Building a greenhouse.

[Mary Jane Stoner]

Is acrylic the best plastic to use? I have a frame up but I', going to cover it with chicken wire before laying the plastic. Don't want some freak hail storm sagging the roof under 50 kilos of frozen water. A stiff support structure should help hail roll off the roof. We don't get weather like that very often but once would be enough.

 

Opaque plastic that still lets in enough light but keeps nosy visitors from seeing anything would be perfect. there are no greenhouse specialist shops anywhere near me. Where else can I get it? What grade of opacity or thickness should I get? Havent found much online outside of the cities and mail ordering large rolls of heavy plastic is out of the question. Mitre 10 only has builders plastic. I'm now considering using clear plastic and light shade cloth. Should be enough for passing helicopters. There are mines out this way and choppers go straight overhead sometimes.

[The Hash Nibbler]

Heya Mary, Maybe shade cloth sides and a solid slightly opace roof, be ya best bet. Greenhouses in summer get hot. You can always sheet the sides when its cold. Peace. Nibbler.

[nici]

Maybe have the roof angled so that if you do get hail its being deflected off at an angle instead of taking a direct hit... Might also give a little extra hight for ya babies too

[Mary Jane Stoner]

I thought about doing that nibbler. It gets cold out west in the winter so I also need to close it up during the colder months. One option might be windows. I have a few old family sized tents. What I might do is cut out the zippers and glue them to the walls so I can zipper open windows in the summer. The roof is already slanted. Made the frame out of cypress with roof supports spaced about 2 m apart to let in plenty of light. I have a large old factory fan from an auction ready to be installed once the plastic cover is on. Made a greenhouse once before using PVC but it lasted less than 2 years. Sun just dissolves most plastics. Even heavy duty water containers become brittle if you leave them outside. I've heard acrylic can last 10 years. Just dont know where to find it yet. I'm thinking shadecloth over the top will make it last even longer. My dad built a shed using builders black plastic and covered it with shadecloth. It is still standing and dry inside 5 years later.

[louise]

Agricultural grade plastic is usually available at nurseries. It starts out clear, but it does fog as it gets older....definitely lasts more than 2 years... mines been up for about 6 years... structure needs replacing, but the plastic is still fine, strong, pliable and will probably be reused when I rebuild.

[Mary Jane Stoner]

Awesome. After doing a lot of googling I had jotted down nurseries as a place to try. Do they only sell clear plastic? I would be really paranoid about giving passing choppers a clear view. Even with shadecloth over it I'm scared the plants will be recognisable. The thinnest shade cloth is $10 per metre so its only $200 for the length of the roof. My frame is more than 3.6 m wide though. I think I'll use trimmings from the walls to make up the shortfall. So once the walls are covered its going to be a costly greenhouse altogether. Good thing is I don't have to do it all in one go. Its going to be fantastic when I've finished. No need to carry water cans around. Everything will be together in one place. I'll run a hose from the water tank. The high side is 2.5 metres so plenty of room. I'll turn it into a little jungle. Lots of nurseries in the region so it shouldn't be hard to find that plastic. How much did it cost? Edited November 8, 2012 by Mary Jane Stoner

[munchy]

even if you can only get clear plastic, get it and paint the inside with some watered down emulsion paint. it lets the light through and stops burning, cheap and easy. the other good part it you can clean it off during winter/spring/Autumn when you are looking for more light and paint again when it gets hot or you need the privacy, good luck

munchy

[louise]

I spent around $100 on plastic and had oodles to cover a 3.6m x 4.5m greenhouse.Paint can be particularly difficult to remove from plastic... fine idea for glass or other rigid surface... shade cloth or european reed screen might be better ideas for plastic sheeting.

[jaikai]

You want Gro-tuff...UV stabilized nursery and greenhouse plastic, 100-150um. Stuff will last for years.

 

Sure you could find similar materials over west.

 

As stated above, keep the lower 4-500mm shadecloth or similar for airflow and you could whitewash or screen the roof. If you knocked up the structure yourself, you`d easily be able to sort out some vents for up high near the roof.

 

And welcome to OS

 

JAIKAI

[Bentato]

That handy screen from that link looks like very handy stuff ! I think i might get me some of that !