Leaking greenhouse, and glass

[bluemarionette]

In 2,004 I bought my first greenhouse, 6'x12' and wood, and certainly not cheap. It looks beautiful, but last year it developed a leak, and this year is leaking everywhere. I have a habit of drying my onions by hanging them through the staging slats at the end of the greenhouse, and this year lost the entire crop, because I didn't notice how wet they were becoming, and they all rotted. I had ordered reinforced glass, but when the builder arrived, he'd brought ordinary horticultural glass by mistake, and used it anyway, because he'd come up from Cambridge to Cumbria. Does anybody know if this could be the problem, because it may be thinner, and the house was built to take thicker glass? My entire greenhouse is dripping, and he assures me that this happens to one in ten, but I don't know whether to believe him ...I suspect he just doesn't want to do anything about it, because I phoned twice from the onset of a leak, and was assured that he would call when next in Cumbria, but he has not bothered, even though he admits to being in Cumbria only last year.

[darrenc]

I wouldnt have thought hort glass is suitable for wooden greenhouses due to settling and warping of the frame it may crack. Do you know from where the leaks are coming from? Is the glass overlapped like a conventional aluminium house? and are the leaks coming from the same points in the roof?

[bluemarionette]

Thanks for your response. Yes, I have taken note, and the greenhouse is leaking from every roof vent (which is where the horticultural glass was fitted ...I omitted to say that the rest of the greenhouse was built with reinforced glass), and from one bolt fixture. Do you think that I might insist that my supplier returns and replaces the glass with that which I ordered (with due payment, of course), because just now I have an expensive greenhouse which is not useable .. I sowed over-wintering peas, and they are becoming covered in mould, or the compost is sodden, my winter lettuces have rotted, and I want soon to use my propagating equipment, as we have a very short season, but I dare not because I have just taken out my heater and a smaller propagator, and the inside of the plugs was wet. Jane

[bluemarionette]

P.S. And, no, the glass does not overlap.

[oldherbaceous]

Good morning bluemarionette, it could be that the horti glass is slightly thinner than the safety glass, so not sealing properly.
I think you might struggle to get the errector to put it right now after two years.
Is the supplier and the errector from the same company, if not get onto both of them.
What make of greenhouse is it by the way.

As a last resort, you will have to turn to a local glazing firm, they will be able to reseal the vents for you, and it shouln't cost that much.

To try and help the situation at the present, try and get as much ventilation as possible, your plants will be better off cold than damp.

Help this helps.

[Allan]

I have a Hartley Clearspan, about the best you can buy, but I have to be careful under the vents as rain will always get in there to some extent, especiallywhen the automatic vents open in mild weather. It isn't the fault of the glass as such unless it is undersize so the overlap doesn't stop the rain coming in. If you have something inside that is particularly vulnerable to wet I would drape a large sheet of plastic over it and leave the bottom open to allow air to circulate freely.
Allan

[bluemarionette]

Hello, and thank you, Old Herbaceous. Yes, both from the same supplier...a family company making only greenhouses, Perity's of Cambridge. Well, I will do my best to see if I can get them to replace the thin horticultural glass (I didn't want it anyway, because boys in this area do throw stones, and I don't fancy being underneath it if they do!) Perity's do have a reputation to uphold, so I may perhaps succeed. I'm glad I have discovered (having been totally ignorant), that horticultural glass is a different thickness, since, even if Perity's won't do it, at least I can ask someone else to, as you suggest. Thanks for your trouble. Jane.

[bluemarionette]

Hello, Allan of Hereford, and thank you for the handy hint ... I will do that. Jane

[madasafish]

I had a similar problem with our 24 year old greenhouse. A morning on a ladder with a gun of clear silicone mastic (£2.50) on a dry and warmish day solved it.

[bluemarionette]

Thank you, madasafish ...the man who built my greenhouse has offered vey kindly to replace the glass vents with new ones with strengthened glass (which I am glad for, since boys here often throw stones!), but if I still have problems, I will remember, and do likewise. Happy gardening, Jane

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Bluemarionette, so glad that you will be getting your greenhouse back up to standard.
Hope you wil soon have a dry place to grow and work in.