Investing in a greenhouse doesn’t have to mean buying common styles of expensive glass. In fact, tailoring your greenhouse to your aesthetic or needs is a very doable task. Here’s how we make it happen.
How we customize your greenhouse
At Monarch Greenhouse Solutions we work with different greenhouse manufacturers to find the best greenhouse for your wants/needs. We’ve done research on the best residential greenhouse companies and have found the best options for Utah’s harsh climate and our customers’ specific needs.
The greenhouse brands we have hand selected for Utah’s climate are BC Greenhouses, Growing Spaces, and Planta Greenhouses. They are all good looking, durable, and can be modified or customized.
The other customization option that we offer as the builders is foundation work and geothermal installation.
In most cases it is safer to have a concrete foundation to anchor your greenhouse to. Sometimes this means a ground level foundation, or a raised kneewall. There are benefits to both options, and the main one is the added strength and surety that your greenhouse will stay grounded.
Concrete foundations also allow for the use of geothermal or GAHT systems to keep your heating and cooling costs lower. We use insulated concrete forms (ICF) to trap in ground temperature and protect the concrete.
Running a geothermal system regulates temperature by pulling the air from the greenhouse into the ground and pushing air from the ground out. This can heat your greenhouse in the winter, or cool it in the summer. GAHT systems can also lower the running costs of a greenhouse.
BC Greenhouse Customizations
If you are looking for a top of the line customizable greenhouse, BC is our go-to option. They have several greenhouse designs and styles that are virtually all customizable.
They also have an in-house engineering/design team to make your custom greenhouse dreams come true.
Here are some of the basic customization options:
- Choose between Glass or Polycarbonate glazing.
- You can even customize the thickness of the glazing, allowing for more strength, insulation (R-value), light transmission, etc.
- Cooling options
- Things like automatic vents, louvres, and fans that allow you to automate your greenhouse to your liking.
- Attached greenhouses
- If you want to connect a greenhouse to your house, shed, or shop, you can! Choose from lean-to style or gable attached (pictured above).
- Aesthetic accessories
- BC also has options like decorative gutters that make your greenhouse stand out and look pretty.
Real life example: this photo is a custom peninsula greenhouse that we built for a customer. One angle of the roof slopes into the house. This had us thinking about how to not damage the house where the slope connects.
This is where the engineering from BC came in. They custom designed a gutter that would catch the water and send it away from the house while keeping the greenhouse structure sealed from the elements.
As you may be able to guess, the engineered drawings were harder to understand than the standard plan sets. But with our professional greenhouse installation team, and a little help from the engineers at BC, we installed the greenhouse and the customer didn’t have to think twice about it.
BC Greenhouses are known for their beauty and strength. Sitting on the higher end of the greenhouse spectrum, they are a great choice for longevity and serious use. They do require added customization if you are wanting to grow vegetables year round.
Grow year-round with Growing Spaces Growing Domes
Growing Domes are designed to grow year round with the least amount of customization needed. With the company’s first Growing Dome still producing after more than 20 years, you can trust the quality and longevity of these greenhouses.
Naturally, they are not customizable in terms of shape, but they have multiple sizing options to choose from. The main customization comes from the add-on’s they offer.
When ordering a kit, you can decide on the thickness of polycarbonate you want, add fans, misters, extra vents, or even a full ventilation kit. You can also add on raised garden beds (size dependent) that are designed for the dome so that you don’t have to worry about designing your own.
One of our customers lives in Sandpoint, Idaho and has had us out to build two 42 foot domes. Because his cabin is deep in the mountains, he had us install a concrete foundation complete with a geothermal system.
This allows him to grow tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce year round and was a huge addition to his off-grid living situation.
Growing Domes are definitely the best for year round growing in Utah’s climate. They are priced accordingly making them not for everyone. You may be looking for a simpler option that is strong and will be a great garden season extender.
Planta Greenhouses
A cheaper, but high in value manufacturer is Planta Greenhouses. These greenhouses come in a few different styles and are customizable in terms of add-ons and sizing. The way they are designed allows them to shrink or grow in length to your heart’s content.
Their residential models can fit in most backyards, and we’ve also had customers get their commercial models for backyard use (pictured above). In order to facilitate year-round growth, they require quite a bit of customization.
Things like vents are offered as add-ons to their kits. Other customization options offered are heaters, garden beds, hydroponic kits, shelves, and more.
We’ve built both commercial and residential models for Planta, and the most common customizations we’ve done are vents and extensions. The not so common customization was in the greenhouse pictured above where we installed geothermal systems in each.
In Conclusion
You’re probably saying to yourself, “these options are great and all, but how much do all of the add-ons cost?” A more comprehensive answer to that question can be found in a different article.
In short, just like adding comfort features to a new car adds to the cost, these greenhouse customizations will bring up the overall cost. Add-ons like vents and fans are cheaper customizations, while anything that requires extra engineering or ground work will be more expensive.
In some cases, adding custom features can be done after the initial build. If you need to wait to add vents or exhaust fans, that can make the initial price cheaper. Investing into the added heating and cooling features on the initial build ensures that you get the most out of your greenhouse from the beginning.
We are here to help you figure out what greenhouse works best for you, what customization options you should focus on, and build it so that all you have to worry about is what crops you are going to grow.
Contact us today if you would like to get started on a quote or you have your own custom greenhouse project in mind!