My Budget Shade House Project!!!
 

Hello everyone. I'm happy to finally be able to build something for my chids! I stole a small bit of real estate from my Mom's backyard to do it... since I live in an apartment. But it's okay, as long as I build her an herb garden. I finally got a job after six months of searching, but I'm getting paid less than half of what I use to... so I'm on a budget. I wanted this shade house to have all aspects to grow healthy orchids but not break the bank. Here's what I did:

I picked a nice sunny location away from the rubber tree, I'm currently growing the orchids under it but there's too much shade. I wanted to take advantage of the natural air flow in the yard so the shade cloth will only go half way down the side, plus air passes through the shade cloth as well... and I don't have to run electrical for a fan.

The roof is gonna be cool, I think. I saw a guy on YouTube make an entire green house like this, I only used it for the roof. It's hard to explain but a simple idea. It's the forth picture, I made it a little wider than the shade house so I can bend the PVC to make a arch. I'll post the pics next week when I put it on. Then I will put greenhouse film on top to protect them from rain. I know, rain is the best watter, but here it rains so much and at night and I was a bit worried about disease and fungus.

I still have a lot to do so I will add pics as I progress.

Thanks for looking!

First I picked a nice sunny spot.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3548/...49c4a28e85.jpg

I cleared the ground (the hardest part of all!!) and built the frame. I used a quick dry concrete that you pour in the hole as a powder and then add water.. no mixing!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2522/...9c20cd90db.jpg

I stained it to protect it from the elements, even though the wood is pressure treated.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3600/...f24e36fd5f.jpg

The grid of PVC that will be the roof. I primed it and painted it gloss white to help prevent crystallization from sun exposure.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/...ed89c3cb8f.jpg

It looks awesome! I can't wait to see the rest!

yeah, i would love to see the rest too... maybe someday i'll have my own shade house tooo...

Very nice ! That is a really good idea for the roof and will look good too . Gin

Well here's an update to my shade house project. It's taking so long because I had to go to Georgia to celebrate my son and my nephews first birthday, then come back to Miami and celebrate my birthday and my mother-in-laws birthday and then celebrate my sons birthday again for the family in Miami.


Here's a close up of the roof:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/...c16651f268.jpg


Here I put the shade cloth on the roof and one side:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2423/...caf450008c.jpg

Happy birthday to everyone. It's looking great I can't wait to see it done and wish it a happy birthday as well. Good luck.

Your shade house looks great. How did you attach the PVC to the roof. It looks like you strapped it on.

I drilled through the "T"s and elbows and attached them with galvinized lag skrews. I think 14 in total. I first thought about straps but this actually worked out perfect.

...I see what your talking about what looks like straps, those are just shadows.

Your shade house is looking great! Can't wait to see how it progresses!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think it looks amazing! elegant & very sturdy! do you think you can find the time to write an article or blogg on how you built it with all the materials & dimentions, costs etc!!!! That is very cool congratulations ! I very much look forward to seeing the finished item!