Does this look a reasonable buy?

[Seahorse]

I'm getting myself a new greenhouse for Christmas

Does this one on ebay look like a good buy?

8ft x 6ft ALUMINIUM GREENHOUSE WITH SAFETY GLAZING on eBay, also Greenhouses, Garden Structures Fencing, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 02-Dec-07 17:15:04 GMT)

It looks virtually the same as this one to me:

Order Softline Greenhouse - Large - Green Frame and Polycarbonate for home delivery at homebase.co.uk

But with a saving of £200!

I really don't know a lot about greenhouses though, is there anything I'm missing? I definitely want polycarb instead of glass, as I've got four small children. It would be going straight onto concrete (probably, although I could perhaps dig up the paving ). I've noticed that some are listed as 'X price' but then you find that doesn't include the base, or some other useful bit. The ebay one above seems to be a complete package, plus it has the advatage of quick delivery (I don't drive). I guess I'd have more comeback if I bought from Homebase or similar but I can't see that's worth paying *that* much more?

Any advice much appreciated!

Claire

[carlseawolf]

hi seahorse , greenhouse looks good and i,m been given a greenhouse a 6 by 6 of the same type as they have upgraded to a larger greenhouse.
i checked the details on the site and feedback comments seam to be fine and the only couple of problems that seam to crop up in the feedback is time to put it up and one delivery error ( time varied between 3 hrs to a whole weekend ) and i seamed to remember the one i,m getting took a day to build so allow a weekend to do it, saturday build the frame and sunday glaze it.
the only other thing about this type of greenhouse is the strengh is in the plastic glazing panels not the bars so it will look flimsy when you first erect it but the one i,m getting has been up 5 years in it,s present position without any problems.

[shirlthegirl43]

Looks good Seahorse.

[scarey55]

Hi Seahorse,

This one looks exactly the same as the one we have just bought. We paid about the same as the one on Ebay so hopefully it is a goodun.

Ours is still in the workshop at the moment waiting to be put up so I can't tell you much more about it yet.
Perhaps we'll wait until you have put yours up before we do ours, that way, we will have an "expert" to help us with ours

[mandyballantyne]

Hi Seahorse,

I bought a similar one from the greenhouse people this year 8x6 ploycarb but the 'glass' in mine looks much clearer than the one on ebay.

It cost under £300 delivered and has been brill, took a while to put up but it was windy that day!

Good luck, Mandy

[Seahorse]

Oooh, my brain hurts from looking at so many options today! I've now found another (apparantly) identical but slightly cheaper one on ebay.

I keep almost pressing 'buy it now', then I feel guilty about the expense... then in the next moment I think 'well, if I'm spending anyway...' and look again at larger ones. Oh dear! Think I might pop outside and do some more measuring, then look at the bank balance again!

Thanks everyone for your advice so far!

This made me laugh though:

Perhaps we'll wait until you have put yours up before we do ours, that way, we will have an "expert" to help us with ours

Claire

[jacob marley]

Hi it is only 15 miles from me i might just pop a bid in whoops jacob

[Two_Sheds]

Did you manage to get one Seahorse? We got mother a polycarb one, it took us 9 months to get it up - and the wind shifts it 2 foot every gale cos we didn't bolt it down. Not bad though, for the money

[rustylady]

The problem wasn't the polycarb glazing, it was getting the frame put together - talk about a giant jigsaw puzzle - and the instructions weren't exactly clear or comprehensive. However, it's still standing more or less where it was put (it can't blow any further back cos there's a wall in the way) - Son was going to bolt it to the concrete for me but he's been busy for the last eighteen months.

[Seahorse]

Mmm. I've been wondering about the bolting down thing! How does one do that exactly? Would I have to hire some sort of industrial contraption, or could I do a good enough job with things I might either have already or would be able to buy cheaply? The place where it will go is currently large concrete slabs.

Claire

[nick the grief]

My first G/h was held down with eye bolts that you use for fencing to tension wire I laid slabs all along the floor and the spaces in between I concreted these bolts in .

If you use something like Postcrete it's ready mixed and you can fill the hole pat it smooth and it soaks up the moisture from the ground and Bobs your uncle & fanny's a rude word - then the following weekend just tighten the nuts up on them.

I'll try and find a sketchy thing.... Like this

[Seahorse]

Thanks Nick, that sounds doable!

[nick the grief]

No probs. I used 6 on my 8x6 and by making the hole that shape the slabs helped hold it down as well.

The only problem comes iff you want to have borders in the greenhouse rather than slabs but I guess you could do the same thing but make a trench about a spade depth an do the same.