We have a fairly substantial, and ancient, greenhouse in our garden.
Base size is twelve feet by ten, but the apex roof is twelve feet by
eight, because the two long sides slope inwards twelve inches each side
from floor level. Construction is fairly solid galvanised metal
(steel?).

The problem is that it is in the corner of the garden, and the local
scrotes love nothing more than chucking apples over the wall, and
breaking the glass.

It occurred to me to replace the glass in the roof (2 by 2 panes) with
sheets of ply, cut into two ft. squares. To be honest, it is used as a
shed rather than a greenhouse, so the loss of light would not be a
problem. I'm not sure about the additional weight, though. We are in
NE Scotland, and there is often a foot or more of snow on the roof, so
9mm ply, or 12mm? Is this practical?

Thanks.
--
Graeme

News wrote:

We have a fairly substantial, and ancient, greenhouse in our garden.
Base size is twelve feet by ten, but the apex roof is twelve feet by
eight, because the two long sides slope inwards twelve inches each side
from floor level. Construction is fairly solid galvanised metal (steel?).

The problem is that it is in the corner of the garden, and the local
scrotes love nothing more than chucking apples over the wall, and
breaking the glass.

It occurred to me to replace the glass in the roof (2 by 2 panes) with
sheets of ply, cut into two ft. squares. To be honest, it is used as a
shed rather than a greenhouse, so the loss of light would not be a
problem. I'm not sure about the additional weight, though. We are in NE
Scotland, and there is often a foot or more of snow on the roof, so 9mm
ply, or 12mm? Is this practical?

Thanks.
The density of glass is 2.5 and that of plywood is in the region of 0.8.
So you can have plywood 3x the thickness of the glass and they will
weigh about the same. Be aware that plywood when wet will be heavier so
even if you seal the wood now, this will degrade and the winter weight
of the wood will be greater in time.

Bob

On Jul 4, 8:47 pm, News wrote:
We have a fairly substantial, and ancient, greenhouse in our garden.
Base size is twelve feet by ten, but the apex roof is twelve feet by
eight, because the two long sides slope inwards twelve inches each side
from floor level. Construction is fairly solid galvanised metal
(steel?).

The problem is that it is in the corner of the garden, and the local
scrotes love nothing more than chucking apples over the wall, and
breaking the glass.

It occurred to me to replace the glass in the roof (2 by 2 panes) with
sheets of ply, cut into two ft. squares. To be honest, it is used as a
shed rather than a greenhouse, so the loss of light would not be a
problem. I'm not sure about the additional weight, though. We are in
NE Scotland, and there is often a foot or more of snow on the roof, so
9mm ply, or 12mm? Is this practical?

Thanks.
--
polycarbonate or even cheaper acrylic would maybe last better than glass and look better than ply?

Jim K

On Mon, 4 Jul 2011 15:27:20 -0700 (PDT), Jim K wrote:

polycarbonate or even cheaper acrylic would maybe last better than glass
and look better than ply?

And would fit the frames and clips better than much thicker bits of
ply.

Not sure if a 2 x 2 bit of acrylic would stand the impact from a free
falling apple, polycarbonate would.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 04/07/2011 21:06, Bob Minchin wrote:
News wrote:

We have a fairly substantial, and ancient, greenhouse in our garden.
Base size is twelve feet by ten, but the apex roof is twelve feet by
eight, because the two long sides slope inwards twelve inches each side
from floor level. Construction is fairly solid galvanised metal (steel?).

The problem is that it is in the corner of the garden, and the local
scrotes love nothing more than chucking apples over the wall, and
breaking the glass.

It occurred to me to replace the glass in the roof (2 by 2 panes) with
sheets of ply, cut into two ft. squares. To be honest, it is used as a
shed rather than a greenhouse, so the loss of light would not be a
problem. I'm not sure about the additional weight, though. We are in NE
Scotland, and there is often a foot or more of snow on the roof, so 9mm
ply, or 12mm? Is this practical?

Thanks.
The density of glass is 2.5 and that of plywood is in the region of 0.8.
So you can have plywood 3x the thickness of the glass and they will
weigh about the same. Be aware that plywood when wet will be heavier so
even if you seal the wood now, this will degrade and the winter weight
of the wood will be greater in time.


