Recently, greenhouses made of polycarbonate have become increasingly popular among agricultural enthusiasts. This modern material has many more advantages than glass. At the same time, it has a quite affordable price. How to choose a polycarbonate greenhouse? To do this, you need to decide why it is needed.
Ready greenhouses
On sale there are ready-made greenhouses made of polycarbonate of various designs and sizes. They are easy to transport, assemble, have an excellent view, but at the same time are quite expensive. Assembling a polycarbonate greenhouse by specialists will also require additional funds. Despite its visible advantages, this design causes some complaints from many consumers.
So before choosing a polycarbonate greenhouse, you need to study the reviews about the products of one or another manufacturer. Only after the quality is confirmed not only by the assurances of the seller, but also by the opinion of the customers, can it be acquired. With their own hands, such a greenhouse can be assembled by people who have at least some experience in construction.
Polycarbonate Selection
On sale there is a different polycarbonate for greenhouses. Which one to choose to be both practical and inexpensive? Sheets of this material are of two types:
- 6 m long and 2.1 m wide;
- 12 m by 2.10 m.
Polycarbonate panels 4–40 mm thick are available for sale. For the construction of an unheated arc greenhouse, 4-6 mm material is most often used. Snow easily rolls from it, so a large load does not fall on the roof. Otherwise, the upper part of the greenhouse is made of 8 or 10 mm polycarbonate. There are other nuances that affect the choice of material. So, in heated greenhouses it is better to choose thicker polycarbonate.
The color of this material is very different. For the construction of the greenhouse, it is best to choose transparent polycarbonate.
Preparatory work
When designing a greenhouse, it is necessary to accurately calculate its dimensions. This is necessary in order to purchase the right amount of polycarbonate. In this case, the calculation is based on the size of its sheets.
Most often, 6 m of canvas is used for the construction of homemade polycarbonate greenhouses, although at the request of a client in a specialized store you can cut in half a 12-meter material. When using six-meter canvases, they are bent by an arc in such a way that a radius of curvature of 1.9 m is obtained. It is this size of these structures that is most often found in personal plots and cottages.
How to assemble a polycarbonate greenhouse? Its width is equal to a double radius, namely 3.8 m. The length of the greenhouse can be different, but it should be taken into account the width of the sheet is 2.1 m. This means that it should be a multiple of 2.1 m. So, they are easy to assemble greenhouses of 6 m sheets of polycarbonate, length 4.2; 6.3 m; 8.4 m, etc. At the same time, they are attached to the frame joint by joint, so that there is no gap between them, into which cold air can penetrate. The places of contact of the sheets are closed with a connecting profile. Where polycarbonate is attached to the frame, special thermal washers are installed.
Foundation preparation
Polycarbonate greenhouses, the sizes of which are very different, need to be installed on a well-prepared base. It must be remembered that the atmosphere in it is always warm and humid. That is why its frame should be made of a material well protected from external influences.The metal base is treated with special compounds that protect against the negative effects of air.
The design of both metal and wooden frame may be different. Here everyone is free to give scope to their imagination. Most often it is made of flat frames. They are interconnected in one design. Polycarbonate will be mounted on them.
Place marking
On the site where the construction of the polycarbonate greenhouse is planned, it is necessary to mark its dimensions with pegs and a rope. To create a base for the frame in the ground, holes 1.5 m deep are drilled around the perimeter of the greenhouse. They are needed where, according to the plan, the supporting structures of the greenhouse should be. For the door, 2 pits are also made corresponding to its size. Asbestos-cement pipes of a suitable diameter are inserted into the ground. Their length should be slightly larger than the depth of the drilled holes. All cracks around the pipes are covered with sand and carefully tamped. They can insert wooden and metal elements of the frame.
Greenhouse on a wooden frame
You can independently build a small polycarbonate greenhouse. The price of such a structure will be much lower than that of the finished one. To reduce the cost of construction, you can use wooden slats on which polycarbonate will be mounted. Before the start of the construction of the greenhouse, they must be treated with a special composition that prevents their rot and prolongs the life of the greenhouse. The wooden frame will not collapse for many years if it is saturated with an antiseptic or copper sulfate diluted in water.
For such a construction, you will need ordinary cellular polycarbonate, which is durable and easy to care for. Moreover, the thicker it is, the longer the greenhouse will serve. When constructing a wooden frame, antiseptic-treated bars or slats are inserted into the base pipes. They should be placed strictly upright. The supporting posts are fastened with the help of a rectangular frame made of planed and antiseptic treated boards. Polycarbonate sheets of the corresponding sizes are attached to the wooden frame.
