How easy...

[Mumbles]

...is it to put new polythene on a polytunnel frame?

Thanks

[Aberdeenplotter]

how big is it? Mine is 25ft x10ft timber framed with doors at the ends and timber frames along the bottom. Fixing the new cover was simple but taking off the strapping to remove the old cover was a real time consuming bind.

[Mumbles]

The frame Im looking at getting is 10ft by 6ft metal. Was thinking about getting the polythene from First Tunnels as its a massive saving on getting the full tunnel from them.

[Bigmallly]

I would think you will need to fit timber framed doors & skirting to attach the cover to but I'm only guessing.

[Mumbles]

and also, once the frame is up does the polythene have to go on straight away?

[AlanP]

Hi Mumbles, once the frame is up the cover can wait, you need a wooden frame at both ends to fasten the cover too, you do not have to have a skirting board around the sides if this is a problem, the cover can be buried in a trench. If it is a metal frame you will need to stick hot spot tape to the metal hoops where the cover touches them. The cover needs to be fitted on a day when the sun is out and no wind, lay the cover over the hoops and then give in an hour to warm up, then fit it.
Hope this is of some help to you.

Alan

[Shadylane]

We did it, pretty much as Alan describes except for the wind part. We left things quite late and the chillies needed to go in urgently, so we had to do it with wind. It was a nightmare but we got it on eventually. There's some good tips and videos on one of the big polytunnel sites, which are also on youtube. They tell you how to fasten the sheet to the door frames using battons. We used the trench method and we managed to get it pretty tight. It's on its third season now since getting a proper cover. The zip up one it came with was pretty useless in comparison.
eta oh and enlist as many helpers as possible, preferably three or four.