Greenhouse plans, what you need to know before building a greenhouse?
Before acquiring Greenhouse Plans, it is essential to plan your greenhouse. That may sound a little obvious, but you really need to give a lot of thought to your actual needs and get everything down on paper, for there are a great number of things to take into account before committing yourself to a particular plan. Firstly, for what purpose exactly are you going to use the greenhouse? For example, if you were an orchid fanatic, you would not necessarily want to build the same greenhouse as if you were going to propagate vegetable seeds. What are your needs?
Where is the ideal position for you to place the building? It just will not work if you place the new building so that it faces North - to get the best out of a greenhouse you should plan it to face South or Southeast. What sort of ground will it have to be built on? This will determine the type of foundations you have to lay. What sort of floor do you want? Concrete, Paving, Duckboards? Do you need drains? If so, where? Do you want to have permanent shelving or should it be adjustable? Do you want low brick walls supporting the rest of the structure or must the frame go right down to ground level? And while on this subject should the frame be of wood or metal? Every detail counts.
Only after having decided on the general sort of structure you want to erect, should you determine whether you are allowed to do so. In many areas it is necessary to obtain planning permission from the local municipality, whether it is to be a free standing building or attached to the main house. There is no point in putting up a building only to find out at a later date that it has to be demolished because of lack of forethought. You must decide on the utilities required for the building. By this I mean the water and electricity supply, and the type of heating you envisage. For the latter you may want to put in under floor heating or central heating. Each must be established before you have plans drawn up or must be added to any plan you obtain.
Finally, having made all of these decisions and got them down on paper, and having established that you do have planning permission or can get it, it is only then that you can think about the actual plans. Here there are several options. The best and most expensive is to have a specialist architect draw up the plans for you. This is where you will need to get down to doing some research. You will find any number of specialist companies listed in the Yellow Pages, in gardening magazines and on the Internet. Many of these companies will erect the building you have decided upon for you - for a fee of course.