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Covering an old greenhouse frame

letsfarmletsfarm Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hi there,
So excited to find this world of helpful gardeners!
  I have a 6ft. x 8ft. greenhouse, it is about 8 years old. The frame is made of our metal tubes and you can slip the plastic cover on and off.
   I have bought numerous replacement covers for it, some only lasting a little over 1 year. I love my little greenhouse, but replacing the cover is getting old, especially being it doesn't last long.
  So my question is...is there a way to cover this frame other the problematic covers that I have been buying?? 
  Thank you 

Posts

  • PosyPosy Isle of Wight.Posts: 3,601
    Would the stuff they use for polytunnels be any use? It might look a bit rough....
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 48,940
    Yeh - the plastic ones are pretty useless. If they don't just blow away in wild weather, they tear. 
    @Posy's suggestion is a good one, but keeping it in place and making it workable would be the challenge, unless you could make it the correct shape, and heat seal the seams.

    Do you anchor the covers [and the greenhouse]  onto something solid, like a fence or similar? I always tied the whole thing to the fence it was against - top and bottom - with old plastic coated wire washing line. Otherwise, the entire thing took off. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • nick615nick615 SW IrelandPosts: 1,240
    I'm not a fantastic DIY man but most things are out there.  Corrugated, clear plastic is great stuff and, on a shed roof at my previous home, I only replaced it once in the 31 years we were there.  Now, if there's some way of bracketing sheets of it on to the frame you already have, that would be my first choice.  Fixing of it is always done by drilling holes through the tops of corrugations to prevent water ingress, and normally screwing the sheets to a timber frame so, if you can find a bolt/hook type of fixing that will hold sheets on to your existing tubular frame, you've cracked it.  Failing that, a simple row of 2" x 1" timbers inside your frame would allow you to screw to it but it would inevitably look a bit clumsy.
  • FairygirlFairygirl west central ScotlandPosts: 48,940
    It would be cheaper and easier to just buy a greenhouse @nick615 :D
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....


  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 33,273
    Fairygirl said:
    It would be cheaper and easier to just buy a greenhouse @nick615 :D
    or get one on freecycle
    Devon.
  • nick615nick615 SW IrelandPosts: 1,240

    Maybe I should have done this first but this is the type of thing I meant:

    https://www.fastenright.com/general-fixings/square-bend-hook-bolts/ub07

    With something like that hooked on to your frame and secured using good absorbent plastic washers between nuts and plastic sheets, you could have a longer lasting solution.

  • nick615nick615 SW IrelandPosts: 1,240
    I don't know 'freecycle' but, together, we've offered alternatives.  Letsfarm can now make a decision.
  • letsfarmletsfarm Posts: 2
    Wow, thank you everyone for all of the suggestions and ideas, I really appreciate it! It is fully anchored into the ground in a landscaped area with rocks for mulch around it and under it. I have never had any trouble with it blowing away or anything...just the covers do not last at all!  
       I too, wondered about just covering it in a heavy plastic that would come in a roll...but my issue is what do I do on the ends of the greenhouse. The plastic would go up and over the main frame, but not the ends. 
       It would be great to be able to convert it, sounds like finding the right hardware would be the issue. I will that the round tubular frame is going to be a problem for that. 
    Gave me lots to think about, thanks again! 
      
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