Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Design and Construction => Topic started by: nickmcmechan on January 02, 2011, 12:35
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You might have seen from another thread that I've manged to get myself a Greehouse via freecycle!
Brill news - and I need to start to move it soon.
From what the owner has told me I think
- its 12x8 in size (big un!)
- the glass has been held with silicon
- it has all the staging
Can you give me advice on how to break it down and move it to the allotment successfully. I'm guessing the most time consuming bit will be getting the glass out from the silicon - the silicon remove b&q sell is pricey - is there anything else i can use?
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When you take it down label each of the pieces and take a lot of pictures for when you come to put it back together as it can be tricky if you dont know where anything goes, someone should be along soon with more of an idea than me, good luck :D :D
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Is it wood construction or ally ? Cheers, Tony.
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hi tony, i think its ally
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Unfortunately the silicon holding the gals in place will make it very hard to get the glass out. This happened to me and I lost a fair few panes.
Once out the disassembly is very easy and will take no longer than 2 hours.
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Unfortunately the silicon holding the gals in place will make it very hard to get the glass out. This happened to me and I lost a fair few panes.
Once out the disassembly is very easy and will take no longer than 2 hours.
A sharp blade to run under the Silicon should help in this instance!
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Unfortunately the silicon holding the gals in place will make it very hard to get the glass out. This happened to me and I lost a fair few panes.
Once out the disassembly is very easy and will take no longer than 2 hours.
A sharp blade to run under the Silicon should help in this instance!
And safety Goggles ! also try a wall paper scraper, take piccies that helps a lot, even you could mark the joins a-a b-b etc
12 x 8 is a nice size :)
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Having moved a 12' twice, and an 8x6 and a 6x6...
take a variety of spanners/adjustable wrenches/pliers as the nuts can be very tricky to get any rotation on
and WD40 will help
A junior hacksaw for nuts that won't loosen
try overtightening stuck nuts if they're alu, they'll shear and you can replace them with new ones
you should be able by loosening 2 nuts at each end of the long sides to keep your side panels and end panels together. with a 12' I would take all the roof struts off one side and remove the ridge and remaining struts as a unit
wear a hat if you're thinning as you will bang your head over and over!
M
ps a small stepladder for lifting the panes our more easily
start at the roof and work along then down the sides
BUT when re-assembling a 12' I would not follow advice I have seen and glaze from the roof down, as the weight of the roof with glass will bow the middle of the sides and make it hard to get the side panes in...
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It would have been near on impossible to put my new greenhouse together if the individual parts hadn't been clearly labelled with stick-on numbers.
Assuming the one you are dismantling is well weathered it would be easier to paint numbers on each frame section with an artist's paintbrush and gloss paint, then make a rough sketch of each of the four sides recording which number occupies which position.
This simple technique automatically records not only the position but also the orientation (left to right, facing up or down, and of course inside or outside) of each piece (just remember to underline the 6 and 9!) Photos are a good back-up if your brain scrambles!
Good luck! :)
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I took the easy route- hired a van that was kinda large, and just dismantled at the corners... so i jad a whole roof section and 4 wall sections to make it easier to put back together rather than dismantling the whole lot and having to re-build from scratch.
Then i took it straight to the plot and rebuilt it while i still remembered where everything went.... just the frame.... I'll put the glass back in when the weather's better and i've a level base built for it.
I know too many people who leave the rebuilding to another day and then can't rem what goes where.
A plot holder next to me just borrowed a trailer, and lifted the whole thing onto the back (taking the glass out first)... made it a doddle to re-build.
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UPDATE
I went round today to start on the Greenhouse.
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The Silicone is pretty heavy going. Its right under the glass and into the frame. I really could not get thew first couple of frames of glass out. I think the only way to break it down is literally to smash the glass out!???
So, is that right? And, is it worth it for the frame?
I'm not sure I can afford all the glass just now, is it wise to cover the frame with fleece or plastic?
Thoughts?
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To be honest , I would persevere with removing the glass if I was you.
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take your time with a sharp thin knife straight down in line with the glass on both sides and you should be able to get the glass out whole the effort is worth it as the price of glass is so high
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hmmm....not sure....the silicone seems to have been applied by lining the actual frame then pressing the glass in...this means the silisone is in deeper than perhaps a sharp knife could access
a very good job at the time but making it almost impossible to remove
is it worth it just for the frame?
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hmmm....not sure....the silicone seems to have been applied by lining the actual frame then pressing the glass in...this means the silisone is in deeper than perhaps a sharp knife could access
a very good job at the time but making it almost impossible to remove
is it worth it just for the frame?
not really unless you can get more than half the glass out try sillacone remover not sure if you can still get it but it is/was a solvent that dissolved sillacone and was really handy in window fiting/removel
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about a thrid of the glass was already broken when i arrived, and i guess i will break some more trying to remove and transport...the silicone really is deep under the frame
i guess if it had been a small greenhouse it would have been less expensive to glaze, but this thing is a 12x8 monster!
might give it a miss...
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I bought some replacement standard horticultural glass a couple of months ago for £4 per sheet (2' X 2', or 610mm X 610mm) which I think is a faily average price so you could do a "fag-packet" guesstimate of how much it would cost to reglaze.
(At the price I paid for my 8' X 6' greenhouse last autumn that would make the glass about £200 and the frame itself £120)
As you say yours is much bigger than that; I think I would reluctantly give it a miss and look for one with removable glass! ;)
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thanks jayg, yep i'll give it a miss, its gonna cost me in excess of £300 to glaze, i could buy a brand new small greenhouse for that...i'll let her down!
if it was a smaller greenhouse, say 6x4 or 6x6 it might have still been worth a bash
ok, so back to freecycle for more begging!
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keep the frame and cover it with clear plastic hey presto an instant poly tunnel