"CK" wrote in message
...
Is there a FAQ on greenhouses please?
Otherwise what are the group's thoughts on aluminium vs. wood, and on base
materials
& fixing, or any other pointers please.
My daughter is just about to try to get hold of a second-hand one for her
allotment
in London.
I suggested railway sleepers for the base, as she may want to move it when
she leaves
the area.
Thanks,
Chris

Well we had a wooden greenhouse (inherited from previous owners) and when we
came to do maintenance, found that they had 'tarted it up' for selling and
it was all rotten. Where the rain had been able to get into minute
paintwork cracks, thw wood just rotted as no air could get to it to dry it
out. Even some large slugs had taken up residence in some of the holes. It
was condemned. However I believe that Western Red Cedar has so much oil in
its natural structure that it is impermeable to water.

We have now gone for an aluminium green house and I much prefer it. There
are lots of attachments that fit into the glazing bars for shelves, hanging
hooks etc. Whilst you *can* do that with wood, I was always scared that the
drill/hammer/other-metal-tool would slip or miss the spot and go straight
through the glass.

As for base fixing - ours is onto concrete as that's what we inherited.
However, the base we had supplied could easily have been fixed into an earth
base with the fixing legs that were supplied. Indeed we had to modify ours
for a concrete base.

Good luck and happy hunting. She'll never look back :-) A rainy day is
never so bad when you have a water tight greenhouse.

--A