How best to reduce the length of a polytunnel/cover without spending money.

[gardening_gal]

I don't know if some of you will remember my polytunnel from years ago, it was just one of those green cover eBay types, 6m x 3m.

It ended up getting packed away for years and stored in a garage but I've recently just got hold of it again. The frame isn't as nice as it once was, despite being galvanised it's a bit rusty in places and it is a bit bent but it's still serviceable and I'm assuming I'll be able to use alternative fixings if the original bolts are missing.

My problem is that it's just a bit too big for my garden now.

I can't / don't want to buy a smaller replacement cover and just reduce the frame length to fit. I can't be spending money at all right now. So I have to work with what I have.

So, if I reduced the frame length and still used the cover I have, there would be a big baggy area of cover just hanging at the back that I'm not entirely sure how best to deal with.

Obviously I could just cut it off and tape what was left together but I'm not fond of that idea. I can see potential problems with it being less secure on a very windy day.

Just leaving it squashed up will just offer a haven to passing beasties as well as perhaps becoming a mould factory.

I did think about pulling it back over on itself (like pulling on a long sock then turning a cuff bit down) but that would cut out a lot of light I think?

Not sure what best to do but I'd like to try to make it more usable for my situation now. Only it's not as easy as I thought it might have been.

Any ideas?

[nickdub]

If it was mine I'd just leave the end squashed up and chuck either some soil or sand on it to hold it down. As things are though I rather like beasties and I don't mind some mould so perhaps my tolerance limits are a bit different to yours :-)

Just in case it helps it is possible to "weld" the sort of plastic that tunnels are made from to make permanent joints. The temperature obviously is critical and you need something like a piece of grease-proof paper between the heat source and the top plastic sheet. I did a few experiments with some off-cut sheets using a soldering iron and it definitely works, though you can ruin stuff quickly too if you make a mistake - I was investigating this for a rain water harvesting system for my large poly-tunnel - but in the end I went for a mechanically linked system as I decided to kill two birds at a time, and put up some internal shelves as well as an outside plastic fringe.

[gardening_gal]

Yes nick I think maybe you have more of an affinity for these things more than I do.

Good idea about plastic welding! Never occurred to me to heat weld it, that might work. I'll definitely keep that option in mind.

I'm now also mulling over trying to attach the end of the tunnel to the side of a shed so I could walk into the shed and through into the tunnel. I could cut down the window wall of the shed to make a new doorway.

Would you believe there seems to be no pictures at all on the internet for polytunnels attached to sheds?! Surely I can't be the only person who thinks about stuff like this? Are there no pictures because it just isn't easily doable?

[nickdub]

No reason why attaching the end of the tunnel to the shed wouldn't work well that I can think of - make it less likely to blow away :-) If I'm screwing down plastic sheet I usually cut up some strips of plastic from stuff like uPVC cladding and screw through that into the wood behind, sandwiching the sheet in place - seems to work OK. ( my garden looks like a cross between a scrap yard and a Nature Reserve, so I can usually find something I've rescued from a skip)

I've got one combined "greenhouse " and shed albeit both are home built and look rather Heath-Robinson in places - the shed end has a recycled poly-carbonate rook from an Ebay conservatory that someone was replacing - wasn't precisely cheap to build as I did some of it in cement and block-work for strength - but it will still be there when I'm gone and I get my money's worth from it as a place to potter around in wet weather.

[Thelma Sanders]

I did think about pulling it back over on itself (like pulling on a long sock then turning a cuff bit down) but that would cut out a lot of light I think

Exactly what I did when part of the frame got bent on mine - I made the frame smaller, using the good bits then put the cover back on, with some of it folded over itself, but with the end in the right place IYSWIM.
It didn't seem to make that much difference to the light levels, everything grew ok, anyway

[lottie dolly]

folding it over it's self seems to be the easiest and quickest way,then maybe tape over it to stop the wind and wet drifting under the outside fold,i like the shed idea,but,seems a lot of work,for what is a short lived cover.

[roitelet]

Rather than tape which has a tendency to come unstuck you could try glue. Bostic pro is what my tunnel manufacturers sell for mending the plastic. Even mended the fridge with it!

[gardening_gal]

Thanks all, good few ideas there. I think I'll decide what to do for sure once the frame goes back up, it may become apparent what would be the best / easiest thing to do. I do have a tendency to overthink things so it looks like it should be simple enough to do with one of the above options.

[gardening_gal]

Had another thought.

Has anyone put a door on the side of their tunnel? Would that even be doable somehow? My tunnel would suit my garden space so much better if the door was on the long side and the short sides could butt up to things.

Obviously it would involve making some sort of wooden frame but......

[lottie dolly]

this is the only way i can think off,hope you can make out my quick scetch,am not an artitech,or a speller,but the black lines represent wood,or metal if you can get a body to weld a frame,this mabe give you an idea if you still think it doable,but you still need to make good the sides and a door,

[gardening_gal]

I'm feeling like I'm working towards a Blue Peter badge.

I had drawn something very similar lottie. Thank you.

I'm still surprised I can't find any google pictures of adapted tunnels. I can't believe every single tunnel owner out there has a standard tunnel used in a standard way.

[nickdub]

Had another thought.

Has anyone put a door on the side of their tunnel? Would that even be doable somehow? My tunnel would suit my garden space so much better if the door was on the long side and the short sides could butt up to things.

Obviously it would involve making some sort of wooden frame but......

If you decide to go for the side door option then you're going to have to do some strengthening around the top of the new opening to prevent tears, as the wind will find out any weak spot.

Maybe an arched opening would be best, with the spare plastic which was in the new opening being rolled around some flexible tubing like water pipe to form a curved top ? I'd be interested to find out how this works for you, if you do try it, as my long poly-tunnel would be more convenient to use with a side entrance.

[gardening_gal]

I'd be interested to find out how this works for you, if you do try it, as my long poly-tunnel would be more convenient to use with a side entrance.

See! I knew I couldn't be the only person this would appeal to. You mark my words, First Tunnels will be offering this option on their site before long.

I'm in the garden with a tape measure now...........

[nickdub]

If you also have your scissors out GG, I'll colour myself worried :-)

[SarrissUK]

I'd not really entertain any other option to shorten AND shut that end of the polytunnel than to wrap the leftover plastic around a piece of wood as wide as the tunnel, and drill it to the frame with clips or another piece of wood on the other side of the frame along the bottom. I think neither tape or glue will be strong enough to survive strong wind.