Greenhouse foundation in now waiting.....

[Randy]

Greetings Friends,

Here I am sitting on my hands waiting for Janco to get it together to ship me my greenhouse so that I can get it finished before the company financing the building of my house wants to charge me more penalties.

The first ship date I was given was in February. Then it was April 9, then May 9 which I told them was too late and they changed it to April 21. Well April 21 has come and gone and it still hasn't shipped! Now the President of Janco is trying to at least get the metal framwork shipped next week and the glass the following week. However, it needs to be completed by May 8 or more bank penalties for not completing the construction on time!

Don't get me wrong, Janco is a great company that supplies great greenhouses, but they have been having problems meeting demand right now. My problem is this darn bank being up my butt; if they weren't it wouldn't matter.

At first the bank told me that I could let it off the construction contract and complete it with my own money after, but when the deadline came they told me differently. PITA!!!! I guess I shouldn't have been shocked that the bank lied to me.

Anyhow, would anyone out there who prays put all their good thoughts together that Janco can get me everything in time so that the greenhouse can be completed in time for the bank.

Thanks,
Randy

[Randy]

Finally, the greenhouse pieces arrived yesterday afternoon. It's all stored in my garage which I cleaned up especially for it.

My builder sent over 1 person to help me, a fellow named John. He's a small wirey fellow who was able to move the very long boxes weighing ~ 100lbs each of the alumunin all by himself. He also put the door and some other boxes into the garage by himself. : John!

Then there was this one crate that weighed ~ 750lbs that contained all the glass. The shipping company wanted to send the greenhouse in a truck without a liftgate! Can you imagine getting that crate off the truck? Know anyone into levitation? Anyway, I had to pay extra for a liftgate.

We had the truck back up far enough that the liftgage would be right at the concrete pad that is in front of the garage. That way we wouldn't have to push the hand operated fork lift through the driveway stone. The liftgate on the truck that arrived was small for the task and groaned under the weight of the crate (which barely fit sideways on it!). John and I put little rugs on the concrete pad so that when the thing came down it wouldn't damage the edge. Good thing we did that because the liftgate came down very fast.

We then shoved it onto the concrete pad and had the truck move out of the way. Now the concrete pad isn't that large and turning that hand operated fork lift around we wound up with the wheels on the stone driveway anyway. We had to dig out from under them and put wood pieces so it would go back on the pad.

But then there was another small obstacle: The 1/2" rise going into the garage that we had to push the front wheels of the fork lift over. We also put wood for a little ramp here. It was a real bear to get in. We wound up pushing it in at an angle so that only tine at a time would go in. Then we would back it up as much as possible and shove it again. Eventually we got it into the garage. The crate alone took one hour to get into the garage.

Today my body, especlally my legs, feels like rubber. Tomorrow it will feel dead . I fell asleep in my chair :yewn: in the living room at around 9PM but whenever I opened my eyes and tried to get up I coudln't move. I finally got myself into bed around 11.

Tomorrow a backhoe will be there to level the ground and to put the sand on the top of the ground. Then it will be ready for the greenhouse to be built. Hopefully, it will get done next week. That way we can satsify the mortgage company and stop the fines and move on.

As it's being built I will take as many photos as I can, only at the end of each work day. Then I can fill it up!

Randy

[Ross]

Sounds like the greenhouse from hell! I had no idea things could get this screwed up! Hope it works out!

[Randy]

They are about 1/2 way through building it. What they didn't know was that the foundation that they initially put in was not tall enough so they needed to put in 3 more layers of cinderblocks. Even with that the peek just barely went over the door from the house.

I can't wait to see the completed product. It should all be worth the trouble. People who have Janco greenhouses have them for many, many years without problem. Having the tall foundation will be good because it will give me extra shade space below benches for those shade lovers.

I am taking photos every day when I get home and see what has been done.

If the rain holds off it may be completed by the weeks end. However, I have heard forecasts of more rain for the next 2 days. Monday we had a huge Nor'Easter. It took over an hour to get out of Atlantic City because there was only 1 road open out of the city. We got 4 inches of rain in 12 hours which was nothing compared to the wind blown tidal flooding. But it was nice to get a new supply of rain water!

Randy

[Ocelaris]

Great story! Be sure to keep us updated, We all have greenhouse dreams, and it's fun to play along with home!

[Randy]

Well it's not yet completed because there were some critical parts missing for the ventilations system that kept Steve from working. Plus, he had a deck to finish elsewhere. He should be able to come back to work later this week.

Right now all the superstructure is up and bolted to the foundation. The door is on and the footings for the four pillars to support the roof are poured. If he could just put in the glass, screens poles and the stairs from the door from the house I can get the finance company out and get them off my back.

I have photos of every phase of construction so far but my computer at home crashed and I have to get it all set up all over again . Thankfully, I didn't erase the photos from the card in my camera, I almost didn't . I think I need to get a MAC.

Randy