Construction a Polytunnel

Having just been allocated an allotment I am busy thinking about the future ... why I am not just digging the plot, then worry about buying things later, I'll never know.

There will eventually be two 8' x 6' greenhouse bases on my plot, after the previous plot holder moves his old greenhouses. I know a glass greenhouse (or 2) would be the better option, but economically, a polytunnel would be better.

There are several 'ready made' tunnels ... although I suppose these are just 'flat-pack' type units. I am sure there are posts here giving the pros and cons of these 'off the peg' tunnels.

However, I've seen a couple of Youtube videos and they don't seem too complicated to construct. Just a few scaffold tubes, some pipe to go over the tubes, a door frame and the plastic.

For readers here who made their own, if they had to do it again, would they do the same, or buy one 'off the peg'

...and if 'off the peg' which brand is best ?

thank you

 

Only thing I found with making one your self is the cost I work in building trade and even with long turm borrowing of the scaffold tubes and getting the pipe through trade discount it would have cost more than the one I bought of the internet and I'm really happy with it a lot stronger than I thought and with a few scaff poles in the corners banged into the ground it's strong as anything

 

I agree.

Cheap poly tunnels have both dramatically reduced in cost in recent years plus increased in quality. You need to re-assess previous web DIY poly tunnel costs, much of which are based upon getting many components FOC.

 

Well I can get the scaff free no one will be giving lengths of water pipe away at 5 m long at least and there is know way to get the plastic cover for free timber can be salvaged so don't see how you can make a 4 m long 2 m wide tunnel for under £100

 

Hi WB,

I've put two tunnels up, both 20ft x 10ft, each is slightly different than the other. Topic about them is here http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/steves-polytunnels.33033/

Now these are cheap tunnels, commonly known as "Blowaways" so I ensured they where anchored well.

The flimsiest of the two, the white powder coated framed option is still doing well, but the second one, the much stronger framed galvanised option the cover needs replacing already after only 2 growing seasons.

However if I bought another one I would still buy the galvanised frame one again and be prepared to re-cover it as I intend to do this winter, these tunnels are cheap enough and easy to put up on your own as they just bolt together.

I wanted to go the other route and make my own but sourcing the bits needed was difficult out here in rural Cumbria so I had to buy.

I have also just bought a job lot of timber very cheaply at an auction and I plan to build a 20ft x 14ft polyhouse (greenhouse covered in poly) as this will give me higher straight sides and greater overall height than my tunnels.

If you are going to go the make it yourself route from scaffold tube and water/gas pipe then my hoops are 21 foot long which gives me a span of 10ft wide by 6ft tall, there are seven of those for a 20ft tunnel. So you would need 14 scaffold tubes and 150ft of water/gas pipe.

However big you make it, it'll never be big enough, how ever many you make you will always want another one.

Steve...

 

So site it as if it's going to be your first tunnel, planning ahead for another at some stage.

In this thread I've shown how demountable low level + high level fixed staging can be installed to maximise use of space http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/my-£50-polytunnel-from-ebay.31800/