Building Greenhouse

Hi

I am planning on building my own greenhouse from timber frame and with polycarbonate sheeting screwed onto it. I have found a few plans online but not decided on anything as yet.

From my own research I know the PC has to be UV resistant. Im also thinking of 4mm in thickness.

Any suggestions of where to source the PC sheeting. Somewhere where they will cut it to my desired measurements.

As much as Id love to be supporting Irish business, from the ones Ive seen so far it seems cheaper to source abroad and I am trying to keep costs to a minimum.

Would looking at China be an option do you think?

rolion

Hi,

Good luck with your project,looks fun !

I'm building mine 5ml x 2mh x 3mw from this material HERE. Also,found this one HERE ,with the video very informative.

I had to decide between polythene and the polycarbonate.
In the end,I can rotate the plants inside but not the walls outisde !

Have fun.

Hocus Focus

+1 for Access Plastics. I was trying to remember their name as I clicked on the link!
The notion of buying from China is a good idea if buying in bulk to sell wholesale, but for one-off projects like this the taxes and carriage costs would be prohibitive.

Shemale

I get these panels, you have to use parcel motel and they will deliver to an address for about €7. You get 6 panels for about 44 euro and they arrive fairly quick. Obviously the more you order in one go the postage will be lower.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00Q8M6IV4/ref=ya_aw_oh_bia_dp?ie=UTF8&psc=1

In relation to screwing into them, I am not sure how they would hold up. I had these and an alluminum frame with clips and the wind popped them. I did a big job by putting strips of wood at the top and bottom to and put bolts through the wood, panel and alluminium.

If I was building my own I would sandwich these inbetween two pieces of wood to make sure the wind cant wreck your greenhouse / plants.

Panels have uv protection on one side so make sure you fit them the right side out.

rolion

Well,those guys are local here,near Dublin.
I can call in their shop and talk to them.
Customized "cutting" allows me to pay attention to my own garden/space size and not an industrial standard.

Once i sorted out the material,i will need to work out on insulation,ventilation and condensation.
ALL three doing its own big deal for the overall plant's wellbeing.

Any ideea how to deal with them ?

Insulation, thinking to go with multiwall 4mm double section,i guess for our climate should do fine in the summer and most of the winter ?
Ventilation,i am building two side doors and i will leave them somehow open during summer with a high barier entry for the slugs or other small animals.
Condensation,i guess if the temperature is right,doors open and is solid plastic,it may on the surface or falling down to ground.I hate entering and been wet top to bottom by the water drops.

Thanks

bluezulu49

rolion wrote: »

Well,those guys are local here,near Dublin.
I can call in their shop and talk to them.
Customized "cutting" allows me to pay attention to my own garden/space size and not an industrial standard.

Once i sorted out the material,i will need to work out on insulation,ventilation and condensation.
ALL three doing its own big deal for the overall plant's wellbeing.

Any ideea how to deal with them ?

Insulation, thinking to go with multiwall 4mm double section,i guess for our climate should do fine in the summer and most of the winter ?
Ventilation,i am building two side doors and i will leave them somehow open during summer with a high barier entry for the slugs or other small animals.
Condensation,i guess if the temperature is right,doors open and is solid plastic,it may on the surface or falling down to ground.I hate entering and been wet top to bottom by the water drops.

Thanks

If you use 4mm twinwall polycarbonate in my experience you will get quite a lot of condensation.
I have an aluminium greenhouse which is glazed with 4mm twinwall and even with the doors partly open, with four auto vents and an auto louvre in the end of the greenhouse opposite the door, I get condensation.

Also be aware that the 4mm twinwall is not structurally strong and is liable to deflect if you use wide sheets. I have had it blown out of my greenhouse roof where it is in c 60 cm wide sheets.


I also have used Access Plastics and have found them very good to deal with.

Bluezulu49.

rolion

Hi,

I'm studying few ideas, as I have the materials delivered next week.

First, using two layers of the 4mm multiwall, one outside the wooden frame and other inside the wooden joist, making a few centimetres deep air gap, aka insulation.
Second, some piping that will suck the hot air from the top of the interior and draw it trough pipe underneath the plants roots, in the seeding beds.
With the help of an electrical fan powered by PVs.

Not lastly, using underfoot heating pipes of 10mm,run them in the ground and watering the plants at the ground /root level.

Makes sense, worth it !?

Thanks.