The presence of a greenhouse in a suburban area gives its owner a lot of advantages. Nevertheless, for many owners of the earth, plans for the construction of such structures remain unrealized. The reason is simple. According to most of them, installing a greenhouse from polypropylene pipes is very time-consuming and requires deep professional skills. But, as one would expect, having decided, in the end, on this event, the landowners radically change their point of view.
Greenhouses of any size and shape are easily constructed from polypropylene pipes.
Content
Features of greenhouses made of polymer materials
Previously, greenhouses were not built from pipes. Home craftsmen, to make the frame of the structure, bought bars, boards and so on. The openings were covered with thick oilcloth, or glazed. The design turned out to be reliable, but from the point of view of the complexity of the construction is quite time-consuming. The contractor had to select the necessary parts and process them directly on the site. Hence the myth of the significant labor required for the construction of greenhouses, which migrated to the 21st century.
Everyone knows that wood is susceptible to decay and aging. In addition, if the film is poorly fixed, the frame under the influence of powerful gusts of wind can simply break due to the appearance of the windage effect.
It is a completely different matter when a greenhouse is constructed from polypropylene pipes. According to landowners, this is the best solution from a technical and financial point of view. When assembling the greenhouse, extremely convenient and easy to process materials are used.
Plastic products do not corrode, are not destroyed by contact with moist soil and do not even age. Once you have collected a greenhouse, you can use it for its intended purpose, without exaggeration, for more than a dozen years. It is easy to assemble and just as easy to disassemble. In fact, it is a mobile design, open to subsequent improvements and modifications. The whole assembly process is carried out exclusively with your own hands and takes a maximum of 24 hours. That is why the owners of suburban plastics greenhouses are currently leading in popularity.
You can assemble a greenhouse with your own hands, using the simplest tools and materials
The construction procedure. Materials and Tools
Do-it-yourself erection of a greenhouse using polypropylene pipes is a multi-stage process. In order to accurately determine all the tasks expected to be solved and to simplify the work, each stage is divided, in turn, into several more.
The stages of construction are as follows:
- requirements, conditions, resources are determined, a drawing is made;
- materials are acquired;
- the foundation is being prepared;
- going to frame;
- facing and, if necessary, refinement.
Important! This is a general outline. Guided by it, you will easily assemble a greenhouse from polymer pipes of any type (HDPE, PVC), and not just from polypropylene.
For the construction of the structure you will need such materials:
- PP pipes themselves. It is better to purchase similar products intended for hot water supply.Dimension requirements are as follows: wall thickness from 4.2 mm (this is already a category of thick-walled products); inner diameter from 16.6 mm;
- cellular polycarbonate or film for greenhouses. Experienced home craftsmen recommend buying reinforced;
- a beam measuring 50 × 50 millimeters;
- thin slats. With their help, the film is fixed to the beam;
- edged board section 150 × 30 mm;
- steel wire;
- reinforcing rods with a diameter of 10-12 millimeters and a length of 75 centimeters;
- screws and nails.
For the greenhouse, thick-walled pipes with a diameter of at least 16.6 mm are taken
Also buy a few pipes with a diameter slightly larger than the products for the frame. Door hinges and plastic latches for fixing the film will be made from them.
A greenhouse is assembled from polypropylene pipes with their own hands with the help of such a tool:
- sledgehammers;
- garden drill;
- sharp paint knife;
- hammer and drill.
Site selection and base assembly
Naturally, for the installation of the structure it is necessary to choose a sunny, fairly well-ventilated place. It is not worth putting a greenhouse where a large amount of snow accumulates during the winter season. If the load is excessive, the film may simply break. It is not necessary to observe this condition if it is planned to disassemble the structure for the winter. There is another criterion for choosing a place under the greenhouse. It sounds like this: you need to install the structure on the most even area.
Some owners, having decided on the location, immediately begin installation of the structure. This approach is erroneous. The first step is to carefully mark the area. The corners of the wooden frame made from the board should be as close as possible to 90 degrees. For marking the soil, you can use the "two curves" method or the "Egyptian triangle" method.
The base of the greenhouse can be wooden, nailed or self-tapping
The assembly of the lower wooden frame-tying is carried out using nails or self-tapping screws. After completing its installation, from the inside into each corner, stick along the reinforcing bar. So you avoid skewing the frame during its assembly.
The most important base elements - the above reinforcing fastening rods - are installed after the strapping is formed. It is easiest to make holes under them with a garden drill, since their depth should be at least half a meter. You can also try to hammer the rods with a hammer or a regular sledgehammer.
On a note! With the latter installation method, it will be much more difficult to achieve absolute verticality of reinforcing fastening rods.
