Talk to me about wheelbarrows

We get the keys for our new house tomorrow (hopefully ) and for the first time I'm going to have direct flat garden access from the road The garden itself is long and narrow too. On that basis I've started to think about investing in a wheelbarrow, partly for the initial moving in of many plant pots over the next few weeks, and partly for longterm.

But I've now got lost in a maze of metal vs plastic, air vs solid tyres, handle length, etc, and that's before you even get onto makes and brands. I know the best thing to do is go and try some out, but given the current situation I don't want to, for example, traipse round B&Q if all their models are overpriced rubbish.

So any tips on what to look for (or avoid?) I don't mind spending a bit of money on one that will last over a cheap one that falls apart within the year.

 

I'd suggest going to screwfix, just buy a builders barrow with a pneumatic tyre.
Wont last forever if left outside in winter, but builders use that kind for a reason.
They work much better than any of the fancy ones from the likes of B&Q etc.

 

We have a metal one and a plastic one. The metal one is his for building work and the plastic one is mine for gardening.

The metal one is able to carry much heavier loads and is more weatherproof. It's also heavier though, and doesn't pivot as neatly.

If you're going to be regularly carrying heavy loads in straight lines, I'd go for the metal one. If not, plastic should do you fine, especially if you have somewhere sheltered to store it.

 

You want a builder's barrow. They have struts at the front to keep the barrow bucket solid, compared to regular barrows which don't. I've destroyed a regular barrow by filling it with soil and then trying to tip it out. The weight of the soil when I tipped it literally folded the bucket up and ripped it off the barrow frame. They don't really cost any extra - you just need to know when you're looking.

Pneumatic tyre all the time. Rolling resistance on a loaded barrow is hard enough anyway. They're hard to puncture, easy to pump up, and it's cheaper to replace when you do get a puncture than buying a new one.

 

Screwfix builders barrow on click and collect for £47.
I manage all my carrying with plastic trug buckets these days.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/walsall-easiload-puncture-proof-wheel-wheelbarrow-galvanised-85ltr/58532

 

Cor, that's expensive, I got an 85L 'builders barrow' with both a pneumatic wheel plus a second puncture proof wheel for £43.98 Reduced - 20% Off Chillington wheelbarrows and puncture proof wheels at Wickes

 

Bought me a £20 wheelbarrow from Focus Do It All about 20 years ago. Blow me if it is still going with a respray and a new wheel happy chappie.

 

They will have stopped making them now, if they last that long there is no profit to be made.

 

Since they don't exist as a company any more, there's your answer.

 

The metal is thicker than the newer ones too. That maybe why they went bust.

 

I use a builders barrow which I collected from the curb. Someone threw it away, I guess because it looked a bit battered.
Anyway, it lasted me two years before I had to change the pneumatic wheel, but I was carrying several 100kg loads and there was a small step in the way, so the wheel took a bit of a beating I guess.
Aside of leaving it standing so it does not collect rain, it never required any maintenance and it is still good after 4 years.

Occasionally I borrow one from the gardening center to carry the compost I buy there.
To be honest I like it better than mine, it has a full wheel but handles just as well, it is slightly narrower but the sides are much taller, so it can carry way more soil or woodchips. It also makes it easier to carry pots without risking to drop them (the way to my garden is a bit tortuous with narrow 90 degrees bends).
If I had to buy one, probably I would look for one with tall sides. But I suspect that they are more expensive.
I would avoid anything made of plastic, personally.

 

Thanks all, lots of good information there. I had been leaning towards a plastic one, partly from a weight/useage point (I don't anticipate using it for much in the way of hardcore type loads) and partly because I'm a bit noise sensitive about certain sounds and clanging metal is often one of them, but I'll give it a bit more consideration - the stuff about struts especially is something I hadn't thought of.

 

A bit late to this thread, but some input even so. This is the most common type of wheelbarrow used by gardeners here...


I'll try to explain some of its features. First off, the pneumatic wheel. The tyre is normally marked "not for highway use" so many will swap it out for one that can be used on the highway. The simple reason is that road tyres are less puncture prone. As others have said, they are much nicer to have as they are more comfortable.

The hopper on the one in the photo is about 150 litres, and will hold something like 230kg. A smaller person will probably not be able to lift so much weight, but the important thing here is not that, but the capacity. Things such as prunings dont weigh a lot, but take up a lot of space. This can be increased by purchasing a net extension that sits on top of the hopper.

One other thing is that the handles are made of wood. Thats for the simple reason they are much better in the low temperatures we have here. They also allow for a longer barrow. Simple physics says the farther away hands are from the fulcrum, (ie the wheel) the easier the lift is.

 

Trailer tyres have a slightly greater diameter than pneumatic barrow tyres, causing them to jam in some wheelbarrow frames, and I've heard of old plastic wheels disintegrating when using an airline to pump them up.

 

Tyres of the same size have more or less the same dimensions to within a couple of millimetres. The statement is only correct if a same size equivalent cannot be found.

Plastic wheels here are solid...