[agapanthus]

Just had delivery of a 14' x 25' tunnel. Could anyone advise on the best way to tackle the erection of it? The sides are going into trenches and there are doors either end...one of which is a single. Any advice??
Thanks.....

[GrannieAnnie]

Yes, get at least one other pair of hands.  Brian and I did ours ourselves, but it was a pain, and don't do it when its windy!!

[Trillium]

Aggy, do you put any heat into the polytunnels or is it just to keep the elements off?

[agapanthus]

Will do Annie....got Eddie here at the mo'!!!

No really sure Trill. If we can get the chillies nice and snug over-winter in the small tunnel then all the good. Otherwise we'll have to put them in the large one with a make-do wood burner.

[naturesparadise]

the hardest job you will have is getting the plastic tight iv done it with trenches and its a pain the plastic keeps going lose

thats why i always say get the base rail kit  

[agapanthus]

We did'nt get a base-rail kit...just to save a bit of money....we've got so much wood that we thought we could make or own. Any ideas on how you attach the plastic  to the rail please?

[owein]

As long as your trenches are deep enough you shouldnt have any problem. Start on one side, in the middle, bury about a meter of the plastic under soil and them move to the other side and stretch. You can normaly stand on the plastic in the trench whilst someone else fills in with soil, once you have stretched it tightly across the middle you can go to each end and stretch the plastic lengthways as tightly as you can and attatch it with a wooden baton to the door frames. Once you have got a taught cross shape in the plastic you can proceed to work up the sides a meter at the time, work from the middle moving from side to side pulling out and creases as you go. Don't know if that makes sense but thats what I did, its quite large (56ft long) and it's still up 3 years later on a very exposed site.

[little sweetpeas]

Get several pairs of hands, and try not to do it on a really windy day.

My poly has a baserail. The cover is fixed by nails. You have the base rail raised about 8cm higher then you want it to finally be. then on the outside put battening on the top half pull cover over that really tight (we found it easier to pull it under the base rail from the inside and then you put a second row of battening over the cover fixing with nails. When you lower the base rail the cover then tightens a bit more.

As it was my tunnel the guys let me do all the nailing. I was surprised how tight my cover is.

[agapanthus]

Thanks Owein and Littlepeas.....hav'nt started it yet as it won't stop blooming raining!!!! :twisted: ....but will take notice of your posts when we start!!!!