"Hoop House" Glides Open & Closed

I saw this on Facebook today and thought y'all might be interested in it:



Here are the instructions. The guy has offered to help anyone who has questions:

"Hoop House" Glides Open & Closed
Vern Harris likes setting up hoop houses over his vegetable beds, but he doesn't like the hassle of working under them. Most designs require lifting the plastic sides to get at the produce. So, Harris came up with hoops that glide on rails, making access as easy as pulling on two ropes.

"Anybody who is even slightly mechanical can build one," says Harris. "If they run into trouble, I'd be glad to help. My hoop houses have let me grow greens even in the snow."

Harris builds his garden beds from 8-ft. long, 2 by 6-in. untreated fir. The main component of the hoop house is schedule 40 pvc pipe. The rails the house slides on are 3/4-in. diameter pipe. The hoops are 1/2 in. diameter. They fit into 1-in. diameter tees that glide over the rails.
"I needed to raise the rails slightly above the bed sides so the tees can glide down the rail," says Harris. "To get the height, I predrilled holes through the pipes and set 1/2-in. long pieces of 1/2-in. aluminum tubing under the holes. Screws driven through the holes and through the tubing secure the rails in place."

Harris then sliced away the bottoms of each hoop tee. This allows them to slide down the rail and past the aluminum supports. He also extended the rails about 18 in. past one end of the bed so all the hoops could be pulled to that end, exposing the entire bed to the sunlight. A piece of 3/4-in. pipe was attached to the rails at the overlapping end with 90° angle connectors.

After placing 5 tees in place on each rail, Harris inserted a 9-ft., 1/2-in. pvc pipe in a tee on one side and then bent it to fit the other end into the opposing tee. He predrilled holes for attaching the plastic. Harris advises using Dura-Film Thermax or another high quality film recommended for hoop houses.

"I cut a plastic sheet to 9 by 10 ft. and attached it to the hoops with the 9-ft. side running the length of the 8-ft. bed and hanging over each end by 6-in.," says Harris. "The 10-ft. dimension was fastened so edges overlapped hoop ends by 6-in. I used 1/2-in. lathe screws with washer heads to help prevent tears and leaks."

To enclose the ends, Harris cut two 4 by 5-ft. pieces of plastic. He attached one to the hoop at the extended end of the bed using fasteners. The other is temporarily clamped to the end hoop when the hoop house is closed.

"You could even use clothes pins, but I go to a dollar store and find inexpensive clamps for the hoops," says Harris. "I fasten the bottom permanently to the bed frame."

To make opening easy, he installed 3/16-in. eye screws at the bottoms of each side of the front rail. To these he attached lengths of 3/16-in. clothesline cord. To open or close the hoops, he simply pulls on the cords.

"In my climate a single layer of plastic is enough to keep my hoop houses from freezing on our coldest days," says Harris. "In a colder climate, you could attach a second layer of plastic to the inside or outside of the hoops. It's well worth it either way. Those fresh garden greens taste great in January and February."

Harris is willing to help with information, a complete parts list or even parts ordering. If desired, he will even prepare a hoop house kit to order.

Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Vern Harris (gardenhoop@gmail.com).

Well that's pretty nifty. Kim, would you be able to post a link?

camprn wrote:Well that's pretty nifty. Kim, would you be able to post a link?

Hhhmmm, not really. You can look at it on my FB page (Square Foot Gardening 4 U), but as far as I can see, the original poster was Farm Show Magazine and there isn't a link there. They may just have cut & pasted the info from their magazine article???

"I needed to raise the rails slightly above the bed sides so the tees can glide down the rail," says Harris. "To get the height, I predrilled holes through the pipes and set 1/2-in. long pieces of 1/2-in. aluminum tubing under the holes. Screws driven through the holes and through the tubing secure the rails in place."

I'm not following this exactly. Can someone clarify exactly what he means? does that mean the screw goes through the tubing like.... the screw is "inside" the tubing like a sleeve? Sorry, I'm somewhat mechanically inclined, but clearly not at this level!

Thank you!

I had a hard time trying to figure that out also. I have interpreted it this way:
_______________________________
______|____________|____________

The top horizontal line is the pvc pipe rail.
The two vertical lines are the small 1/2" aluminum tubing pieces used to raise the pvc rail up off the bed frame.
The bottom horizontal line is the top of the bed.

So take a long screw down thru the pvc pipe, thru the vertical small aluminum pieces, down into the top of the wood frame of the bed.
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Anybody else better at interpreting the plans.???

I was also wondering if he meant all the way through the rail... or if only through the bottom of the rail.. almost like the tube would be a "peg" sticking out of the box side and a hole in the bottom of the rail would sit on top of the "peg" without it going all the way through the rail. Exactly like what you drew except if the horizontal lines represented both walls of the rail, instead of rail & bed.

I planted on the 7th, last weekend it was rainy and nasty and I didn't get to continue working... today I have squash bugs on my window! I'm feeling an ounce of panic at that sight, but right now things are growing nicely. I am so amazed at how quickly stuff is growing in the MM. My son left the day I planted, he came home yesterday and asked what I had done to make that kind of crazy growth. Amazed!

I'm at work on a break. I contacted Mr. Harris this Spring, I believe and he sent me better instructions. I found as I was building it there would be some problems with snow and ice , esp on the rails. I contacted him and ask if he was still using this method after pointing out my concerns. He never responded.
I believe it would not work out as I wanted/dreamed, so I abandoned the project. If someone has completed it and went thru the season with snow, wind and ice,etc.... please post you results.
I'm catching a plane to San Antonio in AM and will not be able to post the new instructions he sent me. I will when I get back, if I still have them.

has55 wrote:I'm at work on a break. I contacted Mr. Harris this Spring, I believe and he sent me better instructions. I found as I was building it there would be some problems with snow and ice , esp on the rails. I contacted him and ask if he was still using this method after pointing out my concerns. He never responded.
I believe it would not work out as I wanted/dreamed, so I abandoned the project. If someone has completed it and went thru the season with snow, wind and ice,etc.... please post you results.
I'm catching a plane to San Antonio in AM and will not be able to post the new instructions he sent me. I will when I get back, if I still have them.

