Polytunnels and wind

[RockyKildare]

Need to put up a structure this summer to keep our machinery in the dry and to put some straw bales in. Can't justify a steel building cost wise, so now looking at a polytunnel. How do they stand up to high winds? We're at 1000ft and quite exposed. Looking at a 30ft x 40ft. We looked at the Mcgreggor tunnels at the NSA show in Malvern and thought they looked far sturdier and better put together than all the other manufacturers there. Just wondering what experiences other had with them.

 

[miniconnect]

Buy the most expensive, heaviest sheet you can. i was involved in re sheeting large poly tunnels here on 50yards from the atlantic, they were done with the same grade of stuff bouncy castles are made of. horrible to try and open it all out, but do it on a warm day and pull it drum skin tight and dont have any creases. i think that was 5 years ago now. still there all good.

 

[FE35]

Put it up facing the weather & do a good job of sheeting it & they will survive well. Allow the wind to get hold of the sheet it'll be off in no time

 

[Kidds]

Mine survived today but Uncles didn't. Both have the legs concreted in, both done by me come to think of it.

 

[TripleSix]

There used to be one here, sheet didn't last a year, so it was skinned with corrugated sheets.

That ensured the whole lot blew away....

 

[renewablejohn]

Getting decent plastic is the real problem. Over the last 5 years each tunnel we have put up has split where the plastic has been folded prior to unrolling. We are very exposed on a hilltop but with plastic buried in the ground we used to get a 5 year lifespan out the plastic now its been as low as one year.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

for 40` x 30` that you are looking for, and with being 1000ft and quite exposed,

would 2 x 40` shipping containers set a distance apart, bolt on roof trusses and sheet the roof it over in between, and fill in the exposed gable end,
cut out a couple of open doorways on the shed side of containers for access, and use the bits cut out to reduce to the open end of the gable,
would not need PP, no founds, no need for concrete, no shed sides, low cost, and would stand up for years, and hold down a lot better that a poly tunnel in the wind, and would last a lot longer,

could be done on the cheap, but would be a better job long term

 

[Dry Rot]

I put one up years ago with grant aid. I am in the Scottish Highlands at sea level so know all about wind. The Department of Agriculture (as was) was more concerned about the hoop spacing than wind because of snow loading. In practice, I used to just go along with a soft broom and tap the underside of the plastic to get the snow to slide off. This is not a heavy snow fall area anyway.

The most important thing about the wind is to allow any air getting into a building a way to get out. Fail to do that and you have a hang glider! I had Tensar along the bottom of the sides (for sheep housing) and sat a row of round bales down each side. The tunnel was sited at right angles to the prevailing wind. Problems arose if the plastic got at all slack and any tears need to be repair promptly with some special cellotape stuff supplied by the manufacturers. Tightening up the plastic is a routine job.

Tunnels are lovely to work in and I'd have another in a heart beat. But putting the plastic on single handed is a real pain. Stopped for a cup of tea on that job and came out to find the plastic wrapped around a barbed wire fence!

 

[Paddington]

Storm Doris seems to have sneaked round the back of ours, facing north and the doors now look like something out Star Wars. If we had another one would go for sliding rather than hinged doors.

 

[2YardOfLard]

Very windy here.
Had ours about 8 years, from Northern Polytunnels.
https://www.northernpolytunnels.co.uk/
It has it's original cover but going to replace it this year. It has a bolt into a concrete pad, at the point where each end of the hoops meet the ground. A bar runs along at ground level & the plastic has a v-shaped rubber seal that it's pushed into, not just held down by earth. Also has cross bars stopping the hoops spreading. We put it up so the prevailing wind goes along the ridge & stretched the plastic on a hot day. Was a bit embarrassed when we bought it, thinking it was a bit over the top but it is one of only two tunnels that survive from year to year on this island. Others regularly pop up in summer & are gone by Christmas. The other survivor is behind a big stand of leylandii.
Nervous that I've jinxed myself now!

 

[2YardOfLard]

Getting decent plastic is the real problem. Over the last 5 years each tunnel we have put up has split where the plastic has been folded prior to unrolling. We are very exposed on a hilltop but with plastic buried in the ground we used to get a 5 year lifespan out the plastic now its been as low as one year.

That's worrying. Going to be looking for new plastic later this year.

 

[2YardOfLard]

Buy the most expensive, heaviest sheet you can. i was involved in re sheeting large poly tunnels here on 50yards from the atlantic, they were done with the same grade of stuff bouncy castles are made of. horrible to try and open it all out, but do it on a warm day and pull it drum skin tight and dont have any creases. i think that was 5 years ago now. still there all good.

Argyll is handy for me. Don't suppose you remember where the sheet came from?

 

[miniconnect]

Argyll is handy for me. Don't suppose you remember where the sheet came from?

I wouldnt know, Northern polytunnels rang a bell, but looking on their website i cant find any covers like it. if you speak to them they should point you the right direction. The tunnels are at a marine research laboratory, they are now insulated with spray foam on the inside and heated! the material is so tough you can walk on top of the tunnels!

 

[spin cycle]

Need to put up a structure this summer to keep our machinery in the dry and to put some straw bales in. Can't justify a steel building cost wise, so now looking at a polytunnel. How do they stand up to high winds? We're at 1000ft and quite exposed. Looking at a 30ft x 40ft. We looked at the Mcgreggor tunnels at the NSA show in Malvern and thought they looked far sturdier and better put together than all the other manufacturers there. Just wondering what experiences other had with them.

i don't think there's a lot in it cost wise between polytunnel and basic 'roof on legs'

 

[renewablejohn]

That's worrying. Going to be looking for new plastic later this year.

