24.02.2024 What a pane!

 ~o~

  Saturday 24th 38F/3C. Small silver and gold clouds against a turquoise sky in the east. Risk of sunshine. Low wind.

 Up at 6.15. 63F/17C in the room. 

 7.45. Time to cut out the replacement greenhouse pane in polycarbonate. I'll probably use my battery powered jigsaw. A slight worry is whether the cardboard pattern is level and square to the greenhouse. If not, it will mean re-cutting the curve on the polycarbonate. The cardboard pattern does not have the metre deep, lower pane extension to guide it. Perhaps I can prop up the plastic sheet to check. 

 It might be best to cut it to width first. So that it can seat itself correctly in the greenhouse framework. Then I can mark the curve from the inside. To check the uprightness of the curve on the pattern. For which I used corrugated cardboard from a box. Which does not cut perfectly straight with scissors. 

 9.00 The polycarbonate cut easily with a low speed [2] and mild pendulum action on the DeWalt jigsaw. I used a fine toothed, metal cutting blade. There was no re-welding of the cut. As is commonplace when sawing acrylic. The plastic pane fits fine. Without the need for further trimming. 

 I might drill and bolt this pane into the framework. To avoid it blowing out again. The spring wire, glass clips just aren't strong enough. Not even when enough are added to fill all the frame space available. 

 The framework itself has proven to be storm resistant so far. It must have been up for 20 years by now. I joined two Halls Silverline end to end. Leaving out the two end gables in the middle. Halls used so sell a strong joining profile to allow longer lean-to greenhouses. I believe it was discontinued but can't be certain.

 This one has 11 bays of 60cm or 2'. 8' deep by 8' high at the wall from fading memory. An occupant of a house in a nearby village was dismantling his Hall's in readiness for a professionally built extension. I bought it and transported it home. Then I went to the Hall's dealer in Odense and bought another Silverline at a discount. 

 It would have been nice to have it even longer. To cover the second kitchen window. A colour enamelled framework would have given it a bit of a cosmetic lift. Bare aluminium can't pretend to be anything other than a greenhouse. Fortunately I was able to get both models in long sheets of glass. Rather than the fussier looking square sheets. 

 The glass remains remarkably clean. Despite my best efforts never to clean them. I have cleaned the greenhouse once of moss and algae after my wife died. When I could finally take down all the hideous white shading inside. The feeling of the bare greenhouse one of open, but protected space when inside the greenhouse. 

That is, until the sun shines. Then sweat and nausea from heat stroke quickly take over. The huge variations in temperature were only [finally] cured by fitting two layers of professional shade netting on the roof. Leaving an overlap down over the curved shoulders. Do not believe advertising images showing real human beings in unprotected glass greenhouses. The feeling of the sun beating down is really awful. It must be just like being lost in the desert! If you are shopping for a lean-to greenhouse or conservatory then go to the display models on a hot, sunny day.

 I made fine weldmesh panels with aluminium frames. To allow the double sliding doors to remain open all day in summer. Without the risk of anything larger than a fly getting in. The through draught, due to the open doors, is still essential to keep temperatures modest in sunshine. Usually no more than 10F above ambient when open. 

 No doubt this differential could be reduced further. By covering the front glass wall of the greenhouse in hot sunny weather. Then it would no longer fell like an open space but more like a mesh tent. I use tensioned ropes tied off at each end to support the heavy shade netting. This allows them to be quickly added or removed. The rope is threaded though the hem via the holes provided. This ensue the shade net is evenly supported. Typing a rope to the corners would achieve very little. The net stretches readily.

 The opening, skylight windows are a waste of space, money and materials in my own experience. I bought thermal openers but the temperature didn't change. Not even with four skylights wide open! A complete waste of money! The shade net can't be draped over them either. 

 On the Halls Silverline the skylights drip constantly in rainy weather. Gaining access to them, to add silicone sealer, is extremely difficult with a lean-to construction! Not can I reach the leaking gutter joint. It would take a carefully driven cherry picker. One mistake and the roof is shattered! A ladder would need to be incredibly long. To lie flat on the roof and touch the ground.

 This larger 8' deep Hall's Silverline is discontinued I think. Only the smaller 6' deep, with a single sliding door is listed online. I like the double doors for the ease of getting a wheelbarrow in and out. The greater depth of the 8' allows me to stack logs against the house wall without major impedance of the walkway past the junk.

 The pictures above show the progress so far on the new pane. I am leaving the protective foil on the clear plastic until I have finished work. The clutter inside the greenhouse remains. A mixture of recycling and my late wife's gardening paraphernalia. Next step is to cut the second sheet to fit in the lower section. The odd pieces shown in the earlier images were just to keep the wildlife out overnight. 

 11.00 42F/5.6C. The wind is picking up and the sunshine becoming brighter. The cold wind is making it rather uncomfortable to work outside. I decided to make an overlap between the two sheets for the moment. I will have a better idea of what it will look like when the protective foil is removed. 

 It is Saturday. So I could have a clear-out to the recycling yard. It looks an awful mess but there isn't much volume to make a trailer trip worthwhile. I could drop the rear seats down in the old car. Take a boot full. I am still making excuses. Not to have to sort through my wife's gardening things. It will only make me horribly depressed again. 

 12.00 I managed to fill the extended boot. A quick trip to be rid of it. The rest looks useful. It just needs to be housed more sensibly. 

 13.00 45F/7C. Lunch over. I delivered the greenhouse junk and some charity stuff to the recycling yard. It didn't make much of a dent in the mess on the floor. Though every little helps. I ought to sort through it and put it in tubs, or boxes. For storage out of sight in the shed. If only I could get into the shed!

 14.00 And there it was, gone. Well invisible anyway. I had to remove both plastic panes again to peel the protective film. The white bundles of film on the floor have now been tidied away. Using polycarbonate made the job far easier than using acrylic. No splintering or cracking. No half-melted, rough edges. Much cheaper than "cut to size" acrylic. Cost of two sheets at 3mm x 80cm x 120cm. 536kr. About £61 + petrol.

 It has been a pleasant enough day. Apart from the earlier, chilly wind. I could have gone for a ride. Showers and hail later. I have the greenhouse connecting doors open to warm indoors. 70F:61F. It is rather cloudy but worth trying now the sun is square onto the newly re-sealed greenhouse. The greenhouse warms very rapidly. Now 75F/24C. While the indoors lags behind. 62F/17C.

 17.00 Stove lit. The solar heating was very short lived. Far too much cloud as it headed for full overcast. It had dropped back to 61F/16C by the time I'd had an afternoon nap. 

17.45 I have done some more tidying in the greenhouse before dusk. Handling all my wife's gardening stuff wasn't as bad as I feared. It just needs to be properly organised. So that it is accessible when required.

 Dinner was cheese on toast with cherry tomatoes and a large bowl of Heinz tomato soup. A whole tin. I am fed up with throwing away half tins of stuff I don't ever get around to.

  ~o~