A greenhouse is a great way to extend your growing season or to grow plants that do not cope well in the natural climate where you live. While this is all great news, you may consider that there could be a logistical problem with how to transport your greenhouse home. If you dismantle the greenhouse, will it fit in a car?
A dismantled, commercially made greenhouse intended for small operations can fit in a car. A new greenhouse should come disassembled in flat packaging. If it is second-hand, you need to dismantle the greenhouse to transport it. A greenhouse up to 12ft x 8ft can be transported in a medium-size car.
Greenhouse designs and the materials that they are made from can vary greatly. The materials that the greenhouse is constructed from will be a factor that will influence how easy it will be to transport in a car. Of course, the size of your car and its internal capacity will also be a defining factor. But many seemingly impossible tasks can be achieved with a little ingenuity!
Can You Transport A Dismantled Greenhouse In A Car?
The logical answer to the question of whether you can fit a dismantled greenhouse in a car is that it depends on the size of the greenhouse and the size of the car. While this is true, it is not very helpful in solving the problem of getting your greenhouse home!
If you have a car that is not conducive to the easy transportation of an item like a greenhouse, you may want to factor this in when you are shopping for the greenhouse. Selecting a greenhouse that you know you will be able to transport in your car would be the first place to start.
If you go larger than what your car is capable of, you may have to get creative about getting your greenhouse to its new home.
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How Big Is The Greenhouse?
When searching for a greenhouse that you will need to transport, you need to be realistic about the size of the greenhouse that you can safely transport in your car.
Going with a greenhouse that is obviously too large for the car to handle is going to be a headache to transport from the outset.
Another consideration is the dismantle-ability of the greenhouse in question. How far can it be dismantled, and what size are the component pieces of the structure and the sheeting?
A greenhouse that can be dismantled into small enough components that can fit into your car is the ideal that you are looking for. If you are buying the greenhouse second-hand, you may want to ask the current owner how they transported it to its current location and how small the dismantled parts were.
Here’s a quick video showing a small greenhouse being put together. You can see at the beginning how small of a package they come in. These will easily fit in a car.
What Is The Greenhouse Is Made From?
It is not only the size of the greenhouse and its components that you need to consider as a logistical problem for transportation.
The weight of the materials that the greenhouse is made from will be a determining factor for its transportability in your car.
Plastic Greenhouse Sheets
Greenhouses can be made from a variety of materials, each with different weight characteristics. Some greenhouses are made from clear, rigid plastic sheeting, and the roof made with clear plastic IBR sheets.
This material is light and is generally dismantles into smaller, easily manageable sheets. Greenhouses made from this type of rigid plastic sheeting are easy to transport and should fit inside most cars.
Glass Greenhouses
Glass is by far the heaviest and most difficult greenhouse material to work with and to transport. It has great insulating and light accessibility properties from a greenhouse perspective, but it adds logistical problems for dismantling and transport.
You will find that the glass sheets are very heavy, and not only that, but care needs to be taken during loading and transport not to break any of the glass sheets.
The weight of the glass panels may be more than your car can handle in one trip, so if the greenhouse is large, you may have to resign yourself to the fact that you will need to make multiple trips to relocate the greenhouse.
Glass is best transported when stacked on its edge rather than lying flat. The weight of the top glass panels can crack and break the panels on the bottom of the pile.
The Greenhouse Frame
The frame of the greenhouse will usually break down into individual components for the side panels, the rafters and roof supports, and the frames for any openings, such as a door frame.
These components can usually be dismantled down to lengths that can fit inside your car, as long as the greenhouse was not too long. Even with some larger greenhouses, the structural beams will not run the full length of the greenhouse as one entire length but will be shorter lengths connected by vertical pieces.
If the structure is made from steel, the frame can be quite heavy, and your car may not handle the weight of all the frame components in a single trip.
Frames that are made of aluminum would be a lighter, more desirable option from a portability standpoint.
Here’s a video that talks about a couple types of greenhouses, so you can get a better idea of how big they can be:
How Big Is Your Car?
Not only the size of your car but also its carrying capacity will play a role in the size of the greenhouse that you will be able to transport. The configuration of your car will also be a factor that will affect the ease with which you can transport the greenhouse.
- Sedan. If your car is a sedan, you are pretty much out of luck, and you may have to ask a friend with a more appropriate car to help transport the greenhouse. The length of the components of the greenhouse is what would be challenging for a sedan unless you can fold the back seat down and gain access to the trunk from the cabin of the vehicle.
- Hatchback. A hatchback can be a useful configuration for transporting a greenhouse because the back seats fold down to enlarge the packing area in the car. If you lay the front passenger seat flat in the completely reclined position, you can fit long lengths of the structure in from the back of the car, extending into the front passenger footwell.
- Station wagon or estate. This configuration car will have a similar carrying capability as a hatchback but will be able to carry heavier weights and longer lengths due to the longer overall length of the vehicle.
- SUV. An SUV usually also has the capacity to fold down the backseats to enlarge the packing space of the trunk area. Similar to the hatchback, you can carry long lengths of framework that can extend into the footwell on the front passenger side of the car by reclining the front passenger seat all the way.
Greenhouse Transportation Alternatives
Some alternative methods to consider for transporting your greenhouse with your car can include the following ideas.
- A roof rack. A roof rack fitted on the top of your car can increase the cars carrying capacity significantly and allow you to transport the longer or larger pieces of the greenhouse on top of the car. If your car does not have a roof rack, purchasing one for the car may be cheaper than paying for a professional mover to transport the greenhouse.
- Hire a trailer. If your car has a tow hitch, hiring a trailer will allow you to carry the larger parts of the greenhouse with relative ease and with more safety than trying to fit it inside your car. The cost of hiring a trailer for a day is not expensive.
- Ask a friend. Ask a friend that has a bigger, more appropriate car to give you a hand to get the greenhouse relocated.
Greenhouse Sizes That Fit In A Car
Greenhouses that come packaged as a kit are usually easily dismantled and, thus, easily transported. They are built to be modular in construction for this very purpose.
Greenhouses that come in this format are usually 6ft x 6ft, 8ft x 6ft, or 12ft x 8ft. These kit-style greenhouses can be easily dismantled and will fit in most medium-sized cars.
Conclusion
Transporting a small to medium-sized greenhouse in a car can be achieved if it is possible to dismantle the greenhouse down to components that will fit comfortably in the car.
Generally, a medium-sized car would be the minimum size of a car where this will be possible. The alternative is to ask a friend for help or hire a trailer for the day to transport the greenhouse.