It is necessary to arrange the rods on both sides of the greater length of the greenhouse from polypropylene pipes. Installation step - 50 centimeters.
Frame assembly
The next stage is the installation of the "edges" of the greenhouse. Just put the pipes on the rods located on different sides so that you get an arch. Next, strengthen the frame with transverse stiffening ribs made of the same polypropylene products. You can fix the cross-members on plastic tees or with wire. In the first case, fittings must be put on the edges of the arch in advance. You can fix them to pipes by soldering. However, in order to get a collapsible design, it is better to do this with self-tapping screws.
The number of transverse stiffeners is a derivative of the dimensions of the structure. But even for a large greenhouse, more than two or three are rarely used on each side. The only thing that requires mandatory installation is the transverse central plastic “horse”. The absence of this element will cause the film to sag after the first rain.
For the design to be reliable, the joints must be strengthened with screws
End fitting and foil wrapping
The ends are assembled from a bar, which was previously carefully processed with antiseptic antiseptic agents. The film is fastened to the beam through the rails using self-tapping screws.It is allowed to replace wood with the same polypropylene pipes. This solution is implemented by vertical installation of pipe pieces of the required length on the ends on both sides of the door. Fixation from below is carried out on reinforcing bars, and tees are used from above for fastening to the first arch. A door assembled from pipe segments is attached to the “jambs” formed in the manner described above. This is done as follows: from the top and bottom of one of the vertical posts, short sections of PP pipes of larger diameter are soldered. The door is mounted on them.
A home-made greenhouse created from polypropylene pipes is usually sheathed with reinforced polyethylene. It is not worth using a regular film for this purpose, since such a sheathing will not last long.
To eliminate inaccuracies, it is recommended that the cutting of the selected material be carried out directly in the greenhouse. The length of the stripes of the film should slightly exceed the value of this parameter of the arched edges. The fact is that at the final stage the film is usually tucked under the strapping. Its fastening to the tree is also carried out via slats, and special plastic clips are used to fix it to the edges of the arch. They are made from short segments of pipes of larger diameter. These details are simply cut, after which they are broken down along the length of one of the sides with a narrow strip. Thus obtained clamp has sufficient elasticity and is very convenient to use.
The final stage in the construction of the greenhouse from polypropylene pipes is the reliable fastening of the film. After this, the erected structure can begin to operate.
Round or profile?
In the design process, the question often arises of which cross-sectional shape of pipe polypropylene products should be preferred. After all, it is not only round, but also profile.
For greenhouses, pipes of circular cross section are used, they are more convenient in operation and it is easy to pick up connecting elements to them - fittings
Important! In search of an answer, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that the process of building a greenhouse should provide for the solution of a dual task. By such is meant ease of installation without sacrificing structural strength.
The main difference between a rectangular or square pipe is a significant spatial rigidity. It would seem that the greenhouse needs to be built from profile pipes. But here another factor comes into effect: ease of use. Indeed, to create an arched structure, pipe products must be bent. A pipe with a round cross-section lends itself to such a procedure much easier than profiled. Accordingly, the construction of the greenhouse is not fraught with great difficulties. In addition, fittings are required to build a greenhouse. And they, again, are produced exclusively for round pipes.
When choosing the type of pipe products, it is worth listening to the experts' opinion: it is recommended to build a greenhouse out of profile polypropylene pipes only when it is really necessary. This advice is relevant, first of all, for those regions where the greenhouse can be subjected to high mechanical stresses produced by weather conditions.
Polycarbonate Coating Mounting Options
This material attracts with its resistance to negative atmospheric phenomena and strength. It is easy to cut, flexible and easy to install. Panels made of polycarbonate are installed on a frame of any kind, including polypropylene pipes. Their fastening is carried out using such special connecting elements:
- detachable polymer profiles. With their help, linear connection of longitudinal sheets is carried out. These elements are in the form of an improved modification of the cable channel. They consist of a base attached to the frame and closing the connection on top of the lid;
- one-piece connecting profiles.These flexible long elements resemble in section a letter “H” lying on its side. Polycarbonate panels, supposed to be joined, are inserted into the lateral grooves. The one-piece type profile is only suitable for arranging light greenhouses due to the insufficient strength of the created connection;
- self-tapping screws with thermowells. Their purpose is spot fixation of the coating. For its laying on a polypropylene frame, the use of wood screws is allowed. Thermowells give the point connection high tightness and protect the panel from deformation;
- aluminum connecting profiles. They have found application in greenhouses on an industrial scale and are available exclusively in detachable form.
Important! The rules for installing polycarbonate in a greenhouse made of polypropylene pipes provide for the integrated use of a linear and point mounting scheme.
With proper installation and operation, such a structure will effectively carry out the functions assigned to it for a very long time.
