Reclaimed redwood greenhouse

Hi all,

I am in the process of building a greenhouse, so far all the wood I have used I have foraged from a collapsed barn ~1/2 mile away from my house, I think most of it is old growth redwood. A couple friends and I got chased by a swarm of bees when we were out harvesting it, but we made it out O.K. Worth it.

The greenhouse will be used as a micronursery, I'm going to build counters on three sides, and I also am planning a rainwater catchment / gravity fed automatic watering system which is a whole 'nother can of worms.

I am pretty amateur with building, and I've really been winging it and designing as I go, so I wanted to post on here to see if anyone sees any red flags or would suggest changing anything with the rest of my design before I finish. The greenhouse will be on the south side of my house, and my bedroom window will open up to it. My room is hard to heat in the winter so I'm hoping to also get some passive solar heat. In the summer we have highs of 70 here in Arcata, California so I'm not too worried about it becoming an inferno of death... but we will see.

I am building it in a lean-to style, yet it is free standing. The base is a rectangle 2 ~8' 6x6 redwood beams and 2 ~7' 2x6 planks held together with 6" lags. Nothing is in the ground here. 3 ~8' 2x6s on the back (north) ,3 ~6.5' 2x6s on the front (south), one 2x6 on the west side, and the east side will have a frame for a door. All of the vertical planks are lagged in to the base at the bottom and are held together by another rectangle of 1x6s about 3ft off the ground. I am planning on covering it with greenhouse plastic at first, and maybe change it to glass/plastic paneling in the future. Not sure what I am going to do for the door yet, would like to do something simple, input is appreciated.

Here are pictures of what I have so far, and a drawing of the complete design. The middle "post" is offset to not block my window.

No snow here. 40" of rain. Average winter low = 39F, USDA zone 10a. Do you think it is strong enough? If not how would you add support? Also, I would like not to paint, how long do you think the wood will last/ what are some less chemical alternatives.

Thanks for your input,
Connor @ The Garden House

More pictures

My crazy garden

Looking good so far.  You might want to add some diagonal bracing to resist wind or sideways forces.  Especially on the door side where you won't have the piece going across 3' off the ground.

You probably have plans for this but be sure to fix/patch/waterproof that hole in the side of your house on the NW side of the greenhouse before you can't get at it anymore.

I'd make some plans for ventilation in the summer.  70 degrees and sunny will most likely still cause an inferno of plant death

Mike Jay wrote: You might want to add some diagonal bracing to resist wind or sideways forces.  Especially on the door side where you won't have the piece going across 3' off the ground.

You probably have plans for this but be sure to fix/patch/waterproof that hole in the side of your house on the NW side of the greenhouse before you can't get at it anymore.

I'd make some plans for ventilation in the summer.  70 degrees and sunny will most likely still cause an inferno of plant death

Yes I think I will do all of these things. I think one big vent that spans the length of the greenhouse at the top should do it for ventilation + an open door.