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~

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~

22.02.2024 Storm warning!

 ~o~

  Thursday 22nd 43F/6C. Misty, breezy and overcast. Some rain is forecast for this morning. A severe storm is promised for tonight. Not a favourable wind direction either! Peaking at 27m/s gusts from the west at 4am on Friday. The wind starts southerly, then SW before turning temporarily westwards at its peak. I might be lucky and be protected by the trees when the wind is at its worst.

 Up at 6.15 after waking twice in the night. The room has dropped from 68F at bedtime to 63F this morning. From 20-17C.

 I need to shop or there will be no lunch and only toast for dinner. The log situation is getting grim. I haven't heard from the garage workshop yet. I can't tow the big trailer full of logs with the Morris. Nor use the old car's hatchback's huge boot area for half as many logs. The Morris doesn't lend itself to carrying logs. The boot is tiny and divided by a shelf. 

 The Morris is registered to tow 350kg. The 1150S trailer weighs 100kg. Leaving only 250kg load allowance. It's volume, with 50cm high, mesh sides is almost exactly 1m^3.  I have searched online and failed to get an exact answer for 1m^3 of loosely jumbled, stove ready, beech logs. One forum suggested 250kg/m^3. 

 There are conversion factors going from solid wood, to neatly stacked, to loose fill. More air is taking up space with each case. Moisture content adds greatly to the total weight. It is assumed to be below 20% for burnable firewood. I'd have to discuss trailer volume with the timber yard. They use a huge bucket loader and rely on experience to measure volume in loose jumbled logs. 

 I have no easy way of weighing such volumes. Nor am I sure the mesh sides can tolerate having a bucket load of logs dumped on them. They are willing to dump logs onto the ground. Though it is hard and slow work loading a trailer that way. I did that with half a cubic meter when filling the car boot. Though the boot's lower boot lip was probably higher than the trailer's.  

 8.30. Its not raining. Time for a walk.   

 9.00 I returned from a short walk in wind driven drizzle. I wore my winter jacket and kept my hood up. As I plodded around the drive loop. Puddles everywhere and minor flooding. There seems to be renewed activity in two of the long-empty houses. Electricians and plumbers working at others. The builders are busy at another neighbour. Are they teasing?  

10.00 Stove lit. Waiting for it to settle down before I go shopping in the Morris.  

 I stopped to check on the old car at the workshop. It was ready. They had fitted new spark plugs and ignitions cables. I drove home and then headed straight back. It took me 40 minutes to walk there. I was stripped down to my T-shirt because I was so warm as I walked briskly. There was mist and fine drizzle but I didn't care.

 The extensions to the district heating system are enormously disruptive. The detours go for miles. [or rather kilometres] Because there are no alternative routes across the agricultural landscape. Only narrow lanes connect outlying villages. While all the main roads are blocked by their lengthy excavations. Fortunately I was able to squeeze through on foot. Then plod on along the mud caked roads.

 13.00 The trailer and old car are finally hitched together. I will fetch more logs as soon as I have finished lunch. The long term forecast is a return to winter conditions for March. Which means I must have a good stock of logs. It may not be possible to collect more if the roads are icy or snow covered. Pushing the big trailer around on the sloping parking area is becoming very hard work. I am just not as fit as I was once as the years accumulate. It is odd to think I am much nearer 80 than 70! 

 14.30 Returned with a trailer load of logs. I had a chat with the bucket loader, machine driver but came to no firm conclusions about a smaller trailer. Much depends how big a bucket he has on the machine. He told me that a cubic metre of dry beech weighs about 250kg. Which would place it just inside the ball park for the smaller trailer.

 15.00 I have brought about a quarter of the logs into the greenhouse. It is raining lightly, I am tired and my back is aching. So I am having a rest. Tonight's storm gusts have been upgraded to 31m/s or 70mph! Still tending to westerly at its peak. Which will provide some shelter from the trees. If they stay up! Their roots have been sitting in water for months.

 16.45 Had a nap then back to work. The trailer is now empty and parked out of the way. The wheelbarrow still contains the odd shaped lumps. They burn well enough but are difficult to stack. There is the strong smell of damp in the greenhouse again. Hopefully a bit of sunshine will hep to dry the new load out. They measure between 19% and 22%. The last dregs of the previous lot average just under 20%. This is after a month in the greenhouse with some sunshine.

 The storm force gusts are now forecast to be southerly to south westerly. Where I have least protection. From about 1am to 9am it will be gusting over 20m/s. Peaking at 30m/s at 4am.

 Dinner was salad. I forgot to take a picture.

  ~o~