There are a couple of different ways to build HoopHouses that I want to illustrate.This first is this simple HoopHouse with roll up sides seen here. This HoopHouse is built for mild Arizona weather. If you are in an area with snow or windy conditions, you will want to build your HoopHouse like the one below. This HoopHouse is built with 3/4” PVC for the ribs and 2x4’s for the end wall frame. Only one end has frame work for a door, the far end has no frame work and is covered with a sheet of plastic held on with spring clamps. The ribs are held in place by slipping them over 1/2” rebar stakes driven into the ground on 36” centers, and at the top there is a section of 3/4” PVC that is strapped onto the underside of the hoops to keep them spaced evenly. These HoopHouses can be built as long as you want limited only by the length of plastic you can get.

     Here are the plans I originally designed my HoopHouse from. I got the plans from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. I found that using the cross pieces to make the center rib was not very strong at all. Mine kept breaking even though I pinned the joints with screws. So on my 12’x20’ HoopHouse I used joist hangers and mounted a 20’ 2x4 from end to end. It turned out to be plenty strong. I used full length 20’ PVC pipes to make the ribs and found that attaching them on the inside of the frame instead of the outside as shown worked much better. I used 1 pipe clamp on each base board and 1 on the center 2x4 beam. For the door, I framed the door opening to fit a 36” screen door, the kind with an opening window. The other end wall can be framed for a door also, or can be framed for a ventilation fan. A large evaporative cooler works well for this. A thermostat can be hooked up to the cooler to automate ventilation. This is a concern mainly in the spring and fall and depends a great deal on your local climate. Be sure to install one way flaps or vents if you will be ventilating in this manner.

     You might recognize these pipes. I hate to waste things so I salvaged these from my DFT system. To fasten the plastic to the pipe, I took some sections of the same pipe and cut it length wise into three sections. I then cut these pieces to about 9”-12” long. Assuming you have enough excess plastic, carefully lay your pipe onto it and slide it up against the frame pulling the excess plastic under the pipe and away from the frame. Wrap the plastic around the pipe and get it all snug and then use the pieces you cut and clamp the plastic to the pipe by screwing the pieces to the pipe with the plastic sandwiched in between. I find self tapping truss head screws like these to work the best. This sounds a lot more complicated than it is. You may want to have somebody help in order to get a really nice tight fit. Fasten the plastic evenly for the entire length of the HoopHouse using enough pieces to be almost continuous. You could cut a full length piece if you wanted to. I was trying to use up some scrap stuff I had laying around.

     Here we see the roll up side in action. There are many ways to attach the rolled up side to the HoopHouse. Here, I have used spring clamps to secure the handle to the end hoop. In my mild Arizona climate, I often would roll both sides up. The picture on the left shows how. You can see in the picture on the left that the two roll ups are not the same size pipe. On the right is 4” and on the left is 3”. I found the larger pipe to work much better. Roll up sides are pretty easy to do. The pipe provides an anchor to keep the plastic down. A system like this is best for a mild climate where one layer of plastic is all that is required. In areas where a double layer of plastic is required, an alternate form of ventilation should be considered. The  Noble Foundation has some good tips on HoopHouse construction. Canada Plan Service has some excellent plans for HoopHouses and other ag related buildings.

     For a commercial solution, consider FarmTek, I have heard very good things about their HoopHouses, which they call High Tunnels. They also carry all the odds and ends that you might need to build your own. A ready to assemble kit may also be an option for somebody that does not have the inclination or ability to build a structure from scratch. They have High Tunnels and Green House kits of many sizes up to 30’x96’.

     Here is how I had the HoopHouse laid out. It is covered with bird netting to keep the Black Birds out. They were very destructive. I have also taken the plastic off at this point. The roll up sides made it very convenient as you can see. Just rolled the sides up all the way to the top, fastened them together for safety, and had my wife help me lift the whole thing off the hoops. The hydroponic method shown here is Bag Culture using Fertigation The HoopHouse shown here worked really well in the very mild Arizona climate, but I would really recommend that you build a much stronger one like the others shown on this page.

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