Gutter Connected Greenhouse Lean-to 101

A greenhouse Lean-to is one of the most versatile additions to a gutter connect greenhouse range that any greenhouse manufacturer can offer you. Consider the different ways a Lean-to structure can add production space, improve productivity, and provide connectivity to your greenhouse range.

Lean-tos are used for a number of applications – storage, extra bench spacing, propagation, extra growing space, connecting halls.  If you retail, it can be a good place for extra stock during the busy spring months, or used as a window display area if covered in glass.

There are 3 major different types of Lean-tos:

• The Connecting Lean-to:

This style of Lean-to connects your warehouse, or store front to the greenhouse range or greenhouse garden center.  Most often the connecting lean-to slopes away from a warehouse wall in a straight slope.  However they can also be manufactured into a curved arch design similar to your greenhouse arch.  The optimal style for a connecting lean-to will depend on the width of the area you wish to cover and the difference in height between your building façade and the greenhouse gutter.

Connecting Lean-tos are engineered to account for additional snow load created by the main warehouse building.  The direction and the length of the slope of your warehouse building are considered when we design and manufacture these.

• The Sidewall Lean-to:

This style of Lean-to is most often chosen for adding additional square footage within a comfortable budget. Ideal for greenhouse growers who plan to expand onto a sidewall in the future, the sidewall lean-to provides an arch from the gutter to the grade.

The second most common reason greenhouse growers choose this style of lean-to is to maximize coverage of your property.  Sidewall lean-tos can be designed for various widths making it a valuable option if you have a little extra room on your property but cannot fit a full sized greenhouse bay. 

• The Gutter height adjusting Lean-to:

This style of Lean-to is most often required over time as greenhouse expansions take advantage of the improved growing environment that taller gutter heights give you.

Covering growing area between gutters of different heights can be designed with a straight slope similar to the Connecting Lean-to, but is more often accomplished with a specially rolled arch in order to maintain the same footprint as the gutter connected range.  Custom rolled arches are an economical way to manufacture a greenhouse roof, and maintaining the same footprint is much easier for your ongoing production planning.

Recently the NGMA (National Greenhouse Manufacturers Association) published their annual Structures Report.  Many growers responded to this survey saying they are planning to expand their greenhouse operation this year, however most felt their expansion plans would be less than 10,000 square feet. If you are a grower like those surveyed by the Greenhouse Manufacturers Association, a lean-to may be exactly what you are looking for.

Interested in a Lean-to? Contact GGS now