A 2' x 2' piece of 3mm ply is going to be a hell of a lot more difficult
to break than glass.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Jul 4, 8:47*pm, News wrote:
We have a fairly substantial, and ancient, greenhouse in our garden.
Base size is twelve feet by ten, but the apex roof is twelve feet by
eight, because the two long sides slope inwards twelve inches each side
from floor level. *Construction is fairly solid galvanised metal
(steel?).

The problem is that it is in the corner of the garden, and the local
scrotes love nothing more than chucking apples over the wall, and
breaking the glass.

It occurred to me to replace the glass in the roof (2 by 2 panes) with
sheets of ply, cut into two ft. squares. *To be honest, it is used as a
shed rather than a greenhouse, so the loss of light would not be a
problem. *I'm not sure about the additional weight, though. *We are in
NE Scotland, and there is often a foot or more of snow on the roof, so
9mm ply, or 12mm? *Is this practical?

Thanks.
--
Graeme

Twinwall polycarb is popular greenhouse glazing pre sliced for easy
mail order, try ebay

Cheers
Adam

Google groups will update sometime next Thursday, but here you go 10
off 2*2` 8 4mm twinwall for 24 quid plus Citylink

http://www.greenhousewarehouse.com/p...carbonate.html

Cheers
Adam

In message
,
Adam Aglionby writes
Google groups will update sometime next Thursday, but here you go 10
off 2*2` 8 4mm twinwall for 24 quid plus Citylink

http://www.greenhousewarehouse.com/p...0pack10-10-pc-
2ft-x-2ft-x-4mm-greenhouse-twinwall-polycarbonate.html

Thanks for ALL the comments. Very much appreciated. I do like the look
of the twinwall poly above, and not dissimilar in price to sheets of
ply.

I did have vague thoughts about replacing all of the glass, including
the sides and ends, with ply, to convert it almost into a shed, given
that it is used for pots, garden tools, bags of compost etc., rather
than as a proper greenhouse, but I reckon the twinwall stuff is the way
to go. Thanks.
--
Graeme

On 5 July, 08:32, News wrote:
In message
,
Adam Aglionby writes

Google groups will update sometime next Thursday, but here you go 10
off 2*2` 8 4mm twinwall for 24 quid plus Citylink

http://www.greenhousewarehouse.com/p...0pack10-10-pc-
2ft-x-2ft-x-4mm-greenhouse-twinwall-polycarbonate.html

Thanks for ALL the comments. *Very much appreciated. *I do like the look
of the twinwall poly above, and not dissimilar in price to sheets of
ply.

I did have vague thoughts about replacing all of the glass, including
the sides and ends, with ply, to convert it almost into a shed, given
that it is used for pots, garden tools, bags of compost etc., rather
than as a proper greenhouse, but I reckon the twinwall stuff is the way
to go. *Thanks.
--
Graeme

Consider a cheap bird netting (not readily visible) fitted above the
glass to catch said apples and get the best of both worlds - free
apples and no broken glass
Otherwise poly is clearly best
chris

In message
,
chris writes

Consider a cheap bird netting (not readily visible) fitted above the
glass to catch said apples and get the best of both worlds - free
apples and no broken glass

They're *my* apples! :-)

The trees grow against the wall, and kids can reach over and grab 'em.

Otherwise poly is clearly best

grin
--
Graeme

On Tue, 5 Jul 2011 08:32:48 +0100, News
wrote:

In message
,
Adam Aglionby writes
Google groups will update sometime next Thursday, but here you go 10
off 2*2` 8 4mm twinwall for 24 quid plus Citylink

http://www.greenhousewarehouse.com/p...0pack10-10-pc-
2ft-x-2ft-x-4mm-greenhouse-twinwall-polycarbonate.html

Thanks for ALL the comments. Very much appreciated. I do like the look
of the twinwall poly above, and not dissimilar in price to sheets of
ply.

I did have vague thoughts about replacing all of the glass, including
the sides and ends, with ply, to convert it almost into a shed, given
that it is used for pots, garden tools, bags of compost etc., rather
than as a proper greenhouse, but I reckon the twinwall stuff is the way
to go. Thanks.

We bought a pack of 10 sheets from ebay (£40 - seems to £45 now) but
used 4'x2' so that no overlaps required. Did not fail last winter with
about 18" of snow but certainly bowed so we cleared the roof with a
broom.