wind damage

[Pseudonym]

Hi,
    Just wondered if Anyone has used silicone to hold grenhouse glass in ..
These gales we have just had have broke Me about 11panes..
The glass clips commercially bought dont seem to be up to Job of holding glass tight..
So I wondered about putting a line of silicone between glass and frame  Then using glass clips ...
Anyone any ideas on this?...    Jim

[Palustris]

In the instruction (hah,translated from the German by a non English speaking Finn)manual for our new g/h it mentioned using silicone sealant as an extra precaution in windy areas. We have never tried it, rather we put wind break material over the glass over winter. Actually we did this more to stop the glass from flying away, but since then we have not had any blown out either.
One other point which was made, but again have not really dared to try it out, is that in really windy situations you should leave the door and ventilation wide open so the wind can go straight through! 
The g/h we have which I put in totally the wrong place as far as wind is concerned has a door at either end and since we replaced the glass with windbreak material we again have had no breakages. Obviously this g/h is rather less than frost free.

[Doris_Pinks]

Interesting Eric, when we lived in a hurricane Island, the advice from generations was to leave a window slightly open to relieve the pressure build up in your house, and thus save your roof! We never lost a roof in all the hurricanes!  (may have just been good luck though! )  DP

[ruudbarb]

My greenhouse 'lost' several panes of glass when it was first erected 5 years ago but amazingly none broke.  On replacing them I put in extra clips - cheap and easily available - and none have come out since.  So I'm sitting here tonight with fingers and toes all crossed and clasping a dirty great lump of wood, because another night of severe gales has been forecast.

[Palustris]

Hope it works for you. I was working in the Alpine House this afternoon, which is sheltered from this SouthWest gale and I was watching the other greenhouse 'flexing' every time a gust of wind hit it.
Not nice!

[Travman]

All my glasshouses ( 3 ) have 6 clips on each panel and still i have lost so far 9 panes
Others have lost the complete greenhouses on our site(upside down) one was fully siliconed in.
Conclusion........ :-
Unknown??? I think a lot depends  luck

[tim]

You can't blame the wind, but you can blame yourself when the car rolls back down the yard into your lean-to. Never been the same since!! = Tim

Oh, and with the 30' Alton - never thought to bolt it to it's foundation and, when we had the hurricane many years ago, one end folded inwards. We had to anchor it overnight with ropes & posts. It is now bolted down!!

[ruudbarb]

Hope it works for you. I was working in the Alpine House this afternoon, which is sheltered from this SouthWest gale and I was watching the other greenhouse 'flexing' every time a gust of wind hit it.
Not nice!

It's the frame flexing that causes the glass to pop out aided by suction from the wind.  It was claimed by the manufacturer of my house that their design was originally for erection on a North Sea oil rig and that it later stood up to force 8 gales quite happily.  Before marketting in Germany, the design had to be amended to have additional stiffeners fitted.  From my own limited knowledge of structural designs, I know that a correctly designed and engineered lightweight frame can be stiffer than a heavier less expertly designed one.  Add the glass which assists stiffness by virtue of it's weight and 6 anchor points set in concrete, the thing ought to stay put.  Once the glass has been in for a while it becomes naturally 'glued' in and often cracks before falling out.  Fortunately the wind turned out to be less damaging than those a day or so earlier. 

Being a coward at heart, I keep the door and all the vents closed but there are a few places where natural ventilation occurs.   

[Palustris]

The g/house which was 'flexing' suffered one cracked pane of glass, which since it was already broken is not too bad.
Hope everyone else was as fortunate.

[MagpieDi]

Probably tempting fate by posting this, but luckily my greenhouse is still in one piece, after enduring a battering for days, with gusts up to 100mph up here in the Pennines !!
It's in a VERY exposed position, so has clips and silicone sealant, and is bolted down !
Maybe the shape helps with wind resistance, as it's octagonal, with a cone shaped roof. What d'you reckon Clod Hopper ?? 
Here's a pic

[ruudbarb]

Hi MaggiDi - I think you are a lucky girl but the shape probably helps by being a bit more aerodynamic than a ridge one like I have.  Certainly the octagonal shape is inherently a very strong one and being bolted down brings the base into the equation to strengthen it further, even if it is only anchor points like mine. 

