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Today, many peoples' standard response when[br]they need something new is to go to the

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store, or go online, and buy it and you can [br]buy cheap junky greenhouses made out of

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plastic that will fall apart in a matter of a year [br]or a couple of years.

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So today I am really excited for John at[br]Old Redding Farm to show you how to build

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a greenhouse out of doors and windows that[br]were being thrown away.

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Being able to build a greenhouse nearly[br]for free, or for free, that is sustainable

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and will last a really long time to help[br]you grow more of your own food.

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Here he is. [br]What's up, everybody? My name is John

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and I am from Old Redding Farm. I live [br]here in South Western Connecticut with my

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wife, Catherine; our 2 dogs, Pepper and[br]Peanut; our 5 Alpacas, Mocha,

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Marshmallow, Pumpkin, Linda and Macy. [br]As well as our flock of chickens and a few

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honeybees. And today I am here to show [br]you a little bit about how we built this

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beautiful greenhouse. Sits right on the [br]edge of an old stone patio that we have.

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It is a 12-foot square, mostly. I am [br]not an expert at anything, so I did my [br]

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best to make sure this was as square and[br]even as possible, but sometimes I can't do

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that. So all of the windows that you see [br]along the walls here are recycled.

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We didn't purchase any of these brand new.[br]We were able to source a lot of it online

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through either Craigslist free or the [br]Facebook market place. Our local buy

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nothing group had them also. In fact the [br]only windows we actually paid for were

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the stained glass ones on the front and [br]those are actually reclaimed from a church

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in Texas that was being torn down for some[br]reason. So we purchased all of the lumber

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and the things used to frame everything [br]out. This is all 2 by 4's and 4 by 4's

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because we wanted to make sure that the [br]structure was sound. Windows don't

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provide any structural integrity so we had[br]to make sure that the whole skeleton

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surrounding it was strong enough to [br]support the weight. We also used

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Tuftex corrugated plastic roofing for the [br]roof. Again, we thought about using windows,

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or even recycled greenhouse glass, but [br]because we live in an area with such high

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concentration of trees, and because we [br]need to support a snow load, we decided

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to go with something that was designed [br]specifically for greenhouse roofs.

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So we built the frame around our 3[br]biggest windows. This one right here

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which is made up of 3 is almost 8 [br]feet long. So we have 4 by 4 posts on either

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side, right here, and right here, and then [br]there's another corner post over here.

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But so that way, the weight of the roof[br]and if we have a snow load on there

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gets transferred to the 4 by 4 posts [br]instead of actually sitting on the windows.

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Like I said, windows have no structural [br]integrity, so it is important to support

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everything as opposed to just having a [br]bunch of windows sitting on top of each

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other. So when we put this all together [br]the first thing we did was put in our large

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windows. We have 3 windows all [br]approximately the same size on all 3 sides.

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And then we took a 2 by 4, and we got it [br]in here, along with a cripple stud right here.

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Which again, it just takes the weight away from [br]the window and puts it on these 2 2 by 4s.

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And then on top of this 2 by 4 we have, [br]let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4 windows sitting on

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top of here. And we really just had to play [br]a game of Tetris to just see which ones

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fit where. And there were several instances [br]where we had to add things. Like this

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is just a 2 by 4 that we added to block the gap [br]but once we got the windows sitting

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on top of this 2 by 4 we would use [br]thinner strips of a 2 by 4 to secure them

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in place. That also just serves as a means [br]of closing the air gap. Because when you

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have a greenhouse like this it is really [br]important to keep all the warm air in.

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Because what happens is the sun will [br]heat the air inside the greenhouse during

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the day, but if it is all drafty you are [br]going to lose it all. So our goal was to

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make sure this was as airtight as possible.[br]They are old windows so that is not

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always a feat that is easy to achieve. But [br]that is why we have these little blocks

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here. These little furring strips to kind [br]of cut the airflow.

