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DIY greenhouse - film or polycarbonate pannels?

AlbeAlbe Posts: 135
in Tools and techniques
Hello all,
I'm building my own greenhouse, all DIY, conception, design, and build. It's a small lean-to-garage-wall, footprint ca 55cm x 110cm.

What are the pros/cons between polycarbonate panels, or film.?

Film: easier to cut and install (and easier to replace if/when it breaks or get old)
Poly panels: more robust

If I go for polycarbonate, how easy are they to cut to measure? I would cut with a stichsaw (don't have a circular saw). Of course I google it already, and they say soooo easy, but I'm skeptical the panels are rigid and will break in pieces.

Thanks all, and happy gardening
Alberto



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Posts

  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    Hello Alberto. I would recommend polycarbonate all the time. I am only using the experience of a friend of mine who used these but there is one important thing to consider, because polycarbonate has air channels in it, unless these are sealed off and water gets into the channels then these will go 'green' and reduce the passage of light. I know nothing about the cutting of the panels but the company my friend bought his from, cut them to his specification. I have no experience of film but I'm sure someone on here will have.
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    The other alternative is to build it to the size of the polycarbonate panels.  ;)
    What do you mean by film? Do you just mean plastic of some kind?
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • scrogginscroggin Posts: 437
    Polycarbonate panels are easy to cut, I used a Stanley knife. I used them on a couple of freebie greenhouses, some of the glass was cracked so I replaced with polycarbonate. I used full sized panels to cover a double glass section on the lower panels.
  • LatimerLatimer Posts: 1,068
    Fairygirl said:
    The other alternative is to build it to the size of the polycarbonate panels.  ;)
    What do you mean by film? Do you just mean plastic of some kind?
    I'm not sure of the exact product but I know Bunny Guinness on her YouTube channel replaced the polycarbonate on her cold frames with a special "horticultural" film and swears by it
    I’ve no idea what I’m doing. 
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I had polycarbonate with air channels on the GH and cold frames. OH made the cold frames. Polycarbonate with air channels, cut it with a Stanley knife. Better insulation than film.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • AlbeAlbe Posts: 135
    Thanks everyone for the feedback.
    Below photo of the current situation.
    So the suggestion to make it fitting existing polycarbonate layers is in principle good but not, it won't work. The greenhouse must fiz the existing raised bed squeezed in between the two garage doors.

    BTW a second greenhouse, construction not yet started, is planned for the raised bed at right.
  • AlbeAlbe Posts: 135
    And here also one GH is planned, over this raised bed, leaning on the wooden shed.
  • AlbeAlbe Posts: 135
    BTW the plants in my photos above are mostly raspberries
    They've been doing great.
    But raspberries do well (or even better, maybe?) also without greenhouse, so planning to move them out, tomatoes will take their space. Tomatoes are notorious for benefitting from a greenhouse (so I hear, I only ever grew them outdoor).

    Beside, if I end up with fewer raspy and more tomy, that would be a win. Now we're getting too many raspberries to eat fresh (but still too few to justify jam making), whereas more tomatoes would be welcome.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It often comes down to climate/conditions re the tomatoes @Albe. We tend to grow them undercover here, because the climate isn't usually suitable for a reliable crop, although I've got some outside this year, and I had one last year, but that's because we had record breaking heat/sun. That may now be the way it is re weather, but I won't be growing them all outside just yet. In the past, we couldn't always rely on daytime temps being in the teens, let alone overnight, and there's often too much rain/wind as well which batters them. That's when they need a bit of help to keep them happy, and a basic greenhouse does that. 
    Raspberries, on the other hand, are well suited to it. Nothing better than Scottish raspberries    ;)
    Commercial ones are often grown undercover, but that's the same with any soft fruit up here, and even in warmer parts of the country, crops are often grown that way to get an earlier harvest that's also easier to control.
    The polycarbonate can certainly be cut quite easily with a knife, as the others have said  :)

    Thanks for that @Latimer - not something I'd ever seen or used  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Clear acrylic is another option.  I have used it on my GH when wind damage blew out some of the glass and have also used it to replace the polycarbonate panels on my cold frames.  A supplier would usually cut to your specified size.
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