23.02.2024 Solar greenhouse glass sucked out!

 ~o~

  Friday 23rd 40F/4C. Storm force, overnight gales reducing and heavily overcast. Up at 6.15. I woke at 3.30am and could hear the greenhouse shrieking and whistling in the wind. There was nothing I could do. So I turned over to place my deaf ear upwards and went back to sleep. 

 7.00 As it became lighter I could see a large sheet of broken glass lying beside the old car. The SE corner glass of the greenhouse has travelled right around the house. From the greenhouse on the south side to north of the house. 

 It is still blowing a gale with nasty gusts. I'll stay indoors until it is fully light. Then I can have a proper look around for any more damage. The glass may easily have hit the old car. Several large pieces are lying around the front wing of the car. 

 I have been out into the greenhouse to check again and it is suddenly very draughty out there. It is remarkably difficult to see the glass in the greenhouse from the inside. Which usually gives the enclosed space a very open feel. An illusion only broken when the glass is wet or misted over.

 7.30 It has just started raining hard. Now I can clearly see the greenhouse's glass roof is still intact.

 7.45 On further examination the broken "glass" by the car proved to be clear plastic. Perspex or similar. Which I had replaced, over two decades ago, instead of glass. That was after a previous storm in 1999. This SE corner panel is subject to aerodynamic suction or lift from south westerly winds. I had bought lots of extra clips to ensure that all of the glass stayed in place during storms. Which over time proved to be an absolute nuisance. Since moss readily accumulates on the clips. Making it look unsightly and cleaning remarkably difficult.

 It might have been sensible to silicone the glass in place. However I feared deterioration due to weathering and UV. Which would have made replacing any broken glass much more difficult. Though it would have made the glass structural. Due to stressed skin effect. Now I have to find a replacement for the missing glass, or plastic.

 3mm polycarbonate is the best choice. Cheaper than acrylic and unbreakable. Now to find a stockist within easy reach. It seems I'll have to drive into the city to buy from a discount warehouse. The plastic specialists charge far too much for delivery. The builder's merchants sell only acrylic. 

 The 80x120 sheets of polycarbonate will easily fit in the old car. Provided I can get from the shop to the car without them taking off! This time I shall use clear silicone to ensure the plastic stays in place in the next storm. It's a good job the car has been fixed!

12.30 I have returned from the city with two sheets of 3mm polycarbonate. Crossing the road from the huge shed to the car park was a bit fraught! The crosswind was focused by the large buildings. While the sheets were too wide for laying on the flat bed trolley. I tilted them so that the wind pressed the sheets down. Rather than causing them to lift. They could easily have sliced somebody's head off. If they had caught the fierce wind!

The pedestrian crossing was blocked by a huge lorry. Why not use the goods loading bay at the side of the building? Too bløødy lazy? Of course. While the passing traffic had absolutely no desire to stop. To make matters worse there is a considerable cross slope. Both on the road and in the car park. So shopping trolleys are always trying to run away downhill.

 The local authorities really should look at this busy crossing point. Give way to pedestrians signs would help. Or even a push button, light controlled pedestrian crossing. Though, given the long delays these usually cause it may not be remotely in the pedestrian's interest. A properly marked and lit, zebra crossing is all it probably needs. Then the intermittent traffic has no excuse for mowing down those struggling with their wayward trolleys.

 16.00 43F/6C. I have come in to warm up again. I have been cutting a pattern out of cardboard. To match the curved shoulder of the missing end gable glass. The entire height is missing. The wind is so strong that it tries to snatch the cardboard from my hand. Every time I try to mark it or take it down again to trim. My eyes are streaming with the cold wind and splashing my tears onto my reading glasses. It's hell out there!

 I have to make a decision on where to have the joint. The last time I made it to lie [almost invisibly] at the crossbar of the greenhouse frame. The new, shorter sheet size does not allow for that. Where to place the joint between the two vertical sheets? Unfortunately this corner of the greenhouse is the first thing any visitor sees. Then there is the matter of the kind of joint. Overlap? Butt joint? Butt joint with strip reinforcement inside the join? 

 A butt joint would allow rain to run down the outside unimpeded. A step would look ugly. It also risks lifting the clear plastic away from the framework seal. A reinforcing strip would avoid the cut edges from flexing too freely. It can be made short enough to fit in the space between the metal framework. So it won't distort the bedding rubber, sealing strip. 

 I favour a reinforced butt joint at knee height. That way the joint will be better hidden by the detailed brick floor. Or the usual junk on the greenhouse floor. No, I still haven't tidied the greenhouse. As promised probably over a year ago.

 The storm has passed but the wind and gusts are still fierce. I think it would be too risky to try and fit the new plastic in place today. The wind is supposed to drop away overnight. Giving me a window of opportunity early tomorrow morning in the shelter of the north side of the house. No pun intended. I don't even have a safe place to do the sawing to shape in this wind. I have blocked off the missing glass area as best I can. Enough to keep cats, mice and two legged rats out overnight.   

 I should have mentioned that I bought a smaller frying pan in the city Føtex sells Kitchen Aid. The huge pan[s] I have now often make the food look lost. I also need to fry eggs sometimes. Which doesn't need a huge pan. So I added a 24cm to my cooking arsenal. 

 Dinner was fried eggs with mushrooms and boiled potatoes. Cooked in my new frying pan. I as going to fry the boiled potatoes but ironically, had no room in the pan.

 

  ~o~