Another wind to remember (or try to forget).....

[Jez]

Hi everyone,

I got a call yesterday of the kind that I dread..... parts of my greenhouse had blown out in the severe winds that we had up in the North of the UK Tuesday-Wednesday . Luckily most of the damage was 2X4 sheets of polycarb being sucked out of the frame and deposited on the lawn so I was able to fix things by torchlight when I got home last night . However, I have heard that the weather was worse further North than the borders and I hope that everyone's g/hs and collections survived OK.

Unfortunately I see that there is another severe weather warning for today with high winds expected in Wales....

Best wishes,

[Patrick]

It's pretty windy here in Somerset this morning but not at damage causing levels (I don't think)

[DaveW]

That's a shame Jez, that's the trouble with polycarbonate though because it is so light, and in greenhouses they only seem to fix it by it's edges like glass, with no fixings in the sheet centres as is really needed.

DaveW

[Bill]

Hi Everyone

It's very wet and windy here in North wales has been on and off for most of the week. One tree down, odd slate off the roofs and a bit of guttering down on one of the cottages, but nothing to realy worry about so far.

[Peter]

Perhaps bedding the polycarbonate onto beads of clear silicone sealant would keep the sheets secure. The sealant will have the flexibility to withstand movement caused by these severe winds. Similarly, a plastic strip could be placed at joints.

A similar idea works well with loose and rattling fence panels. Instead of using silicone, squirts of expanding foam (the aerosol type) top and bottom of the concrete posts fixes the panels permanently and stops the rattling. Surplus foam can easily be trimmed with a knife.

[Philip]

My polycarb greenhouse is glazed with silicon and wood beading just like you do windows in houses. Not too difficult to do althought you do have to paint/preserve the wood every year.

I have the following site bookmarks incase i have to make emergancy repairs to my Glass greenhouses

http://www.nezumi.demon.co.uk/garden/gizmos/gizmos.htm

I suppose you could use such a method as a permanent solution but I prefered to glaze them in

Philip

[Jez]

Thanks for the comments - yes, I think that for the future I may try some centre fixings for the bigger sheets of polycarb and also some silicone. The only "blessing" is that the stuff didn't break up into dangerous pieces, which is why I used it in the first place. My 5 yr old daughter plays right beside the g/h in the summer and the garden is not big enough to have a "safe" zone between g/h and play areas.

Bill - I get worried when trees start coming down and slates fly off the roof. Both dangerous and, to me, a sign of serious wind..... but then maybe my idea of serious weather is not the same as yours!

[Maria J]

Sorry to hear that Jez! Hope the plants are ok.
I too had a panel pop out early Monday morning fortunately before I left for work, so after frantically searching for the blessed spring clips, (11 found of the 13) I put the panel back in & kept my fingers crossed! Luckily the plants didn't get wet.
I have since bought some spare clips and have also placed a concrete slab up against the door runner to stop it blowing open as I believe it was this that caused the 'popping out' in the first place!
So far so good and it was pretty blowy the last couple of nights...
Next job, to silicone the panels in!
Can this be done when wet or does everything have to be dry???

Peter - thanks for that! Another job I shall be getting on with soon! The rattling drives me nuts!! I had tried wedging polystyrene strips in but they soon rattle back out again!

[DaveW]

Dry for silicone.

DaveW

[Vic]

That's one of the reasons apart from it being too small that my first ghouse had to go, I wouldn't have another aluminium framed ghouse where the polycarb is secured with clips - just not sufficient enough, definitely a case of having to use something else such as silicon. My ghouses now have recesses/slots where the polycarb fits into, then rubber sealing strips and then plastic glazing bars ontop, so they're very secure, touch wood no probs so far. It's extremely windy here at the moment and I'm watching with anticaption but hopefully nothing to be concerned about.