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As far as sealing up the roof goes, there [br]are these little foam pieces that fit

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right in the ridges there and again that [br]just seals everything up so that no air

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escapes and you save all your hot air. [br]So the whole reason why we wanted to

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build this greenhouse is because we live [br]in Southwestern Connecticut which is zone

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6B. It is a relatively short growing [br]season so we wanted a chance to be able

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to start our seeds early. Especially [br]things like tomatoes and peppers.

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And we wanted to also just kind of extend [br]our growing season. It also afforded us

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the opportunity to build a lot more growing [br]space because we ended up planting

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a lot more seeds that we had room to [br]actually sow. But we would rather grow food

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over lawns any day so we will take it. [br]So overall it took us probably about

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8 months to build this thing from[br]start to finish and that includes picking

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up all of the windows which was the most [br]time-consuming part. Just because we

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weren't buying it so we just had to wait [br]until the opportunity presented itself.

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And then, I am sure some of you know, if [br]you are on the free Craigslist section

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some things are only up there for a few [br]minutes and you have to nab it as soon

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as possible so we were on there checking [br]a few times a day and sending messages as

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soon as we possibly can and we actually [br]started building this in November of 2019.

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Because in October of 2019 we were getting [br]our Alpacas so the first thing we had to do

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was build our Alpaca barn. So it was a [br]little bit tough because we had to build

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this thing in the winter months and there [br]was a lot of time where we had some

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trouble with ice and in general it was [br]just kind of cold and sometimes it was

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really miserable to be out here. But we [br]wanted to make sure we had it ready for

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February so we could start our seeds so [br]that was a good motivation. So about 8

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months time, including the time to [br]procure all the windows, and then 3 or 4

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months to build. So again this is a 12 by[br]12 structure and I think we had about 35

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windows so it really all depends on what[br]sizes you get. We were really lucky. The

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largest windows actually came from a local[br]contractor who was remodeling a house.

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We were just driving by, saw there was a [br]bunch of windows in the dumpster, we did

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not just jump right in. That is dangerous[br]and unadvisable. We actually saw that

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the house was for sale so we called the[br]realtor, realtor hooked us up with the

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contractor, and he was so happy to get [br]rid of them he even loaded them into our

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truck for us. Which was really nice because [br]they are giant and heavy.

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So again it was 12 by 12 and it really [br]suits our purpose well. If you are

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planning out your own greenhouse I [br]would suggest remembering to plan for

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the tables. They actually take up a good [br]amount of space in here and you are

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going to want to have easy to use working [br]space. All in all I am really proud of

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this greenhouse. I am super happy with [br]how it came out. I think it looks great.

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It makes me feel nice to have taken a [br]bunch of stuff out of the landfill.

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Super glad we were able to use a bunch of [br]recycled materials and I hope that this

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inspires you to build one of your own.

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If you feel like you'd like to try to build [br]your own greenhouse made out of

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recycled windows I totally encourage you [br]to do it. I am not a carpenter. I am

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actually a graphic designer and I have a [br]full-time job. We built this in our free

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time, over the weekends, and honestly I [br]learned a lot doing it. There is a lot of

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information out there on how to build [br]these types of things. Whether it is

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recycled materials or not and only good [br]things can happen by trying.

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That is how you learn.

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I hope that you found John's example as [br]inspiring as I did. I know the first time

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that I ever heard of the concept of [br]building a greenhouse out of windows

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and doors that were being thrown away [br]I was pretty excited about it. So I hope

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that many of you will actually put this [br]into action and use it to grow more food.

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Now if you were inspired make sure to [br]subscribe to John's channel. The links

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are in the description to follow him and [br]make sure to subscribe to this channel

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where there are many more educational [br]and inspirational videos to come.

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And if you want this video to get out [br]into the world make sure to 'like',

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comment, and share it with people. [br]I love you all very much and I'll see you

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again real soon.