I'm about to buy a new greenhouse - plain aluminium and toughened glass.
At least 8 x 10.

There seem to be several makes available (Halls, Robinsons, Eden, Elite,
etc) which all seem to be very similar. Any recommendations or things
to avoid from experience?

TIA

--

Jeff

On 14/09/2012 09:33, Jeff Layman wrote:
I'm about to buy a new greenhouse - plain aluminium and toughened glass.
At least 8 x 10.

There seem to be several makes available (Halls, Robinsons, Eden, Elite,
etc) which all seem to be very similar. Any recommendations or things
to avoid from experience?

TIA

Have a look at these people
http://www.ukgreenhousesales.co.uk/?...FeXMtAodoRYAsQ

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
I'm about to buy a new greenhouse - plain aluminium and toughened glass.
At least 8 x 10.

There seem to be several makes available (Halls, Robinsons, Eden, Elite,
etc) which all seem to be very similar. Any recommendations or things to
avoid from experience?

TIA

--

Jeff

Plenty of roof vents, double doors and internal bracing are all good things,
generally found in the bigger houses, I have 4 Halls magnum 8x14's and have
never had a problem, they survived the 87 storm and all those since without
losing a single pane of glass!


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

In article ,
Charlie Pridham wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...

I'm about to buy a new greenhouse - plain aluminium and toughened glass.
At least 8 x 10.

There seem to be several makes available (Halls, Robinsons, Eden, Elite,
etc) which all seem to be very similar. Any recommendations or things to
avoid from experience?

Plenty of roof vents, double doors and internal bracing are all good things,
generally found in the bigger houses, I have 4 Halls magnum 8x14's and have
never had a problem, they survived the 87 storm and all those since without
losing a single pane of glass!

Something that is often forgotten is that roof vents are ineffectual
without floor vents - or at least enough leakage! I have seen people
remove panes at the bottom for that reason. We have a south-facing
conservatory and the roof vent area is 15% of the floor area, but we
have five 20x20 cm floor vents, and it does NOT get to be like a
blast furnace when we are out and the sun shines. Yes, it gets hot.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I'm very happy with my Robinsons which we put up in 1991. The structure itself is tough enough to tie things to or hang a couple of hanging baskets from the cross beam, and the sliding doors are still functioning perfectly with no sticking. No guarantee of course that 2012 Robinsons are still the same spec.

Main recommendation is to get a greenhouse bigger than you think you will need. Mine is, I think, 16 by 10 and is too small. It has a partition part way along, so in winter I have a heated inner part and an unheated outer end.
The outer door is double, which is great for access, and for leaving open in the summer.

You'll need more opening windows than provided. Automatic vents on at least some of them. One or more louvred panels at the base improve ventilation, although I don't have those and it hasn't caused me a problem.

If you're going to heat it, think hard about what you will do with the area under the staging - if you're not using it for plants and therefore don't need the light, make a thicker insulated wall under there - it's not the biggest heat loss but every little helps. Make sure it's draught-proof, especially where it joins the base (and this will also stop water seeping in underneath).

If you're putting electric heating in, then add in an electric light, and a spare socket for your radio. A reasonably comfy chair is good too.

On 14/09/2012 11:45, wrote:
In article ,
Charlie Pridham wrote:
"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...

I'm about to buy a new greenhouse - plain aluminium and toughened glass.
At least 8 x 10.

There seem to be several makes available (Halls, Robinsons, Eden, Elite,
etc) which all seem to be very similar. Any recommendations or things to
avoid from experience?

Plenty of roof vents, double doors and internal bracing are all good things,
generally found in the bigger houses, I have 4 Halls magnum 8x14's and have
never had a problem, they survived the 87 storm and all those since without
losing a single pane of glass!

Something that is often forgotten is that roof vents are ineffectual
without floor vents - or at least enough leakage! I have seen people
remove panes at the bottom for that reason. We have a south-facing
conservatory and the roof vent area is 15% of the floor area, but we
have five 20x20 cm floor vents, and it does NOT get to be like a
blast furnace when we are out and the sun shines. Yes, it gets hot.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

What a shame that commercial glasshouse manufactures don't know that.

On 14/09/2012 09:33, Jeff Layman wrote:
I'm about to buy a new greenhouse - plain aluminium and toughened glass.
At least 8 x 10.