I would like the new instructions when you get back into town.  We rarely have ice that lasts longer than a few hours.  If it is frozen on the rails, then it is too cold to uncover except to harvest.

Yolos, here's the link to my pictures. I forgot that I started a thread called " The Winter Journey and greenhouse plastic". On page 6, about 1/2 way down. you will see more detail pictures Mr. Harris sent me, including the ones you've pasted earlier in this thread. Hope this is helpful.

gliding hoop house

Hey guys
I found an incredible product at home dept awhile ago that might very well come in handy here
It is basically a zipper for closing plastic and tarps.  Seems that it would be a VERY good way of closing up a hoop house
It is basically a very long zipper that has peel and stick on the edges.TARP ZIPPER DOOR

This is a link to walmart, but I would not set foot in a walmart, and they have them at home depot, or Canadian tire in Canada

Opening a hoop house at one end sounds like a perfect use. I have one but I haven't used it, yet. Maybe this Nov when I erect the green house.

yolos wrote:

has55 wrote:I'm at work on a break. I contacted Mr. Harris this Spring, I believe and he sent me better instructions. I found as I was building it there would be some problems with snow and ice , esp on the rails. I contacted him and ask if he was still using this method after pointing out my concerns. He never responded.
I believe it would not work out as I wanted/dreamed, so I abandoned the project. If someone has completed it and went thru the season with snow, wind and ice,etc.... please post you results.
I'm catching a plane to San Antonio in AM and will not be able to post the new instructions he sent me. I will when I get back, if I still have them.

I would like the new instructions when you get back into town.  We rarely have ice that lasts longer than a few hours.  If it is frozen on the rails, then it is too cold to uncover except to harvest.

did you decided to build the gliding hoop house? I see you're in Georgia. You would have less a problem with ice.  I would like to hear from anyone who is actually using it.

GWN wrote:Hey guys
I found an incredible product at home dept awhile ago that might very well come in handy here
It is basically a zipper for closing plastic and tarps.  Seems that it would be a VERY good way of closing up a hoop house
It is basically a very long zipper that has peel and stick on the edges.TARP ZIPPER DOOR

This is a link to walmart, but I would not set foot in a walmart, and they have them at home depot, or Canadian tire in Canada

Here is another one.  All zippers are not the same in terms of reliability and stability.  read the reviews and pick the best one if you decide to go this way.

http://www.amazon.com/ZipWall-HDAZ2-Heavy-Zipper-2-Pack/dp/B0022NHLEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369078843&sr=8-1&keywords=tarp+zip+up#productDetails

has55 wrote:

yolos wrote:

has55 wrote:I'm at work on a break. I contacted Mr. Harris this Spring, I believe and he sent me better instructions. I found as I was building it there would be some problems with snow and ice , esp on the rails. I contacted him and ask if he was still using this method after pointing out my concerns. He never responded.
I believe it would not work out as I wanted/dreamed, so I abandoned the project. If someone has completed it and went thru the season with snow, wind and ice,etc.... please post you results.
I'm catching a plane to San Antonio in AM and will not be able to post the new instructions he sent me. I will when I get back, if I still have them.

I would like the new instructions when you get back into town.  We rarely have ice that lasts longer than a few hours.  If it is frozen on the rails, then it is too cold to uncover except to harvest.

did you decided to build the gliding hoop house? I see you're in Georgia. You would have less a problem with ice.  I would like to hear from anyone who is actually using it. 

yolos, did you have any new ideas about this glide hoop house or are you trying something else? Enquirer wants to know. 

has55 wrote:

has55 wrote:

yolos wrote:

has55 wrote:I'm at work on a break. I contacted Mr. Harris this Spring, I believe and he sent me better instructions. I found as I was building it there would be some problems with snow and ice , esp on the rails. I contacted him and ask if he was still using this method after pointing out my concerns. He never responded.
I believe it would not work out as I wanted/dreamed, so I abandoned the project. If someone has completed it and went thru the season with snow, wind and ice,etc.... please post you results.
I'm catching a plane to San Antonio in AM and will not be able to post the new instructions he sent me. I will when I get back, if I still have them.

I would like the new instructions when you get back into town.  We rarely have ice that lasts longer than a few hours.  If it is frozen on the rails, then it is too cold to uncover except to harvest.

did you decided to build the gliding hoop house? I see you're in Georgia. You would have less a problem with ice.  I would like to hear from anyone who is actually using it. 

yolos, did you have any new ideas about this glide hoop house or are you trying something else? Enquirer wants to know. 

I am waiting until I retire next summer to do anything serious that involves growing in the cold.  I leave the house in the morning at about 7am and don't return after work until about 5:30pm.  Our mornings can be cold but it warms up real fast during the day.  Therefore, I would have to uncover the bed during the day.  Our coldest part of the day is 6am.  I get home just before dark in the later fall and winter.  Therefore, the bed would not get heated up if I put the cover back on when I get home.  So, just imagining what I can do when I retire and can open and close the cover at the appropriate time.

thank you for the reply. I hope I can address some of those same problems this year. I found the opening and closing before I went to work or midday in the winter was a pain. I did better last year with the passive ventilation . I work nights and this was a headache 2 yrs ago. I still haven't work out all the kinks, but I hope to have it solved this year. we'll see.