"'Mike'" wrote in message
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"Martin Brown" wrote in message
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On 05/05/2011 07:39, 'Mike' wrote:
wrote in message
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On May 4, 11:36 pm,
wrote:
Hi,
I'm a newbie here. I've just bought a secondhand 8x10 Alton greenhouse
and now must go and dismantle and collect it from the seller.
I'd like advice about the best way to do this... eg should I remove all
glass or transport the panels with glass in situ?
I've ordered a complete set of assembly hardware from Alton so I can be
savage when dismantling and use new screws etc when reassembling.
What sequence should I dismantle - eg roof....walls... ends. Or roof...
ends...walls?
I've downloaded the assembly instructions from the Alton website and
notice that there is mastic used along the ridge. Is this easy to
access and cut through with a Stanley knife?
I will be hiring a van to transport the greenhouse and will need to
bring all the tools I'm likely to need (screwdrivers, saw, knife,
spanners) Anything else?
--
Tractorboy
You will need to take all the glass out. If your van is big enough
you may then be able to transport the larger sub-assemblies which
would save a lot of work. (Or on roof rack?) If not, you will have to
completely dismantle it.
The main problem is transporting the glass without breaking it. It
needs to be clean and stacked on it's edge. You will need something to
prop the glass up and cushions or carpets to stand it/on wedge it to
stop it falling about.
Cardboard boxes, rope, bungey ropes, small tyres?
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Take lots of photos as you dismantle it. Lots and LOTS of photos from
EVERY
angle.
I put one together which had already been dismantled without
tooooooooooooo
much trouble. Common sense is more important than anything. "Do I take
the
walls out first? No dummy, the roof!!""
As the previous poster said, it really is best to take all the glass out
first unless you can take the greenhouse down into only 6 sections and
transport them whole .................... CAREFULLY !!
You can probably get away with transporting any opening windows and doors
as entire subassemblies, but everything else needs to be broken down.
Expect to have to deal with broken glass and have some suitable non-slip
gloves for handling it. Also worth having a wrench and the right socket
set for the bolts as well as a couple of adjustables.
The bolts do tend to have corroded/seized even if they are aluminium -
particularly the ones near the ground. Apart from that it should be
obvious that the order to dismantle is glass out first - especially from
the roof. Hard hat not a bad idea here. The structure is quite vulnerable
to wind damage during this stage if it is in an exposed location. As the
other poster said take lots of pictures and if possible mark the corners
with numbers before taking it apart. It will almost certainly go together
more easily in the same configuration.
Regards,
Martin Brown
Martin's post above has just reminded me of marking corners etc. I was
Stage Manager of a play which when the run was finished at one theatre
http://www.apollo-theatre.org.uk/ we moved it to another theatre
http://www.friendsofshanklintheatre.org.uk/ for a further run. I numbered
each of the joints of the 'flats' (the 'walls' of the set) and it all went
together so easily.
It would appear that I should have added here ........ "This is not my idea,
but the usual practice, especially with touring theatre groups. As our flats
were well and truly marked from previous productions, I used a code T.O.D.
1, T.O.D.2 etc T.O.D. standing for the play, 'Touch of Danger', the story of
where an agent I think he was, was killed by a jab with an umbrella which
had Ricine (sp) on the end. But I doubt if your greenhouse has been moved so
many times that each end of the section has multiple markings and you need
to use your own code to differentiate from others"
Sorry if it appeared to you that it was my idea. Certainly not. An old
pracice.
Mike
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
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Start at one corner of your greenhouse and mark everything '1' with a felt
tip pen, the next joint '2' the next '3' etc.Then take close up photos ;-)
Now when you start to assemble and you pick a piece up if it has a '10' at
one end and '14' at the other, you will get a 'rough' idea of where it is
going. In my case at the theatre, a flat with '1' on one edge and '2' on
the other was downstage left, '7' and '8' somewhere in the middle. "Where's
flat '2' and '3'?"
Treat it all as an engineering project not a gardening project
Mike
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
....................................