Dismantling a greenhouse

[waynebeddall]

Hi i have a greenhouse to dismantle does any one know if this is difficult to do as I am thinking of me and my wife to do it.

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Wayne!

We've (thats Mr D and me) dismantled 2 so far, and reassembled one of them on plot1 (the second one is awaiting a base being built by Mr D's dad, who's a brickie!), its not difficult, but take plenty of spanners and screwdrivers, plus some WD40 or other dismantling lube, bags for all the different clips and take your camera and a permanent marker to write on each bit so you know where it came from!

Other than that, take some decent gloves, wet weather gear, wear old clothes you dont mind getting mucky, put something down in the back of the car and expect to loose about 4 or 5 panes of glass during any journey!

The first one we dismantled took us about 5 hours to get down and moved to the plot, and about 4 hours to rebuild and glaze! The second one took about 4 hours to dismantle and get home, and will probably take about 4 hours to rebuild and glaze! Take your time, label and photograph everything, take frequent brew brakes and keep calm!

And lastly, remember to take some piccies to show us all your new pride and joy when its all up and growing!

PS There's a thread somewhere on here about our greenhouse saga, I think there's a lionk form one of the posts in our blog!

[kirsty b]

It's reasonably easy, better that two of you are doing it as an extra pair of hands really helps with awkward bits. When I collected mine, I found the hardest bit was getting the glass out because of the sticky greenhouse glass adhesive that was used when it was built originally. Some of it was really well stuck down, that where I had the most breakages.

Kirsty

[sewer rat]

Hi Wayne
Several grapes have asked this question before and the best advice I can give is to keep it real simple.
I dimantled one for my garden and after removing all the glass and clips, I took the door off in one piece, kept the roof in one piece and each of the sides and ends in one piece as far as possible. This is of course dependent on what transport you have available, but the less bolts you need to undo, the better - makes putting it up at the other end a lot simpler.
If you need to dismantle completely, label each part consecutively and make a sketch of where each part goes and which parts adjoin it - just like a big meccano kit .

[waynebeddall]

Thanks for all your quick replies. Gonna drag the wife down next week

[Peter]

Hi i have a greenhouse to dismantle does any one know if this is difficult to do as I am thinking of me and my wife to do it.

Depends if you want to subsequently re-assemble it or not.

All other advice given here is good.

I would add a:

• hacksaw or two pair of molegrips, there is always at least one nut & bolt that won't part company.
• wadge of old newspapers, put a sheet or two between each sheet of glass.
• transport glass upright, i.e. on edge, in a box strapped against the side of the van/car/trailer, if you don't have a suitable box, use a couple of bits of plywood as the outer sheets in the pack.
• flouescent jacket and some string, something will be too long to fit your transport, tie the jacket on the end that sticks out.
• safety glasses, a big cardboard box and a hammer, at least one sheet of glass will not come out and will need to be smashed while in the frame, catch the debris safely in the box.
• a stanley knife and some new sharp blades, if the glass rests on mastic you will have to break its bond between glass and frame and a stanley knife is perfect.
• needle nosed pliers (aka electricians pliers) to remove clips.

My friend and I dismantled a 16'x8' and moved it three or four miles using my trailer, I then re-assembled it as a 12'x8' less the extension parts as it wouldn't have fitted in my garden at full size.
We totally dismantled it, moved it, did not break ANY glass and finished in one day.
Re-assembly was spread over a few weeks, NH Kays supplied new mastic as multiple extrusions on greaseproof paper round a drum. I had enough glazing spring clips as all the unused originals were available to complement those we removed. Kays also do great value automatic openers for windows.
Sleepers are great for a base as minimum work and skill needed to get a square level base and you can just screw through the aluminum frame into the sleeper, I used 2"x1" tanalised as a mounting rail for mine between sleeper and frame. Some phots are on my blog last spring/summer.

[bravo2zero]

Dear Waynebeddall, you will need the folowing,
screwdriver, flat and posi
molegrips
small adjustable spanners
10mm open spanner
hammer
long nose pliers
bread crates and scaffolding plank
good gloves
safety glasses
labels, permanent marker and bags
big bucket (for broken glass)
newspaper(for storing between glass)
time and patience

[TPeers]

So far moved three greenhouses, do remember the WD40, brilliant for loosening stuck nuts and bolts. A min of two people is essential - not because one person can't do the job alone - it might take a while and be difficult but it could be done - but for safety. Should you be sliced by breaking glass you need someone else there to look after you and do the necessary!

Oh yeah - never broken a pane yet!

Terry

[waynebeddall]

Once again cheers for all your help, will have to take some photo's

[waynebeddall]

Went and got my greenhouse today. Started at 9.30am dismantled it all then moved it 5 miles then put back up finished at about 4ish. Lots of hard work and scratching of heads. Overall not to bad I need a few more bits of glass that was broken in transport but overall am very pleased.I have posted some images on my blog.

[Flummery]

Looks a propper job that greenhouse Wayne - well done (to all the team!) there'll be no stopping you now!

[shirlthegirl43]

Well done Wayne.

That looks the same as my greenhouse only mine is now stuffed full to bursting! Madmax said to me yesterday that we need another one - that coming from someone who last year wanted to concrete the whole garden was just wonderful.

Enjoy your new growing experience

[TPeers]

Well done! Looks good. Might be a little exposed to heat in the winter but should still be good for over wintering lettuce and so on.

Enjoy!

[waynebeddall]

As i have about 6 panes of glass broken anyone know where I can purchase 3mm glass from as I have heard it is quite cheap to buy. I can get hold of perspex but would prefer glass, any help would be much appreciated as usuall

[shirlthegirl43]

I know it sounds obvious, but what about local glaziers?