Topic: Second hand greenhouses

[Uncle_Filthster]

Howdy peeps,
I've been looking for a greenhouse for a fair while after our old wooden framed coke fired heated greenhouse had to be dismantled a few years ago due to it starting to disintegrate after being on our allotment for about 50 years (my grandad built it).

I can't get over the sheer price of a few bits of extruded ali and a few bits of glass/polycarbonate and I seriously doubt I could afford a new greenhouse, so is it worth the risk of going for a used one as I keep hearing things about twisted frames?

Are the greenhouses with what appears to be vacuum-formed polycarbonate panels worth going for or are they cheap tat?

Cheers,
Lee

[Amazingrotavator(Derby)]

I bought 2 from B&Q and have had no problems.

[Uncle_Filthster]

Cheers, that was one of the ones I looked at but I read that the panels can pop out in strong winds...then again it could of been that person at fault when they put it up initially!

[Amazingrotavator(Derby)]

The retaining clips are a bit iffy if you don't put them in right,but what I did was run a bead of clear mastic along the clips.Solid as a rock now.

[Carls3168]

Hiya,

A couple of people have these types on our plot, and to be honest the recent winds have ripped them apart... I had to return several sheets from my allotment about 200mtrs away!!!
Depending on how exposed your greenhouse is I would think twice about shelling out for one if it could get damaged!

I would go for a second hand glass one, unfortunatly they are going for silly money on Ebay now... a couple of years back you couldnt give a greenhouse away! Try looking for houses for sale on Rightmove that have a greenhouse in the garden and offer to remove it for them  ;)

Lastly dont forget that alot on how sturdy a greenhouse will depend on the foundations!!!

Is your Grandads greenhouse beyond repair... would be a shame to see it go!

[Uncle_Filthster]

I was watching a few glass greenhouses on Ebay but yeah, totally silly money and bidding wars taking place on everyone I've seen near enough to me to go dismantle and collect.  I'm not filled with confidence by either form of poly carb greenhouse really, the only benefit seems to be they don't smash like glass so far.
Unfortunately the old greenhouse is no more, even the central heating system was removed, which is a real pity as it was toasty warm in winter!  The foundations are still there though so I'm considering building a new wooden greenhouse on the old foundations.

[sunloving]

this weeks storms both my polycarbonate greenhouse and my dad glass house got damaged by 5 hrs of 90mph winds. yes i had to finagle the panels back in and re seal the frame around them but this was free as the panels were undamaged, my dad has still to get three panes of glass new from somewhereand clear up the broken glass in his garden.
 
Any greenhouse on a a windy site will get damaged in storms. we live in the north west which is very windy most of the time
have you tried freecycle or the local paper.

my thoughts are that i will save for longer to get a proper wood framed building next time but ive got a 14ftx 8ft polycarbonate house for less than £500 and im prepared to do a few repairs after severe storms rather than spend the same on a 6x8 glasshouse and have no space to grow what i want and be dealing with broken glass.
 good luck in your search.

dont try to put up a poly carbonate house in any kind of breeze though  :)
 x sunloving

[daveyboi]

Do not know what part of the country you are in but here in the south the Friday Ads often have greenhouses at either a low price or free if you can collect and maybe dismantle.

[Uncle_Filthster]

I'm up in sunny Northumberland  ;D
I've been looking at freecycle, ad papers, etc too, but nothing going that isn't silly money (I'm rather skint at the moment as work has been rather slow this year).

I'm still having ideas of building a wooden frame and then wrapping it in poly or something for the coming season so I can at least grow some toms and chillis and then glazing it properly with glass or rigid sheet polycarbonate when I get more cash.

[daveyboi]

Maybe you could do something like this at a reasonable price

http://www.buildeazy.com/greenhouse.html

[davee52uk]

I had one free from a building site where it had been part of an old garden another I actually found in pieces, repaired and it worked. The latter is missing one side but that desnj't matter as it backs onto a brick wall.

I see a few greenhouses going free in Freecycle everynow and then. These are usually with out glass. Also see glass going without frames sometimes.

My nieghbour on the plots built a really big greenhouse out of window frames. This works too well as it gets incredibly hot so that he could probably grow bananas and pineapples.