There seem to be several makes available (Halls, Robinsons, Eden, Elite,
etc) which all seem to be very similar. Any recommendations or things
to avoid from experience?

TIA

In the "Old days" we reckoned that 1/8th of the roof as vents.

I've got an 8x10 Halls aluminium one, it came with 4 vents and the model I brought had double doors which are a good idea both for ventilation and moving things in and out.

In article ,
David Hill wrote:

Something that is often forgotten is that roof vents are ineffectual
without floor vents - or at least enough leakage! I have seen people
remove panes at the bottom for that reason. We have a south-facing
conservatory and the roof vent area is 15% of the floor area, but we
have five 20x20 cm floor vents, and it does NOT get to be like a
blast furnace when we are out and the sun shines. Yes, it gets hot.

What a shame that commercial glasshouse manufactures don't know that.

Yes - especially since that they did 100-150 years back, and it
doesn't need more than GCSE physics to know why :-(

Actually, I may have been misremembering - it may only be 11.5%
of the floor area as vents. Anyway, it was as much as we could
fit into the design.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:33:44 +0100, Jeff Layman
wrote:

I'm about to buy a new greenhouse - plain aluminium and toughened glass.
At least 8 x 10.

There seem to be several makes available (Halls, Robinsons, Eden, Elite,
etc) which all seem to be very similar. Any recommendations or things
to avoid from experience?

TIA
Rhino

http://rhinogreenhouse.co.uk/

Very happy with mine.

Regards
JonH

I guess the reason I get by without floor vents is that I keep the doors open once the weather warms up. Floor vents aren't a lot of use if you've got the under-staging area crammed with pots, compost etc.

On 14/09/2012 09:33, Jeff Layman wrote:
I'm about to buy a new greenhouse - plain aluminium and toughened glass.
At least 8 x 10.

There seem to be several makes available (Halls, Robinsons, Eden, Elite,
etc) which all seem to be very similar. Any recommendations or things
to avoid from experience?

TIA

Thanks to all for their inputs.

--

Jeff

In article ,
kay wrote:

Something that is often forgotten is that roof vents are ineffectual
without floor vents - or at least enough leakage! I have seen people
remove panes at the bottom for that reason. We have a south-facing
conservatory and the roof vent area is 15% of the floor area, but we
have five 20x20 cm floor vents, and it does NOT get to be like a
blast furnace when we are out and the sun shines. Yes, it gets hot.

I guess the reason I get by without floor vents is that I keep the doors
open once the weather warms up. Floor vents aren't a lot of use if
you've got the under-staging area crammed with pots, compost etc.

You have to be around all of the time to do that. And it is not
true that they don't work under those circumstances - air is a
fluid - they don't work only if you actually block the flow.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Once I open the doors (in early June) they seem to stay open all by themselves ;-)
You haven't seen under my staging!

Ray remembers 1/6th in aluminium greenhouses. Our big double is 50' by
100' and has roof vents and two double doors one one side but no side
vents. Seems to work. He reckons that side vents in a smaller, domestic
set up might be a good idea but in this instance, size does matter.
;-) If we think of those pretty greenhouses seen in older house's
gardens, many of them are long and narrow and have side windows that
open. PS Why do I know these roof vents as 'lights' from my CI
childhood? I don't think I know anyone over here that calls them that.
Or does it perhaps have another meaning I've forgotten?

More delving back into history.
In Victorian times the "cold frames" were covered with very large 6ft X
6ft glazed frames known as "Lights", later called "English Lights" they
were a 2 man job to move around, they stayed in use till into the
1950's, and in fact you will probably still find some in historic gardens.
They were superseded by the smaller and lighter "Dutch Lights" which
were a single sheet of glass in a wooden frame.
These Dutch lights were also used to make glass houses, hence opening
some of the lights.
The Dutch light houses were then superseded by Glass houses consisting
of 4 sheet frames, making construction quicker and easier, then
Aluminium framed Venlo glass houses still using the Dutch light sized
glass 28 3/4" x 56" or for those metric minded 1422 x 730 mm
To see pictures of English Lights go to
http://www.pampas2palms.com/2012/06/...nd-part-1.html

David @ the cool and sunless side of Swansea Bay