just one example (though I have seen others that made me squint at anything with a span of straight pipe on the roof sections). Not trying to dissuade you from that style if you want it. My thoughts here are not based on serious study. Just random observations. Will be excited to see what you get! Please keep us updated! 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
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Originally Posted By bdicki: The one we had the side posts were driven into the ground about 3 feet, if it was on a slope you would have to drive the posts on an angle to match the slope. The second one you posted it looks like the side posts are attached to the wood. If it's just setting on the ground I don't see a problem as long as it is anchored to withstand wind. This one was 30x75 commercial with 220,000 BTU propane furnace and a 48 inch exhaust fan at the back. Two layers of green house plastic with a blower separating them about 18 inches at the top for insulation. http://i.imgur.com/WieWwyB.jpg That's beautiful! I don't miss the stress of commercial greenhouse management but I sure do miss the energy of all the growing things inside.
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
