Making a Cold Frame (part 2)

Another beautiful day out today: weather is 40 above and the sun is shining! Makes a gardener really start to take stock and look forward to Spring. So that the day wouldn't go to waste, the girls and I jumped right out and set to work to finish up the cold frame.

First, I finished scraping the flaking paint off the window that will become the lid. I did pretty well in some areas, going down to the bare wood, and in other places where the paint was bonded with the strength of 50 years, I just did the best I could. If you use reused windows like I am, be careful when it comes to the glazing (the caulking around the window edges. It tends to crumble over time, but it you remove too much of it, you need to reglaze...or the window panes will fall right out! Here is a detail shot of the "finished" window:

After that was done, I spray painted the inside of the frame with a dark navy blue that I had on hand. The dark interior does just what you think it might: helps to trap solar radiation and keep it a bit warmer inside the frame. You can use black, dark blue, dark green--it doesn't matter as long as it's a very dark color.

Next I fitted the window into the frame (I had to trim about 3/8" off one edge of the window for a good fit) and hinged the window to the frame. I re-used some of the window hardware I had taken off the other side and attached them where I needed them to serve as handles for the lid. they work all right, but later on I may well add a regular handle in the center of the lid edge, because it's still a bit cumbersome to raise.

Obviously, my window does not fill up the entire frame width--that's the breaks when you're using scrounged materials--so I cut two edging pieces out of 3/4" ply and screwed them in place. The way my frame was built also left two 1" wide gaps at the back corners, so I covered them with two layers of plastic sheeting, tacked down with staples, since I didn't want such a big gap to let cold air in. So, here's my completely constructed cold frame:

And here it is with the top propped open, to show how it will function:

I will likely paint the outside when it warms up a bit (Eleanor is pushing for pink; that would take some convincing for me to agree), but otherwise, my first cold frame is finished!