Polycarbonate Greenhouse ?

_Brian

Does anyone have any experience of these style of greenhouse ??

https://www.adverts.ie/other/greenhouse-14ft-x-8ft/11173773

I'm wondering how strong the structure is against wind ??

peasant

Bought one of these, albeit from a different supplier.

Was the biggest pile of crap ever. Plastic edge connectors wouldn't fit, had to be sanded down and hammered in. Having spent hours on that it turned out that some of the profile bars were the wrong length, couldn't even complete the gables.
In addition some of the polycarbonate panels also were the wrong size so they either wouldn't fit into the channels or fall out again...packed the whole pile up and sent it back again.

So, I cant answer your question about wind resistance, but I would strongly suggest that you try and see one of these in the flesh before buying or at least make sure that there is a good returns policy and unpack it carefully so that you can send it back, if needs be.

I can however recommend these products (got the 4m Betta myself)
https://www.facebook.com/ksbgreenhouse/

also see this thread:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=102343997

_Brian

Thanks.
That definitely looks like a stronger job for the same price.

fattymuatty

I had a polycarbonate greenhouse like that but not the exact one, twas a waste of money. It got absolutely flattened and destroyed 100s of euro worth of plants.

Peasant what kind of winds do you get where you are? Is it exposed? I have a polytunnel at the mo but grow exotic plants so could really do with something that has more insulation. They look great and really reasonably priced but we are really in a exposed place in the West and I can't afford another disaster.

peasant

fattymuatty wrote: »

Peasant what kind of winds do you get where you are? Is it exposed?

I'm in Sligo, quite close to the sea, so it does get pretty windy here.
The greenhouse however is not totally exposed, as you can see in the pics in the other tread, there is a hedge quite close and a bit of a hill in the far background that act as a bit of a wind break.

During the winter, Sligo airport (10 km away) measured sustained winds of 80~ km/h and gusts of 120 km/h...my guess would be that the greenhouse was subjected to sustained winds of 60 km/h and gusts up to 100 without problems.

If strong winds are a worry, you might opt for 6 mm thick polycarbonate instead of the standard 4 mm.

The frames are designed to take quite a bit of static load as snow load is a big problem in their target market in Russia (the betta model I have is supposed to take 170 kg/sq.m in standard form and up to 350 kg/sq. m with double the support arcs). Lots of people there have their garden out in the country but live in the city so they can't go out every time it snows to brush it off...a foot or two of wet snow has quite some weight to it and the stronger frames are designed to withstand that. So the odd gust shouldn't really break them.

_Brian

peasant wrote: »

I'm in Sligo, quite close to the sea, so it does get pretty windy here.
The greenhouse however is not totally exposed, as you can see in the pics in the other tread, there is a hedge quite close and a bit of a hill in the far background that act as a bit of a wind break.

During the winter, Sligo airport (10 km away) measured sustained winds of 80~ km/h and gusts of 120 km/h...my guess would be that the greenhouse was subjected to sustained winds of 60 km/h and gusts up to 100 without problems.

If strong winds are a worry, you might opt for 6 mm thick polycarbonate instead of the standard 4 mm.

The frames are designed to take quite a bit of static load as snow load is a big problem in their target market in Russia (the betta model I have is supposed to take 170 kg/sq.m in standard form and up to 350 kg/sq. m with double the support arcs). Lots of people there have their garden out in the country but live in the city so they can't go out every time it snows to brush it off...a foot or two of wet snow has quite some weight to it and the stronger frames are designed to withstand that. So the odd gust shouldn't really break them.

Very close to ordering this, 3m x 4m should be grand for us.
We reasonably exposed here, it will be a bit of a compromise on location as I’d like it behind the house to shelter it a bit, but this will shade it a bit from the sun in the afternoons:(

peasant

Have a chat with Peter, he's put up quite a few of those in exposed locations, see what he recommends

gct

I've got a polycarbonate greenhouse. The frames themselves are quite sturdy but take an age to assemble. The polycarbonate sheets are only about 3 or 4 mm thick and very flexible so the wind blows them out easily. The spring clips that hold the sheets in place are not great. I've now used silicone to hold the sheets in place. This is working for now but I'm not confident it will last.

_Brian

Not the one I posted but the one peasant posted, the sheets are securely screwed in. I don’t think they can pop out.
I watched the assembly video and there are no clips.