Building a polycarbonate greenhouse with PVC is fairly simple and quick. However, proper preparation in advance is essential. Building a greenhouse with plastic pipes is easy and inexpensive, and these two factors are what attract gardeners. It's also worth noting the easy workability and elasticity of this material.
Necessary elements
You can build a greenhouse yourself using PVC pipes quite quickly. Moreover, it can be done with minimal tools. A polycarbonate greenhouse will last a long time, but even film can be used as a heat-retaining material.
Important! This DIY greenhouse made from plastic pipes is small, as you can see in the video. This type of greenhouse is worth building if you don't plan to grow crops year-round, but for seedlings, a DIY greenhouse made from PVC pipes is perfect. Here's a tutorial on how to build one yourself. build a stove at the dacha.
The structure must include a foundation (how to make it can be seen separately in the video), a frame, and a covering (in this case, it must be made of polycarbonate).
Material as a definition of form
To build a greenhouse on your property at minimal cost, PVC pipes are ideal for the frame. But even with such a simple greenhouse, attaching the pipes to the frame can vary. Before you begin, there's one important requirement: the greenhouse will be arched.
1. If you take a 1000mm PVC pipe and place it on two supports, but leave the middle section free and apply pressure, it will sag. This is obviously a major drawback for the structure.
2. A PVC greenhouse with straight walls requires the installation of additional stiffeners and supports to prevent the pipe from sagging in the center. However, as noted in this article, such a DIY greenhouse will be small, and additional supports are highly undesirable.
3. If you bend the tube into an arc and fix it in this position, then when you press on the central part, it will be elastic. Arrangement polycarbonate greenhouses: features and tips.
Without foundation?
Some videos show that it's possible to build a PVC greenhouse without any additional foundation. This will save money, effort, and even time. If the greenhouse isn't being built for year-round use, the foundation can be omitted.
But, of course, for the sake of strength and durability, it's best to build the structure from foundations. The standard width of a polycarbonate sheet is 2100 x 6000 mm, and calculations for a specific greenhouse are made based on this.
How to decide on the size
An arched greenhouse is made from bent plastic pipes. When they are bent, they form a perfect arch. With a sheet width of 3821 mm, half the circle has a radius of 1910 mm, which is the full height of the greenhouse and half its width. Therefore, decreasing the width of the greenhouse will correspondingly decrease its height.
The frame will be 900 mm long, meaning that with eight sections, there will be seven spans, resulting in a sheet length of 6,300 mm. Other dimensions are also possible, but it's important to understand the calculation principles, which you can also watch in the video.
Building the foundation
There's no exact diagram for each specific case of building a greenhouse from plastic pipes. However, a frame for the future greenhouse can be constructed from boards to specific dimensions. Before installation, it's recommended to treat the wood with a special solution that will protect the material from moisture and mold for a certain period of time. Place the frame on a prepared, level area. Now, check that the diagonal alignment of the frame is maintained.
To do this, you'll need to make four 500mm long pieces of rebar and hammer them into the corners of the frame on the inside. Carefully measure the diagonals, and then hammer the rebar in. Make DIY crafts for your dacha.
Installation of arches
The next step in building a greenhouse from polycarbonate and PVC pipes is to properly create and install the arches from plastic pipes. You'll need to cut 14 70mm pieces of rebar; watch the video to see how. Next, mark the inside of the frame with a marker. The first mark is at the very edge, and the remaining marks are spaced 900mm apart.
Now, hammer in pieces of rebar along the marks on the outside of the frame, leaving only 300 mm protruding. Mark the width by dividing the width in half and leaving a total of 400 mm on each side, making marks. Next, make arcs from PVC pipes. Take two 3000 mm pieces and weld them together to form a cross in the center.
The outer arch elements are made differently. The pipes need to be connected in the center with straight tees, and the arches are now ready for installation. As a reminder, polycarbonate sheets will be used for the greenhouse's top surface. You can see how to attach them accurately in the video accompanying this article.
Advice! Insert sections of plastic pipe into the rebar yourself, lengthwise on one side, then bend and insert the other end on the other side. This means that the PVC pipes will be placed above the already-made wooden frame (see video), serving as arches for the future DIY polycarbonate greenhouse.
Polycarbonate coating
In addition to plastic pipes and a wooden frame, this greenhouse requires polycarbonate sheets. They will be used to cover the walls and roof, creating a space that will provide warmth and light for the plants. The sides are fairly easy to install—slide wooden blocks between the ribs to create a smooth, sealed surface. The polycarbonate sheets are easy to install—you'll just need screws to attach them.
As for how to attach a polycarbonate sheet to an arched structure made of PVC plastic pipes, you can watch this process in detail in the video, and then all that's left to do is repeat it yourself.
To extend the lifespan of a greenhouse made of polycarbonate and plastic pipes, it's recommended to lay a concrete foundation in advance. This won't affect the structure or installation itself, but the reinforcement will be embedded in the concrete rather than driven into the ground, allowing the wooden frame elements to last longer.