"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
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"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
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In article ,
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Hi all

I am moving my greenhouse from the darkiest, shadiest part of the garden
to a sunnier area. I decided on a concrete base as I never grow anything
in the soil of the greenhouse, and I thought it would be more rat-proof!
We live in a very windy area and so the greenhouse needs to be firmly
secured.

I have a builder friend coming tomorrow to lay a concrete base for me,
but now I am rather belatedly having second thoughts. I am wondering if
a concrete base is a bad idea because of drainage - how to I ensure that
water can drain freely away?

You can tell I'm a bit clueless about all of this, any advice would be
very welcome.

Thanks

If it were me I would build a rectangular low wall in the ground for the
GH to sit on and either flag stone or chipping the inside or use the soil
and just have a path

That's what we did - with soil borders and a path. I can't understand why
anyone would want a whole concrete floor ...

I use the borders to grow crops in too, is there a problem with that?

Mary
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea



For what it is worth, here is my two pennyworth:

Our new greenhouse is on a concrete base nominal 4 inch thick, the
proprietry steel base is bolted to this, i used resin capsule anchor bolts
you can get from Screwfix.

The reason for this is the exposed location, and the soft sandy soil, (a few
hundred yards from the Irish Sea at the north end of the Wirral Peninsular).

I was worried about the little clips that came to secure the greenhouse to
the base, and as concerned as everyone else about water getting in, so the
greenhouse is stuck down wtih an adhesive silicon rubber as well (Cerasit
FT100).

The same chewing gum is used between the concrete and the steel.

In case we have an accident with the hose pipe, i put a six inch plastic
pipe down through the concrete, with rubble underneath, this is trimmed off
level with the floor on completion (tiles in ours), and filled with pebbles,
to form a soakaway.

Does it all work? Ask me when it has been standing for a year, i.e. in
twelve months time.

John