How to make a greenhouse made of polypropylene pipes with your own hands
Content
The advantages of polypropylene
The main advantage of polypropylene greenhouses is their low cost. You can also come up with any configuration and easily place your brainchild in any corner of the site. Convenience and ease of disassembly will allow you to remove the greenhouse for the winter or move it to another summer cottage next year.
Using polypropylene pipes, you get a durable, heat-resistant and environmentally friendly material. And finally, you want to make a greenhouse with your own hands - then polypropylene pipes are what will allow you to show all your creative imagination. The facts speak for themselves:
- polypropylene is resistant to high temperatures (up to 85 C) and pressure of 25 atmospheres;
- not exposed to rust, decay, limestone deposits, corrosion, bacterial activity, easy to clean;
- in addition, polypropylene pipes are used to transport drinking water, which indicates that its chemical and physical properties meet the necessary requirements.
Drawings and diagram
A frame can be made of polypropylene for both an arched and a gable greenhouse. The assembly principles for these two frames are different. An arched greenhouse is easier to manufacture, so if you want to do everything yourself, we recommend starting with it (see drawing in Figure 1).
Rice. 1 Drawing of an arched greenhouse
When installing polycarbonate on a greenhouse, you should adhere to some rules:
- there is no need to tightly close the bottom edge of the polycarbonate sheet, for example, with tape, because through the small holes along the edge, proper air circulation inside the sheet is ensured;
- remember that polycarbonate is sensitive to shocks; during installation, you need to use special support boards;
- the upper edge of the sheet must be covered with a profile to prevent the ingress of insects, dust and moisture;
- polycarbonate sheets can pull moisture in the storage room, keep your warehouse dry;
- you can remove the protective film only after all installation work;
- in order to bend a sheet of cellular polycarbonate, you need to install it in a vice and pull it with your hands along the cells of the sheet.
Examine the documents by which you purchased the polycarbonate, since you can put sheets on the arcs of polypropylene pipes only at a certain radius. If you plan to place vertical partitions inside the greenhouse with your own hands, the honeycomb should be placed in an upright position.
The process of creating a gable greenhouse from polypropylene pipes is not much more complicated than an arched greenhouse, somewhat reminiscent of a construction set for adults. But the problem is the joining of plastic parts. You will need a special high temperature soldering iron.
Video "Polypropylene pipes during the construction of a greenhouse"
Foundation
To make a polycarbonate greenhouse with your own hands, it is recommended to install a strip foundation. Next, holes are drilled in it and polypropylene pipes are fixed.
A replacement for this type of foundation will be pieces of reinforcement, which should be buried in the ground by 50-60 cm. If a piece of 30-40 cm remains above the ground, this will be enough to fasten the structure. Pipes need to be put on fittings, but if not, your greenhouse will be blown away by the wind to the neighbors.
There is another way: to drive metal pipes in the corners and along the length of the frame. It is also necessary to connect them by welding along the base. Arcs made of plastic pipes are screwed to them with clamps. To calculate the number of plastic pipes for the frame, you should decide on the number of polycarbonate sheets. The drawing shows the schematic length of the structure, a multiple of the number of 4 sheets.
Rice. 2 Drawing of a greenhouse from 4 sheets of polycarbonate
The greenhouse will turn out to be a standard width of 3 meters. Choose the height of the greenhouse based on the length of the polycarbonate sheet, the maximum possible length is 12 meters.
Installation work
To successfully install a greenhouse with your own hands in a summer cottage using polypropylene pipes and polycarbonate, you need to prepare a surface. On the land allocated for the greenhouse, drive the stakes to a depth of 25 cm. This is the main condition for not unbending the pipes. You can also build a foundation from wooden blocks, put together a frame. If your frame is rectangular, the diagonals will be equal. To fix the frame, reinforcement bars are driven into the corners from the inside.
After examining the drawings and following the instructions, we assemble the frame. It will be necessary to groove the tees so that the pipe passes through them. We fix the tees with self-tapping screws - this will give us the opportunity to disassemble the structure with our own hands for the winter. For the strength of the greenhouse and its greater stability, we recommend to put all the tees on the glue. However, in this case, the greenhouse will not be collapsible. We put arches and joints, prepare doors and windows for the greenhouse, and assemble them according to our drawings.
The last stage in the construction of a greenhouse will be the installation of cellular polycarbonate with your own hands. Its service life is 12-15 years. The main thing during installation is to observe the condition of the location of the honeycomb perpendicular to the ground. Thus, moisture that gets inside will drain freely and will not freeze in winter. It is obligatory to fix the polycarbonate with thermowells.
Commissioning
Of course, for the successful operation of a greenhouse, it is not enough to build and install it. Inside the greenhouse, it is required to prepare land and fertilizers, plan holes, think over lighting and, if necessary, heating in the room.
The soil can be prepared in several ways:
- mix peat, sawdust and Kemir combi solution;
- we prepare a mixture from ordinary earth with peat and sand. Add fertilizer before planting seedlings;
- a mixture of sod land, humus, sawdust. Before planting seedlings, the prepared mixture must be disinfected.
Due to insufficient sunlight, and plants for vegetative growth sometimes require up to 14 hours of special light, it is customary to install special lamps in greenhouses, only in the blue or red spectrum. There are many lamps available, also use reflectors for better lighting.
So, a greenhouse using polypropylene pipes is a good inexpensive option for summer cottages with a limited area. Greenhouses are light enough, reliable and will serve you for ten years.
Video "Making a greenhouse with our own hands"
In the video, you will learn what to do to get a high-quality and reliable greenhouse. Provides basic tips and useful tips.