>> We are thinking about adding a greenhouse and have sent for and recieved the
>> "Janco" information. EXPENSIVE! Any information from others who have built
>> or researched and planned but haven't yet built a greenhouse would be most
>> helpful. We live in a rural area so we don't have access to dealers. The closest market with showroom or dealer displays would be about 4+ hours away. We
>> are looking at something attached to our house that would double as a sun room
>> and would need to be heated in winter. Winters here in northern Michigan are
>> very cold (30/-30 degrees) with hundreds of inches of snow.
>
>We have a "Four Seasons" 2 story greenhouse attached to our house. Since we
>bought the house with the greenhouse already attached, I can't tell you how
>much it cost. I like the design except for the window shades which are poorly
>engineered. I am told by the previous owner that this was the first 2 story
>greenhouse that the company produced, so perhaps they have improved their
>design by now.
>
We had a Four Seasons greenhouse installed 3 years ago (San Francisco
area) and it ended up costing $100/squ ft. There were some hidden
costs which we hadn't expected. The wooden beams came unfinished and
we had to finish them ourselves before it could be installed. You
will also need to pay for repairing the damage (stucco in our case)
to the house where the greenhouse attaches. Other costs which were
anticipated are the foundation, building permit, flooring material
(tile), blinds (very expensive and not included in the $100 figure),
and baseboard and other moulding. They do have less expensive models
now, some which you can even install yourself.
If I had it to do again we would not have a glass ceiling, just a
couple of skylights instead since we have to leave the ceiling
blinds closed most of the time (too hot otherwise). It is a great
