[MulesMarinair]

Hi folks

The recent Time-Team like excavations of my neglected back garden revealed (in no particular order) -

6 footballs
4 oil barrells
1 large chicken coop containing - 3 old fake nest-eggs and all the old sash/case windows that were in the house.
1 exhaust pipe
5 car wheels
1 kawasaki motor cycle engine
5 car batteries
0.64 tonnes (!!) of scrap metal (brought it to the scrap yard, got £70!  

and...

1 poor orphan neglected greenhouse, that contained all manner of old bits and bobs, inlcuding tomatoe feed bottles that read "In preparation for metrification, this is the equivalent of a 5 Litre bottle of..."







Anyway, my project for the winter is to try to fix it up a bit.
(It has been cleaned up since these pics were taken).

The problem is, I need glass.   Lots of it.   About 26 sheets of 24" x 18" at last count.

Luckily, inside the neglected coop, all the old windows from the house were there, dry and intact and in good condiiton, so I have more than enough of regular glazing that could be cut to do the job.

...Is there any difference between that and horticultural glass?

(before anybody asks, the coop had to be knocked - it was very rotten and the roof was asbestos sheeting.   Plans are to replace it though.   One funny thing was that inside the felt wall covering, the walls were made from recycled timber packing boxes that had -- Rocket Motor Mk2 32" - stencilled on them.  It reminded me of Mr Tweedy's line in Chicken Run... "Chikins are oop t'summit..." ! )

I'd appreciate any tips or advice.
Thanks
MM

Fife

[Elcie]

Wow - you must have a massive garden to find a greenhouse in it that you didn't know was there - lucky you!

As far as I understand it horticultural glass is safer than standard glass but if you already have the standard glass and don't want to pay out a fortue the use what you already have.

Good luck with it.  Would love to see some pictures once you have finished  

[Ice]

I agree with Elcie.  Horticultural glass is thicker and more expensive than ordinary glass, but not essential.  My greenhouse has regular glass and it's just fine.  The only other consideration is safety and if there are young children around I would go for very expensive polycarbonate.

[MulesMarinair]

Thanks for that.
It was all overgrown when we got it last year, so we couldn't get into the garden at all (thick brambles 2-2.5m high... Brothers Grimm sort of stuff!)
So we knew the size of it, just couldn't see it.

(which explains why the owners left the 1973 Merry Tiller (with all the trimmings!) in the garage for us when we moved in!)

We're going to try to put it back to how it was... there are 4 neglected apple trees in there as well.   It will take a while, but hopefully will be worth it!

[Ice]

What a great project that's going to be.  Good luck.

[SalJ1980]

Sounds like a lot of hard work MM, but it will be worth all the effort, it sounds like an amazing project!



And you KNOW we'll want to see photos!!!  

[DD.]

I agree with Elcie.  Horticultural glass is thicker and more expensive than ordinary glass, but not essential.  My greenhouse has regular glass and it's just fine.  The only other consideration is safety and if there are young children around I would go for very expensive polycarbonate.

Sorry to disagree, Ice, but horti glass is made by a cheaper process than normal "float" glass and has imperfections in it that don't matter in a greenhouse, but you would not tolerate it in your windows! Horti glass is not toughened.

From www.thegreenhousepeople.co.uk

Standard horticultural glass

 
This is the standard glass supplied with most greenhouses. Usually the panes measure 2’by 2’ and these overlap by about half an inch where they join. Horticultural glass has two major disadvantages – it breaks easily into large and dangerous shards and is difficult to clean.

[corynsboy]

That will keep you busy this winter.

I'm building Frankenstein's green house at the moment.  (See blog below)I found that there are no inexpensive glazing options.  If you have glass from old windows that you can recycle then that's a great start.  

May I suggest that you have a word with your local glazier and see if they can cut it for you.  That's quite a lot of glass and I have found that cutting glass is not as easy as I imagined.

As my greenhouse is on an allotment I've gone for a polycarbonate type sheet that will not break if it is impacted.  However I'm keeping the roof(s) made of glass.  I managed to get some reasonable greenhouse glazing packs from screwfix and they deliver to your door.  

Good luck that's a great project.

[Ice]

Sorry to disagree, Ice, but horti glass is made by a cheaper process than normal "float" glass and has imperfections in it that don't matter in a greenhouse, but you would not tolerate it in your windows! Horti glass is not toughened.

.

How very dare you DD

I was only going by what the man in the shop said when I got some replacement glass for mine.  Seems he didn't have a clue either. :roll:

[DD.]

Sorry to disagree, Ice, but horti glass is made by a cheaper process than normal "float" glass and has imperfections in it that don't matter in a greenhouse, but you would not tolerate it in your windows! Horti glass is not toughened.

.

How very dare you DD

I was only going by what the man in the shop said when I got some replacement glass for mine.  Seems he didn't have a clue either. :roll:

Easily misled!

[peabody]

yes hort glass is just thin wavey regular glass, cutting glass these days isa lot easier if you invest in a good modern cutter,don,t bother about having oil in the hollow handle, just have a jar of american turpintine and a little brush, run the turps along the intended cut and don,t lean too heavy on the cutter.

[Ice]

Easily misled!

Story of my life. :roll:  

[GrannieAnnie]

I bought Brian 2 glass cutters from Ebay.  they came from china, £2.99 for 2 and £2.99 P&P.  He is really pleased with them.  He replaces all the broken glass in my greenhouses with the secondary glazing the fitters at the conservatory place bring back in.

[MulesMarinair]

Thanks all, I reckon I have enough glass to do the missing panes and hopefully have some left in their frames for a couple of cold-frames.

I'll keep you posted with updates

Mules
Inverkeithing
Fife