Greenhouse Progress Update

This weekend while I was playing at the plant exchange, David and his crew were working on the garage conversion.  There was a moment of panic when Tom arrived with the Uhaul on Friday evening, threw open the back of the truck and there were no aluminum H profile pieces.  Fortunately I had the direct number for Kathy Lewis at McConkey.  Although thy were closed, she was still there and, because we had to have the aluminum on Saturday, agreed to stash them behind the warehouse for us to pick up.  She even offered to meet us half way but found that the 12 foot lengths wouldn't fit in her small car.  Although the Uhaul had been returned, we're lucky enough to have a small pick up and were able to go and get the necessary bits.  Crisis averted.  Well, until the next morning when David arrived and we both thought that the other had purchased the specialty screws to put the whole thing together.  Fortunately, there was a website that gave specifications for the exact screws and, while the box stores didn't have them, a specialty place, Tacoma Screw, did!  Whew!

Polycarbonate going on the wall.  This was about all that got done on Saturday as David was alone.

Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. the three guys came and began applying the aluminum.

View from inside looking out at the alley with the garage door open. 

 By afternoon, one side was almost completed.  View from neighbor's yard. 

 Bless their hearts, they worked until 10:30 p.m. to get the whole thing done. 

Next crisis was that the rail of the door is too small for any standard door hardware.  An 8:30 trip to Lowe's yielded no specialty hardware for thin door rails.  Fortunately, I found something online.  We have a guy coming to install that, put molding around the door, and put a gutter and downspout on the side.  Once that's done, I can put the window in the door. These pictures were taken at dawn on Monday morning.

Because the guys were using the plywood ceiling to work on the roof, it was the last thing to come out way after dark on Sunday night.

Foggy Monday morning was my first chance to see what it looked like without the ceiling.

It may not seem like it but it was very bright inside, brighter than most of my garden. 

Fans in both gables for cooling. 

So, what would you do, leave the wood or paint it?  White perhaps? 

So, the electrician came and the whole electrical panel needs to be replaced including new wiring from the house to the garage.  Yikes.  Fortunately this will only take a couple of days and he suggested installing heaters on a thermostat while he was at it.  Well...o.k.   I'm thinking of covering the insulation with large mirrors to reflect light.

I've decided to use a ceiling fan for air circulation. 

 Here's where the paint question comes in again.  Should I paint the cinder block or just leave it?  It'll be covered with plants or tables anyway.  The intake shutters will be on the same thermostat as the exhaust fans so they'll open as the fans go on.  Pretty cool.

Garage door shut. We decided to leave this in case some future owner wants to use this as a place to park cars again.  So, there's a lot to do yet before plants can come in but the painting (if I paint instead of leaving the wood.)  can wait until next summer when I have lots of time. The space is roughly 550 square feet a fourth to a third of which will still need to be used for garden tools and stuff. I'm excited but am looking forward to moving plants inside.  It will be interesting to actually have space for them but it's a little daunting to figure out how to arrange the space  and how to use this once it's done. 

So, what's your vote, walls and wood painted or left as is (cleaned up a bit!)