Poly Tunnel repair
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lonewolf946
Poly Tunnel repair
A long horizontal tear has occured along the side of my poly tunnel plastic about 1ft up from the ground. The tear is about 4ft long. It seems to have formed along the line of a previous fold in the plastic from when it was packaged for delivery. The plastic is 4 years old now but other than this, the rest is in excellent condition. As an emergency repair yesterday, I used brown packing tape to try and contain the situation but I have no doubt that won't last very long. Does anyone know of any specific material or methods that can be used to repair the plastic? Thanks in advance. Ian.
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shiney
- A selfsufficientish Regular
- Posts: 1336
- Joined: Sun May 01, 2005 3:37 pm
- Location: Bradford on Avon
Hi,
I can only put you onto a lovely man called Chas Griffin, who has written a book on downsizing and moving away from the rat race. He put up his own polytunnels and obviously had to repair them now and again. Here's a link to his site. I think you'll be able to email him for some advice from there, I am sure he'd be cool about it.
Tell him you found him thru Nat & Tracey.
http://www.thirdleafbooks.co.uk
The book is great btw, I hope this doesn't break the rules about advertising Andy.
I can only put you onto a lovely man called Chas Griffin, who has written a book on downsizing and moving away from the rat race. He put up his own polytunnels and obviously had to repair them now and again. Here's a link to his site. I think you'll be able to email him for some advice from there, I am sure he'd be cool about it.
Tell him you found him thru Nat & Tracey.
http://www.thirdleafbooks.co.uk
The book is great btw, I hope this doesn't break the rules about advertising Andy.
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Muddypause
- A selfsufficientish Regular
- Posts: 1905
- Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:45 pm
- Location: Urban Berkshire, UK (one day I'll find the escape route)
I was doing a bit of research (well, web-surfing, anyway), on polytunnels. I don't know any details, but you can get repair tape http://www.polytunnels.com/products.asp ... ory=Spares
Apparently polythene is notoriously difficult to get anything to stick to it permanently - very few adhesives will bond to it, and so repairs are always limited. I guess the gaffer tape solution is the most effective; cleanliness is probably vital before application, and it will probably always need to be monitored for subsequent signs of failure. Unless you can figure out a way to weld it, like they do when they seal polythene bags
What do you think of polytunnels as a practical option for self-sufficient-ishers? I was disappointed to see what a short lifespan they are reckonned to have - 5-10 years from what I was reading, depending upon how harsh the climate is. If you are a commercial grower, I can see that this could be absorbed into the expenses budget, but if you are only growing for yourself, it may be harder to justify a repeated outlay. Especially if repairs are needed after only 4 years.
Apparently polythene is notoriously difficult to get anything to stick to it permanently - very few adhesives will bond to it, and so repairs are always limited. I guess the gaffer tape solution is the most effective; cleanliness is probably vital before application, and it will probably always need to be monitored for subsequent signs of failure. Unless you can figure out a way to weld it, like they do when they seal polythene bags
What do you think of polytunnels as a practical option for self-sufficient-ishers? I was disappointed to see what a short lifespan they are reckonned to have - 5-10 years from what I was reading, depending upon how harsh the climate is. If you are a commercial grower, I can see that this could be absorbed into the expenses budget, but if you are only growing for yourself, it may be harder to justify a repeated outlay. Especially if repairs are needed after only 4 years.
Stew
Ignorance is essential
Ignorance is essential