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Old 21-10-2003, 01:42 PM
Janet Baraclough
 
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Default Building a greenhouse

The message
from "Mike Tickle" contains these words:

I picked up a second hand 8x6 greenhouse for £50 over the weekend. Having
dismantled it I am now a little unsure how to put it all back up.


Too bad you didn't think of that before hand, mark all the pieces and
draw a diagram of what the frame looked like :-)

Firstly - it was sat on a brick base - do I need to build a brick base or
could I just use something like
http://www.diy.com/bq/product/produc...xBullet s=999
if I use a brick base I assume I would just need one course of bricks sat on
a few inches of concrete - is that right?


Much depends on where you live and how exposed your garden and GH site
is. (The gap between two houses is often a windtunnel, for example). The
purpose of the base is to stop the GH taking off AND hold its frame
square and true during high winds. If a rectangular frame is blown
slightly diamond-shaped under wind pressure, many panes are likely to
either crack or pop out and smash on the ground. The cheaper a GH is,
the lighter the frame is, and the more important it is to have it fixed
on a sturdy base. IMHO it's well worth the extra time and trouble to
make a concrete outline (with shuttering) or build one in bricks, then
bolt down the GH frame to it. Your GH should then last many years.

Secondly are there any guides on the web on how to put one up? Or has
anyone got the instructions for theirs that they could scan in and email?


They are all rather different according to material, manufacturer,
span and length etc. Cheaper metal ones use lighter parts so tend to
need more diagonal braces, for example.

It helps if you have enough uncluttered space (slightly away from the
erection site) to be able to lay out the GH parts on the ground, in
their right relation to each other, for each wall. You'll be able to
identify the larger bits like four corner posts, the roof ridge, the
side eaves and base, the door frame etc and work from there. ISTR on
ours the outlines of the two end wall frames were constructed (without
door) then tied together with the ridge, eaves, and long-side base bars.
Some jiggling at that point to make certain all corners are right
angles. Then the smaller supporting bits were added. Don't glaze
anything till you have the whole frame completed and locked down to the
base. HTH.

Good luck

Janet.