Greenhouse on a metal frame
Such a polycarbonate greenhouse, reviews of which are mainly positive, will last for more than a dozen years. Arc greenhouses are very popular among gardeners. Their length may be different. Their height is about 2 m. A door is made in the end wall of the greenhouse, the width of which does not exceed 1 m.
A polycarbonate metal greenhouse, the price of which depends on the frame profiles used, is constructed in a slightly different way than a wooden one. After installing asbestos-cement pipes, frame elements are inserted into them. All pillars are fastened below the harness. For it, you can use tapes made of galvanized metal with a width of 25 cm. They overlap each other by 5 cm. Only after completing the strapping do they begin to install polycarbonate sheets.
Choosing a metal profile
For a greenhouse with a metal frame, you can use a profile pipe with a square thickness of 20x20 mm or a rectangular one with a size of 40x20 mm. The choice should be made by the owner of the greenhouse, taking into account its size and thickness of polycarbonate sheets. Many use not only square or rectangular pipes, but also regular round ones.
Square greenhouse design
How to cover a greenhouse with polycarbonate if it has a square frame? For walls, sheets of 4-6 mm are used, and on the roof, thicker sheets of 8-10 mm. This is due to the fact that in winter it will be heavily loaded with snow. To strengthen the roof, you can tighten the design of the square greenhouse.
Installation of polycarbonate sheets
Holes are drilled in the polycarbonate sheets through which they are screwed to the metal or wooden profile with self-tapping screws. The material is attached along the entire length of the greenhouse. At the same time, a polycarbonate profile can be used for its connection.It is attached to the frame, and then the panels are inserted. Carrying out this work, it is necessary to be extremely accurate, since improper measurements will damage the building material itself, which significantly degrades the quality of the greenhouse.
There is another type of fastening polycarbonate sheets, which use gaskets made of butyl rubber or rubber. They are mounted on the frame of the greenhouse, and only then the building material itself is laid on them. Seams are fixed with screws. At the same time they are screwed to metal plates. Due to this, the load created by these screws is distributed over a large area.
Polycarbonate sheets are mounted vertically so that moisture can easily slide off them. The joints are sealed with special non-separable or collapsible profiles.
Door installation
Doors are made of boards, on one side of which hinges are screwed. The wooden frame is laid on a polycarbonate sheet, after which excess material protruding beyond the edge of the door frame is cut off. Polycarbonate is screwed to the door with self-tapping screws. To improve the ventilation of the greenhouse, it is recommended to install 2 doors in the end walls. They are mounted on a greenhouse where at the base there are 2 additional load-bearing profiles (front and rear). If the owner prefers a greenhouse with one door, then the back wall will be “deaf”.
Lighting installation
To create the most favorable conditions for growing various crops in a polycarbonate greenhouse, additional lighting must be installed. Energy-saving bulbs can do just fine for this. They consume little electricity and provide good lighting. Sodium lamps are most suitable for a greenhouse. Their radiation helps to accelerate plant growth.
Polycarbonate Greenhouses Reviews
Many people need a polycarbonate greenhouse. The feedback from the owners of such a facility is fueling interest. And opinions vary widely. How to choose a polycarbonate greenhouse? Do not rush to purchase an already finished design. Many people are not very flattering about such industrial products. In this case, they usually complain that they are often forced through by snow. They also name the quality of the doors, which often warp over time. There are comments on poor-quality compounds in which the sheets are very quickly destroyed.
Those who independently erected such a greenhouse on their site, taking into account all the requirements and rules, are most often satisfied with it.
However, for growing good yields, most prefer polycarbonate with a thickness of 4-6 mm.
The roof is often made of 8-10 mm of material, because it must withstand the load of snow in the winter.
In such greenhouses, all vegetable crops grow well. You can also breed different flowers in them. Tomatoes in a polycarbonate greenhouse ripen much faster than in open ground. At the same time, they are conveniently tied and processed.
Many people with great respect speak of constructions with a wooden frame, since metal profiles do not contribute to heat conservation (they are heat-conducting bridges). At the same time, weak supporting structures can bend under the weight of snow. To avoid this, it is necessary to tighten the design as much as possible.
According to the owners, polycarbonate greenhouses can faithfully serve up to 12 years, of course, subject to the correct design and high-quality polycarbonate. Many prefer buildings built on a conventional strip foundation.
How to choose a polycarbonate greenhouse? For this, a preliminary calculation of financial resources should be made, since designs of different sizes are quite different in price. Also, their value is affected by whether it is a finished greenhouse or home-made.
The price also depends on the strength of the material. Such greenhouses are divided into standard, guaranteed and titanic. All of them withstand different loads of snow and wind speed.Naturally, the most durable will be the most expensive. The most ordinary finished greenhouse with a length of 6.3 m costs more than 60 thousand rubles. A home-made design will cost much less, since its cost will include only consumables.
