Moving greenhouse - any tips ?

[sarahkeast]

I am about to have my fairly old greenhouse moved, in order to rebuild the 4' retaining wall below it. Not happy about moving it, but it has to be done.

My friend [builder] is talking about removing the glass and then sliding it on scaffold planks the 5'+ that they need to have to dismantle, dig out, build and refill the wall. He says it is better to move without the glass in, altho there will likely still be some breakages.

Any advice, suggestions, horror stories, commiserations etc ? he start tomorrow, probly take a week to do the wall, then put it all back together again.

A rather radical way of removing all the moss and dirt I guess.

Thanks

[MKG]

Better than having the entire thing in bits after it slides down where the wall used to be, Sarah. Let him get on with it.

Mike

[grahamhobbs]

Difficult to know without more detail, but the only alternative is to needle up (technical term, your builder friend should understand) the greenhouse where it is, excavate and rebuild wall under. This assumes that the greenhouse is timber and has a good base plate, no good trying on a flimsy aluminium job. It makes work on excavating and building the wall more difficult and this would have to be balanced against moving the greenhouse out of the way. If the greenhouse is aluminium, dismantling the glass is probably easy, if timber and puttied it would be difficult.

[sarahkeast]

Sorry, should have said it is aluminium, and base is a mix of concrete and large 2x3 slabs.

Might get him to cut out 'beds' with his angle grinder, will decide when I see what the dirt underneath is like, thinking it may be easier to leave well alone and keep to pots tho.

[oldjerry]

I've bought a few aly GHs S/H and dismantled and rebuilt them . The glass comes out fairly easily,you might break a few as the frame often warps a bit over time,but horticultural glass is relatively cheap.Important to reassemble with new glass retaining clips(v.cheap).
Best Wishes.

[sarahkeast]

Thanks Jerry, where would I get these clips from ?

[becks77]

Hi Sarah,
We did a similar thing although it involved taking out the glass taking the frame to pieces and then rebuilding a tricky job but well worth it and no broken glass either. The other thought is to take the glass out then move the frame but put back plastic or perspex. Seems like a good opportunity to replace if that was an option.
Very best of luck
Becks

[boboff]

Thanks Jerry, where would I get these clips from ?

I have seen them for 99p for 20 off of e-bay

[bonniethomas06]

Hi there,
Funnily enough we have done the same thing this weekend! We dismantled one in a fellow freecyclers garden and rebuilt it in ours. Then decided we didn't like it where it was erected and moved it about six feet to the left.

The glass was really easy to remove. Without glass, we were able to move the aluminium frame with 4 people (one in each corner) simply picking it up and walking it along a bit.

The glass went back in fine - except for the top right corner panes of each wall - but that is because we put the damn thing back together wrongly

Good luck. Greenhouses are the most wonderful inventions ever! We are going to have a moonlit dinner party in ours when it is fully glazed again.

[oldjerry]

Yeah boboffs right,or look in the garden section of your local HomeBQcus.Actually their easy to make yourself from a bit of hammered out ALLY,but they're so cheap unless you only want one or are as sad as me, it aint worth it. Best Wishes.

[sarahkeast]

Great, I will get some.

It has survived the dismantle and move [got home in the dark so not sure of exactly how it is]

Any other tips for things I should do [apart from give it a really good clean] when it is put back again. Or things to make/do/add ?

[oldjerry]

To clean ,beg, steal, borrow or hire a pressure washer(best of all a steam cleaner) not vital,just easier and loads of fun.
If you work away long hours,it might be worth thinking about an automatic themostatically -controlled skylight opener saves worrying about ventilation,and a bit of trickle irrigation pipe(dead cheap) great for toms.But these are mere decadent luxuries.. Best Wishes.

[sarahkeast]

Thanks Jerry

Can probably get a washer from friend who is doing the work on the retaining wall.

Fortunately I dont work silly hours, it was Parents Evening at my school so I got to meet 'my kids' parents which is always great. Usually home by 4pm with time to do stuff with my own children. Low salary, but enuf to live on and well worth it for the time off !