Plastic Northern Polytunnel use now is rubbish had the manufacturers out on site to show them the weakness occurs where it is folded. Have also shown its across the range as we use 3 different types of plastic for different purposes and all have the same defect. If they dont soon sort it then it will end up down the legal route as we have spent far to much on this rubbish. With Doris we have 1 bay with a 3 foot slit on the fold and another bay with a rip either side of a 2 foot slit on the fold.

 

[2YardOfLard]

Plastic Northern Polytunnel use now is rubbish had the manufacturers out on site to show them the weakness occurs where it is folded. Have also shown its across the range as we use 3 different types of plastic for different purposes and all have the same defect. If they dont soon sort it then it will end up down the legal route as we have spent far to much on this rubbish. With Doris we have 1 bay with a 3 foot slit on the fold and another bay with a rip either side of a 2 foot slit on the fold.

Very useful information, thank you.

 

[JohnGalway]

Typed out a long post, but it really comes down to two things.

Get the structure really tight.

Get the plastic really tight.

Job done. Have had lots of 120kmph storms blow through it here.

I see a lot of tunnels put up on social media and they're pure slack in the plastic, don't use hotspot tape etc.

 

[Northern Polytunnels]

Plastic Northern Polytunnel use now is rubbish had the manufacturers out on site to show them the weakness occurs where it is folded. Have also shown its across the range as we use 3 different types of plastic for different purposes and all have the same defect. If they dont soon sort it then it will end up down the legal route as we have spent far to much on this rubbish. With Doris we have 1 bay with a 3 foot slit on the fold and another bay with a rip either side of a 2 foot slit on the fold.

Plastic Northern Polytunnel use now is rubbish had the manufacturers out on site to show them the weakness occurs where it is folded. Have also shown its across the range as we use 3 different types of plastic for different purposes and all have the same defect. If they dont soon sort it then it will end up down the legal route as we have spent far to much on this rubbish. With Doris we have 1 bay with a 3 foot slit on the fold and another bay with a rip either side of a 2 foot slit on the fold.

Hi RenewableJohn,

Are you sure you have the right company? Just spoken with our Sales Manager and he is unaware of any complaint logged or a site visit regarding manufacturer faults. We have always used Visqueen, a high quality UK manufacturer, covered with a guarantee for manufacturer faults.

It would be great to get some more information, we know Visqueen isn't "rubbish" and it would great to have the opportunity to defend our product in a public forum. As we mentioned, it's the first we've heard about it. Give us a call to discuss further on 01282 873120.

Northern Polytunnels

 

[renewablejohn]

Hi RenewableJohn,

Are you sure you have the right company? Just spoken with our Sales Manager and he is unaware of any complaint logged or a site visit regarding manufacturer faults. We have always used Visqueen, a high quality UK manufacturer, covered with a guarantee for manufacturer faults.

It would be great to get some more information, we know Visqueen isn't "rubbish" and it would great to have the opportunity to defend our product in a public forum. As we mentioned, it's the first we've heard about it. Give us a call to discuss further on 01282 873120.

Northern Polytunnels

Guarantee is not worth the paper it is printed on. If you want to dig deeper I am a long standing customer of your sister company LBS and you can see from the accounts records for RICH 130 how much rubbish visqueen I have had over the years. I am now down to just one tunnel which your quite welcome to come and inspect (your less than 20 miles away) the damage caused in the most recent storms along the crease lines. The area sales rep spent a day taking pictures collecting samples recording sheet numbers promising the earth the outcome of which has been zero. So much for customer service all I can do is warn others of the rubbish product.

 

[Northern Polytunnels]

Guarantee is not worth the paper it is printed on. If you want to dig deeper I am a long standing customer of your sister company LBS and you can see from the accounts records for RICH 130 how much rubbish visqueen I have had over the years. I am now down to just one tunnel which your quite welcome to come and inspect (your less than 20 miles away) the damage caused in the most recent storms along the crease lines. The area sales rep spent a day taking pictures collecting samples recording sheet numbers promising the earth the outcome of which has been zero. So much for customer service all I can do is warn others of the rubbish product.

Thank you for confirming it wasn’t Northern Polytunnels that you ordered your polythene from, but a totally separate company called LBS. You had us scratching our heads for a while there.

LBS and Northern Polytunnels have not been within the same group of companies for a number of years now. As such, due to data protection, we are unable to see your trading history with them. This is a public forum and false statements can be damaging to a business, we appreciate your right to “warn others of a rubbish product” but ensure you are naming the correct company and product. That being said, we would appreciate it if you would remove the false statements about Northern Polytunnels.

Your comment, “Guarantee is not worth the paper it is printed on” is also puzzling. We cannot comment specifically about your experience with LBS as we simply do not have the details, we would recommend that you contact them directly to resolve your issues.

Northern Polytunnels supply approximately 61,750m of Visqueen polythene to all areas of the UK and Europe per annum, and we offer a 7 year guarantee against manufacturing defects and early UV degredation. We have supplied it to the Arctic Circle, the Scottish Isles and we have 120 + polytunnels in the Falkland Islands. From what they tell us, it gets more than a little blustery down there and in 30 years we have had no complaints regarding the strength of our polythene or our structures. On the contrary, we are the only supplier to that part of the world. From our experience, we believe our polythene is by far the most superior of quality and strength.