Thinking about the idea of leaving doors and vents open in periods of high wind, I would suspect that rather than equalise the pressure on the glass, it would be subjected to both an internal pressure acting on the inside face of the glass pushing outwards and the suction created by the wind passing over the ridge pulling outwards [it is a bit like the lift on an aircraft wing].   

[tim]

MD - the girl with the big stride?? = Tim

[gavin]

It was claimed by the manufacturer of my house that their design was originally for erection on a North Sea oil rig

Gulp!  And you still bought it???  The idea of a greenhouse on an oil rig sounds about as plausible as drilling for oil on an allotment 

Lol - Gavin

[ACE]

Has it been a bit blowy?  Can't say I noticed.

[ruudbarb]

It was claimed by the manufacturer of my house that their design was originally for erection on a North Sea oil rig

Gulp!  And you still bought it???  The idea of a greenhouse on an oil rig sounds about as plausible as drilling for oil on an allotment 

Lol - Gavin

Yep!  That's what I thought and told the guy from the manufacturer I had phoned that it sounded a bit of a tall story but apparently some of their technical boys came up with the design and during their shift off the rig, made it up in their workshop, had it taken out to the rig and grew tomatoes in it.  It's the daft sort of thing that could well be true as it is a pretty strong framework and I didn't say I believed him. 

[maturestudent]

Hi folks - been reading about your wind damage.  My first year on the allotment last year and I was lucky enough to be given an 12' by 8' greenhouse, which I persuaded some friends to help me erect on the allotment.  It was a veritable cathedral - with many of my neighbours looking on in envy.  Last week I lost the glass from both ends - not to worry I thought - it will enable the winds to pass through without problem.  I am now looking at a mangled heap of glass and metal as it lies in a sorry state spread across the allotment.  The base and the uprights are still intact!  It has been pretty hairy here in Derbyshire - perhaps that wasn't the best place to site it. Any ideas what to do with a deceased greenhouse??

[Garden Manager]

The recent high wind have given me plenty of worries about the greenhouse which i have not had that long.

I had been concerned that although the site its in is nice and light and open, it was perhaps more exposed than elsewhere in the garden.

I woke up each morning after a storm expecting the worst - glass out at least or maybe something heavy blew onto it damaging it. It would be just typical to loose the thing before I'd really had a chance to use it.

It seems that either the site isnt as exposed as first feared - sheltered perhaps by the boundary hedge opposite, or maybe the 'house is tougher than it looks (an 'Elite Streamline'). Or maybe i was just plain lucky not to get damage!

[MagpieDi]

A lucky GIRL ......keep talking Clod Hopper !!......I like it !! 

Tim       OK, a bit of a miscalculation !!  But I've got used to leaping like a frog !! 

[Pseudonym]

Hi all.
         I am going to replace my glass that was broke with twin walled carbon stuff like what goes on conservatory roofs etc.
I have used one piece and bolted it in with long 1/4 inch bolts with washers .It is very easy to fit as where there were 3 panes of glass You can use just one peice of this cut to size..
It comes in 8x4 sheets a bit expensive but should stand up to any weather and if they get blown out its just a matter of finding them .haha...My greenhouses have been on same site for 10 years with just occasional breakage but this year has proved a right destructive one..
Some of the greenhouses on our lotties have been twisted out of
shape and turned into scrap...The pleasures of gardening eh??

[MissBaritone]

My greenhouse has been completely wrecked. It was situated in a small backgarden right next to an 8 foot wall but the wind still managed to get in. It wasn't made of glass but a very thin rigid pvc type material which was hald on to the frame by a green plastic material. Every time we got just a normal windy day the panes popped out all over the place. I eventually used masking tape to seal all the joints and put an awning tie down kit over it. This worked great for over a year. Even the gales from the North sea didn't budge it until last weekend. I now just have a pile of mangled, twisted metal