Wednesday 27 April 2022

My "Expensive" Greenhouse


    One side of my family made their living with commercial greenhouses.  Eventually economics caused them all to close and fall into disuse.  One time when I was visiting back in Indiana, I was able to get several crates of 16” X 24” greenhouse glass that had come from the deteriorating greenhouses.  I drove them back with me when we returned to BC, and used them to build my greenhouse.  

    I also had some big old picture-window glass and I designed the greenhouse so that I could utilize  both.  The greenhouse I built turned out really well.

    In 2018, I was falling a tree close to the greenhouse and it fell right across the greenhouse,  breaking 23 panes of glass.  Fortunately I had just enough extra greenhouse glass to replace all of those broken ones, but that wiped out of my extra glass supply.

    Over the winter, I had 4 panes of glass broken.  I am not sure why they broke, maybe the wind blew them off or blew something onto them, causing them to break.  You might be alb e to see the holes in the roof.  Anyway, It left some holes in my greenhouse and I didn’t have any glass left over to fix it.  I called up to a glass store in Prince George to buy some replacement glass and was shocked.

    I ordered 5 panes and it will cost me $100.  Yikes.

    I hadn’t realized what an expensive greenhouse I had.  If glass costs $20/pane, then the accident I had with the tree would have cost me $460, and if I had to replace all of the glass it would cost me around $2,000.  I was shocked after getting all of the original glass for free, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing more happens to my greenhouse.  

    I didn’t realize what a prize I had in getting all of that 100 year old glass from my family’s greenhouses.  My uncle finally had to hire a machine to tear down his greenhouse because he couldn’t find any one to dismantle it for the glass and pipe.  I am sure glad I got some of the glass before those greenhouses were destroyed.


View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca


 

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