These are easy instructions on how to build a PVC hoop house for your garden which will extend your gardening season or provide a place to raise seedling plants.
A PVC hoop house is essentially a greenhouse that offers low-cost construction and quick building — typically two hours or less.
How to Build a PVC Hoop House for Your Garden
Check out these step-by-step easy instructions to build a PVC hoop house for your garden. These instructions cover each step of building a 10-by-20-foot PVC hoop house for nearly 200 square feet of growing space.
In two hours or less, you can have a PVC hoop house which will extend your growing season in both the spring and fall. PVC hoop houses mimic more expensive greenhouses but lack some of the features.
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Overview, Build a PVC Hoop House
Gardening enthusiasts are always looking for a way to extend the growing season and a hoop house is one way to add up to two months to your growing season. If you’re willing to add a little heat, you can extend the season even longer for cold-season vegetables.
One positive aspect of building this hoop house is how quickly you can do it. Even though you’re building nearly 200 square feet of growing space, you can build a PVC hoop house for your garden in two hours or less.
This hoop house is 20 feet long, 10 feet wide, and about 7 feet high but you can easily make it longer or shorter by adding or subtracting hoops and plastic sheeting.
Materials List: Build PVC Hoop House
- A 1/2-inch 10-foot PVC pipe (5 pieces)
- A 3/4-inch 10-foot PVC pipe (20 pieces)
- 3/4-inch 3-way Tee Connectors (2 pieces)
- 20-by-25 feet 6-mil thick clear plastic sheeting (2 pieces)
- 3/4-inch 4-way Cross Connectors (6 pieces)
- Large binder clips (10 pieces)
Cutting the Frame
A power miter saw makes cutting the pipe quick and easy, but a hand saw or hacksaw will work just as well.
- Cut 18, 30-inch long stakes from the 1/2-inch PVC pipe with a 45-degree angle on one end. Next cut a 10-foot length of pipe in half with a square cut, then cut each piece in half with a 45-degree cut.
- Cut eight, 28-inch long pieces of 3/4-inch pipe for the ridge poles.
Layout for the Hoop House
Layout a rectangle 10 feet wide and 20 feet long. To make sure the rectangle is square, measure between diagonal corners. The distance should be just under 268 3/8 inches. You don’t have to be exact, but fairly close will make for fewer problems later, especially if you want to frame the ends to add a door.
Drive a stake into the ground with a 3-pound hammer at each corner. Pull a rope taught between the two corner stakes on one side and use it as a guide for placing the rest of the stakes. The side stakes go along the 20-foot side of the hoop house. Pound in a stake every 30 inches, leaving about 8 inches of the stake above the ground.
Complete the Frame
Place a 10-foot length of 3/4-inch PVC over each stake. Bend the two pipes at one end of the house towards each other and join them with a 3-way Tee connector.
The middle leg of the Tee should point at the center of the hoop house. Join the pipes at the other end with another Tee connector the same way. The rest of the pipes are joined in the middle with the 4-way Tee connectors.
Connect the 3-way and 4-way connectors together with the 28-inch pieces of pipe. At one end of the hoop house, tie a rope around the middle leg of the connectors, then wind the rope once around the other two legs and take the rope down to the other end of the hoop house. Tie the rope to the Tee connector at that end the same way. This keeps the hoop house ridge from pulling apart.
Cover the Frame
To build a PVC hoop house for your garden, the final step is putting the sheet in place. Pull one piece of the plastic sheet over the hoop house and secure it at the bottom on each side with some 2-by-4 lumber or bricks.
You want to keep the wind from getting under the plastic. At the ends of the hoop house, secure the plastic to the frame with the large binder clips which you can buy at an office supply store.
Cut a piece of plastic to fit each end and secure it with the binder clips. You can cut a slit in one to use as a door or simply lift the plastic to get inside.
Credits and Resources
- Photo by Jason Riedy at Flickr.com: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jason-riedy/2716314402/
- Low Cost, Versatile Hoop Houses: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/hoop-houses
- Author’s personal experience
