HI Charlie

Charlie Pridham wrote:
Anyone know the best way of cutting the large triple walled
Polycarbonate sheets? I am thinking of making a lean too shade
greenhouse using this to help with heat loss in winter. Roof is easy as
I have made the base so its whole sheets in each direction but sides
will obviously have some funny shapes and I need to check how easy it is
to work with.


Fairly easy to cut - it doesn't shatter (as the cheaper corrugated
plastic sheets do) - and you can get away with using a normal (jacksaw)
woodworking saw... If you have to do any really intricate stuff then
you can also use an electric jigsaw.

Slow & steady is the golden rule, whether you're dfoing it by hand or
with power tools - go too fast and you run the risk of melting the swarf
and then the saw-blade gets stuck! (been there - done that!)

It's worth using the proper ventilation tape at the top & bottom to seal
the flutes against insects etc.

The great thing about it is its strength. At the last house we converted
the previous owner's semi-undergrount trout pool (!) into a
semi-underground octagonal greenhouse by roofing it with triple-glazed
polycarbonate sheeting (4 x 16ft sheets!) - and with rafters every 2ft
apart it was easily strong enough to walk on ...

Hope this helps
Adrian