Canopia Grand Gardener 8' x 8' Resin Greenhouse, Green/Clear

I'm very pleased with my Rion greenhouse. I would actually give it 4.5 stars rather than 5 because one of the construction pieces was the wrong piece - a numbered piece that must have been for another Rion product as it's number was not listed in the enclosures manifest. However, I called the 888 number provided and someone answered right away and I told them the missing piece number and they sent out a replacement right away via FedEx so it was just a couple days and I was able to install the greenhouse without it and just fit it in later when the piece arrived so all good. There are a lot of parts to this (I bought a bigger one) so I am more forgiving.I would recommend you take extra effort to make sure this is on LEVEL ground as it will make construction easier.Now it's all built and in place and is very sturdy and looks very nice in the yard, adding to the beauty of the garden rather than dtracting (much nicer than if I had made one myself with wood and plastic!)

The plastic frame is cheap, and just of poor, poor quality. After 5 months I'm still trying to figure out how to brace it so that I'm not terrified that it will be destroyed by the slightest breeze. Honestly, the best case scenario might be that a tree falls on it so that my insurance will cover the cost, and I can just throw the damn thing out. Unimpressed on every level.

I ordered the 8x12 and it arrived in 4 boxes - one for the front 2 foot section, one for the back 2 foot section and 2 for the middle 4 foot section. Be warned: there are close to 1,000 pieces in these boxes. But don't be put off by that, most of them are very small connectors to hold the joints of the larger pieces together.It took me about 20 hours to put this greenhouse together by myself. Here are my thoughts about that process and the pros and cons I experienced:As I said above the boxes contain the pieces to specific areas of the greenhouse so it will help to have plenty of room to arrange these boxes accordingly. The instructions are are virtually wordless, pictures articulate the assembly process, and are specific to the smaller 8x8 greenhouse, so quantities need to be increased when gathering the required parts for larger structures. Just keep that in mind as you proceed. As with any instructional set primarily done with pictures pay very close attention to the orientation of the pieces during construction.Each of these individual pieces has a label attached with a part # for easy reference and assembly. They are also water resistant so don't worry if you are putting this together in the rain (as I did), they will stay on and still be readable.VERY IMPORTANT: The greenhouse I purchased was the 8x12 model. However, IT IS NOT 8x12. I made the assumption that I could lay the foundation prior to the arrival and assembly of the greenhouse. This was a mistake as the actually foundation measurements of the greenhouse were several inches beyond that both length and width.As with any product of this nature (i.e., somewhat flimsy), the foundation is the key. So I recommend you NOT set this greenhouse directly on the ground, rather buy enough 4x4 treated lumber to form the foundation and level these out perfectly and squarely. Then, using 8 inch long galvanized screws with washers, fasten the corners to hold this foundation together. Inside for the floor use whatever you desire. I used 16" square red pavers with enough space in between for pea gravel for drainage. Of course you'll want this space to be as level as possible if you do something similar. But I digress. The reason I opted for 4x4 treated lumber is so that I could have a strong and fairly heavy foundation to screw the bottom rails of the greenhouse down to. Each two foot section of the greenhouse foundation has holes for exactly this purpose and you can use 3 inch decking screws, they'll work perfectly.Construction is pretty simple and straightforward. Gathering the required pieces from the various boxes can be tedious. But they go together well and are engineered so that once it is fully assembled the structure will provide adequate strength. I live in a fairly windy area, but the placement of my greenhouse (near the corner of a fence) will provide additional protections. What does give me concern are the clear side panels of the greenhouse. They are flimsy and are only held in place via slots in the structures of the walls.The greenhouse did come with a rubber seal that is supposed to go around each of these clear wall panels to further provide keeping them in place and increased protection from the cold (I assume?), but I have yet been able to install these with any success and for now they lay in a bundle on the floor in the greenhouse until I can come up with a solution. This is without a doubt one of the poorly designed elements of the greenhouse.The doors of the greenhouse is another poorly designed element - at least how to secure the second (french door) if you desire to only use the single door. This door uses two fence gate style slide latches mounted vertically. One at the top of the door and one at the bottom of the door. However, they are woefully designed and to get them to function properly is going to require some creative engineering on my part.Last element of failure on the part of the engineers that designed this greenhouse: they were thoughtful enough to provide a cabling system (4 of them in my 8x12 greenhouse) to hang hanging baskets from. Great idea! Poorly executed. I'm pretty handy, but it is impossible to install these cables as designed. I was able to partially install them so as to make use of them, but I'm not confident with it so I won't be putting too much weight on them.Overall, I am pleased with the greenhouse. And it's going to provide several years of growing pleasure in my backyard. The design issues that I've mentioned aside, it's a quality product that otherwise seems very well thought out and implemented. Would I buy it again for what I paid? Good question. Probably. But knowing of these design faults I would suggest that they lower the price of the greenhouse by about $200. Either that, or go back to engineering and fix these issues.UPDATE 03/25/2022:The greenhouse still stands and it still in great shape. It has survived winters with a foot of snow on the roof. I would recommend removing that much snow as soon as possible, as I could see stress on the structure. But it did hold it until I could sweep it off.Would I buy it again? Yes.

The 80 or so pages of instructions are not very helpful. You have to poke around the internet to find youtube videos of other experiences. It says nothing about building the roof on the ground and attaching it as one piece. If you don't, it's very difficult to reach over to work on the roof from the outside.The skylights are junk. The "hinges" (more like just a metal catch) are about 1/8". This does not hold up to any significant wind. You must drill into the frame and add your own hinges to reinforce and hold the things on. Do it on the ground BEFORE you raise the roof, or you'll be very sorry.The frame lasted 3 years in Minnesota winters. Just bought this one to replace the first roof, which completely collapsed and was shattered, by snow load. This time, I will build wood framing on the inside to reinforce the roof strength. Full disclosure, I have the 20' x 8' model, so the middle gets very weak.The panels themselves are light, and it serves as a nice greenhouse. However, it gets WAY too hot. Suggest cutting a fan into the side to pull in cool air to then vent out the skylights. The skylights themselves don't do it. Not enough air flow.OK, so I liked it enough to replace the busted one, but if starting all over, I think I'd look at other options. Not terrible for the money, but it really depends on your local environment.

well built

I assembled this greenhouse over the course of a couple of days, and for the most part, I'm pleased and impressed. However, the double doors require you to have two "left side" hinge pieces, and two "right side" hinge pieces, and my box came with four of one side and zero of the other.I figured this would be no sweat—I'd call customer service and they'd solve the problem immediately. Y'know, like a sensible business. But neither phone calls nor emails produced any actual helpfulness. They both claimed to be unable to locate my order (despite me providing Amazon order number, delivery date, delivery address, phone number and name on the order, etc.) and basically said "Sorry, not going to help you; feel free to try your luck with the manufacturer directly."So now I have a greenhouse with no functioning doors, which is putting in 99% of the effort and getting back like 10% of the value.

I bought this greenhouse because it had a five star rating on Amazon. I would give it a three and a half. Putting in the tubing for the windows was a total pain!! The hinges for the skylight are really cheap. I had one of the windows blow off the other day and it was not even windy.

Although this is not easy to assemble every part was included and fit very well. Watch the videos on YouTube then follow the instructions to the letter and you’ll be fine. The house is sturdy and well worth the extra money compared to the cheaper kits. We have a friend who loses windows out of his cheaper model every time the wind gets over 35-40 mph. We have no problem at all with wind so far. Overall I would recommend this to anyone.