Repairing the Greenhouse

We had some snow the other day and it caused the roof of my greenhouse to collapse.

I thought about getting another one, but that would cost $80-100.  Instead I decided that I should attempt to repair it.

I went to Home Depot and picked up ten 10' sections of 1/2 PVC pipe and a number of 'T' and corner connectors.

I started by removing all of the bent and damaged parts of the greenhouse.

Then I created two arches out of the PVC pipe.  One for the front and one for the rear.

I used zip ties to connect the arches to what was left of the greenhouse structure.  The shelves are still usable.

Then I added a section of pipe to connect the front arch to the rear arch.  I don't know if this was really needed or not.  I had the pipe and the fittings so I figured why not.

The final step was to create the ridge beam to hold up the center of the roof.  I used a 4-way cross in the rear.  This allowed me to run a center support down to the ground.

Here's a view of the front.  It does not have the center support.  It would have made getting in and out too difficult.

Here's what it looked like when finished.  I think it'll work.

It was a tight fit to get the plastic back on.  I managed to rip a hole in the corner that I fixed temporarily with duct tape (as seen in the picture above).  The duct tape didn't work real well and I had to sew the corner with some thread.

When I conceived of this project I imagined all kinds of cross bracing.  As I was putting it together I realized that it was going to be unnecessary.  Simpler was better.  That also means that I have a bunch of PVC pipe and fittings left over.  Oh well, I'll probably find something to do with them.