Go for a frosted polycarbonate greenhouse if you want to have a permanent home for your plants. The ability to retain heat makes polycarbonate a perfect material for greenhouses. The popular choice is twin-wall polycarbonate. It has double glazing effect which prevents heat from escaping.
Choose 3 or 4 mm polycarbonate thickness for greenhouse sides and 10 mm thick plastic for roof. Also, polycarbonate is lightweight. That means that you can cut it to size easily with hand saw. Moreover, being lightweight makes it very easy to work with.
It is also easy to transport without worrying that it can break. Finally, it is very quick and easy to assemble in comparison to glass. Polycarbonate is weather resistant, so your greenhouse is going to withstand harsh environment. Burning sun, snow and rain — you name it and polycarbonate is not going to show a sign of discoloration for many years. Moreover, it is highly resistant to high heats and low temperatures. In addition, polycarbonate has low flammability, so it is safe to use in garden areas where barbecues take place.
Combination of these factors makes polycarbonate a perfect material for outdoor use. It is going to be enough to give it a quick clean every week. Once you wash it with soapy water, give it a good rinse and dry with a soft cloth. It is important to dry it right away to prevent water spots which can affect light transmission.
Unfortunately, polycarbonate can suffer scratches. Avoid touching it with anything made from abrasive binding agents. So you need to be careful when using your gardening tools. It is not easy to repair scratches on polycarbonate. Moreover, it is also prone to marring. In severe cases, denting can also occur especially if you are not cautious. So, as long as you stick with the care requirements, polycarbonate will stay in a good shape.
One of the disadvantages of twin-wall polycarbonate panels is that dust can accumulate between the panels. It can be quite tricky to get rid of it. Also, if you skip weekly cleaning, dust and dirt can build up on the surface which can affect the light transmission. These are the reasons why polycarbonate is replacing glass in greenhouse applications.
You can see how polycarbonate outperforms glass in so many different ways. Glass is highly susceptible to breaking and cracking. With a very poor impact resistance, strong winds, storms, heavy rains, snow, hail, falling branches, and footballs can all damage a glass greenhouse.
Polycarbonate, on the other hand, is so strong that it is used in bulletproof screen and riot shields. In fact, it has times the impact resistance of glass! Thus, with half the weight of glass, you can get an equally transparent, but strong and durable greenhouse when you use polycarbonate. Now you may say that glass have great heat retaining properties; does polycarbonate have the same? Well, when you use multiwall polycarbonate, this purpose can be served. Polycarbonate greenhouse for me was an item that was worth purchasing as it gave me the ability to grow masses of seedlings in my own greenhouse at a low cost but you definitely get what you pay for.
These types of greenhouse do work well but they need modification to ensure that are able to withstand the worst of the winter weather. The problem with the design of these types of greenhouses is that polycarbonate panels slot into grooves in the aluminum frames but they have no screws for fasteners to hold them in place.
This makes them extremely cheap to produce and easy to put together but when exposed to prolonged high winds the large panels tend to flex inward. This flexing is sufficient to push the panels out of the grooves.
Once the panels are out of the grooves they either get completely removed or the panel gets damaged. In my experience, this only happens on the side and roof panels because they longer. This increases the chances of the panel bowing. The photographs of my greenhouse after a winter storm show that smaller end panels around the doors remain intact whereas the longer panels are more susceptible to damage.
When purchasing a polycarbonate greenhouse it is best to put the reinforcement in place immediately to avoid damage rather than have to deal with it at the most inopportune moment. There are two methods I have used to reinforce the panels.
The first method, which is the easiest is using tape, which will last a season or two but will require reapplication periodically due to the disintegration of the tape over time or the loss of adhesion.
The quality of the tape used will determine the period of time it lasts. The best tape I have found is fiber-glass reinforced tape which is stronger than the ordinary packing tape and will last a lot longer.
The type of tape I have used is available on Amazon, click here to see the latest price. When applying the tape it is generally only necessary to apply it to one or two strips across the center are areas of the largest panels. The tape should be applied perpendicular to the grain of the panel, which for most greenhouse means the tape needs to applied in the horizontal direction. It easiest to apply the tape in a single strip across the length of the greenhouse.
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