"Billy-Oh" polycarbonate roof panels have degraded after only 4 years!

[richardbees]

I am very disappointed as the GH wasn't cheap!

All the South facing roof panels have turned beige and fragile - so they've crumbled away from the clips. It was only installed in Spring 2009 - has anyone else had this problem?

Richard

[Potstubsdustbins]

Richard I had my polycarbonate in Autumn 09 and its showing no signs of problems at all.

Daft question I know but did you take note of the fact that only one side of the panel is UV protected?

Colin

[richardbees]

good point Colin but yes, I did

richard

[Potstubsdustbins]

That is that blown out then.

The reason I asked was I know someone who poly is over 7 years old and apart from a little green growth it is still in good shape.

If the problem lies only on one side of the roof there has to be a logical answer. One silly thought is that someone at the factory has put the sheeting into the machine the wrong way round so that the plastic film was on the wrong side of the poly sheet.

Colin Baffled.

[biggreenfingers]

My polycarbonate greenhouse has been up for 3 years and I don't have this problem. I do however have the issue of the same panel on my roof being blown out on windy nights. I have had to purchase a new one twice in the last year !!!

[Thelma Sanders]

panel on my roof being blown out on windy nights.

use silicone to seal it in next time - it fixed the problem on mine

My polycarb is nearly 4 years old and still ok

[biggreenfingers]

use silicone to seal it in next time - it fixed the problem on mine

My polycarb is nearly 4 years old and still ok

Thelma, definitely will be using silicone the next time. Would have used it the last time but when I went to get my silicone out of the garage it had dried up and couldn't get any out of the tube (you can imagine the names the window was called :-) ) Tired of sleepless nights when its windy waking up to see if the window has lodged in the neighbours cars !!!

[Potstubsdustbins]

BGF don't use ordinary silicone. Sealants have many uses and they are now all made for a purpose.

The stuff you want is Dow Corning 794 glazing silicone which will adhere to PVCu, wood, aluminium and polycarbonate sheeting.

Colin

[richardbees]

Colin

The above posts made me question my belief that the panels were installed correctly - which has provided the solution .......ALL the affected panels (some more than once) blew off in the first year before we'd 'siliconed' them down...and discussing it yesterday; none of us who replaced them thought (or even remembered to bother) about which way round we put them back!

I'm now in direct contact with BillyOh re buying replacements

Thanks to all who posted as I had been looking at replacing with some type of glass - unbelievably expensive!

Richard

[Potstubsdustbins]

Richard great news there is nothing worse than something going wrong and not being able to suss the problem.

As to glazing sheets Screwfix do a pack of 10 1200mm x 610mm x 4mm horticutural glazing for £55-31 +vat if thats any use.

Colin

[richardbees]

Colin,

Thanks but I think I'm going to be able to get(buy) replacement polycarbonate panels from billyOh direct.

Richard

PS I've a new post on "feeling fruity"