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Camile · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:07 pm Post subject: Putting up a polytunnel day ?

Hi everyone,

We orderred the polytunnel, received it about a month ago ..

and assembled it within the last 3 days ! it's 14ft x 25ft Super High Sided from firsttunnels.com ..

but now we need to put it the plastic .. so would anyone fancy a day up to our place to bring all your expericence in polytunnel and help finishing it up .. it's not a one person job ..

that could be an idea for a get together. .. the only downside is that it has to be a nice windless day .. but the forecast are good for this week Wink

Camile

Moonwaves · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 80 Location: Dusseldorf

Hi Camile

I'd love to come down and help but am just about to head off to Germany for a couple of weeks. So, the weekend of 22nd and 23rd September is the first time I'll be around and you will presumably have it up by then. Let me know if you haven't.

Obviously I have absolutely no experience doing this so all I can offer is a pair of willing hands (and a good bit of height). Mind you, I'm going wwoofing in Germany so who knows what skills I might have picked up by the time i come back!
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blowin · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:03 pm Post subject:

Hi Camile , did you get it sorted ?

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

Was making very positive remarks about doing it when we met. Like your shed roof Blowin. Laughing

These things take time of course. Laughing

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blowin · Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:14 am Post subject:

Ahem , the lack of positive action with regard to the renovation of my barn is actually part of a master-plan called benign neglect . Having done nothing to repair it the next storm should take the whole roof off and dump it in the field , which will save me quite a bit of work .
I am sure that if I could re-direct even half of the energy I spend in making up excuses I would get all of these jobs done in no time ! Please tell me I am not the only one ! Laughing

Camile · Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:28 pm Post subject:

You are not the only one indeed ..

that's why the polytunnel is not up yet ..

would you be interested in giving it a go sometimes soon .. before the wind and rain really starts to be more frequent, like today ?

I believe I would really need some advices on the trench thingy ..

and I can definitely give you a hand for the barn repair when the time comes ... I can bring youth and strength .. not much experience though ..

Camile

blowin · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:58 am Post subject:

Nice offer Wink

.
I don't know why it is so difficult to tear myself away from this place but it seems that something unexpected turns up whenever I make a firm commitment to be somewhere else . I suspect that many others are in the same position or we would have arrived en-masse and got it sorted by now .

Bearing in mind that I am definitely not an expert , it seems to me that the task can be broken down into several stages . They don't all need more than one person on the job ( other than for motivation , which is still a big factor if you are working on your own most of the time ) ! I wonder whether people would be more willing to volunteer if they had a better idea of what time and effort would be involved ?
1/ I have very stoney ground so I would dig the trench first . That is in case you hit a really big rock which might make it necessary to move the whole layout to one side or another . Is your ground soft enough for one person to dig or would you need a gang with wrecking-bars ?
My experience is with the more curved models of tunnel . I think the principles are the same as for the straight-sided type you have but it might be worth checking that . You can apparently get away with digging the trench as close as 9" out from the line of the frame , and making it only about 9" wide and deep but I would not have much confidence in that unless the location was very sheltered . Better to have the sides 12" to 15" out and a similar width and depth . The trench at either end should be the same dimensions but much closer to the frame ( to minimise creasing when you come to fix the poly around the doorposts ) .
Your choice may be determined by the width of the polythene you have already bought . Remember that you will need a bit spare all around the outside of the ditch ( ie left over after the ditch has been filled back in again ) . I'd say about 18" . This is so that you can get a good grip on it when you are doing the lift-and-drop ( soil onto polythene and into the trench ) to tension the poly . The shorter it is , the more back-breaking the job !
Use a bit of string which is the same length as your polythene is wide to work out what your options are .
FWIW one cubic yard of soil weighs about a ton so you will get some idea of how much work is involved in that exercise .
2/ put up the frame . One person can do this with a lot of swearing or two can do it with a bit of fun .
3/ Lay the polythene over the frame ( remember that it has an "inside" ) and back-fill the trench . You can do the first side by the spade-full but when you do the opposite side and both ends you really need to dump a good weight in one hit . I found that 1 person shovelling plus 2 or 3 strongish people lifting was about right . You can't abandon this task half way thru !
Best guess 4 people for about 4 hours should see that done . Assuming they didn't stop for tea every five minutes !
4/ Finish off the woodwork and hang the doors . That would take me about a week but I am cr*p at carpentry ! Laughing

.

Hopefully that helps with the resource planning . So , what would you like us to do ?
Assuming that we can ever get there , that is !

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

Nice one Blowin Laughing

If I had read this post and asked who had written it without knowing I would have said "Blowin". Laughing

Do you happen to know the calorific value of the food one should have to eat to enable one to do the job in question? Laughing

I am joking here so don't get pissed Wink

Camile you will be surprised how much of a hold a bit of soil placed over the polythene in a trench can have. Dig your trench as deep as possible and if you cannot get very deep, go wider. If you have clay soil make the infill wet so you can give it a real pummel. Add a few rocks perhaps. To test my point try a test trench with a fertilizer bag and see how much of a hold you have. We would gladly come up and give you guys a hand. Perhaps this weekend, but I may well Have to be doing something else. I will know later one in the week if this fits in with you guys.
Cheers.
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Camile · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:57 am Post subject:

Hi Blowin,

Thanks for your advices.

The ground is actually very good growing medium with very little stones .. so digging the trench is not the issue at all .. it's more positionning it properly compare to the frame because it says in the manual that you need to put up the whole frame first (that we did already with Melanie, very fun to do) ...

it also says that the trench should be 10cm away from the frame . . but there never talk about the lift and drop that wayland told me about when he visited.

i did a bit of the woodwork already, which is fairly straight forward as I'm kind of used to work with wood.

So the only thing I believe I would really need a hand with, is the positionning and tensionninig of the polythene itself ..

regarding the site, it's shelter on all sides, with overgrown hedges at least 2 metres high, the tunnel is facing north to south to minimise the exposure of the sun, in order to be able to work in it during the day (shadow casts between 12 and 3pm, full sun in between) ...

I hope this helps,

And indeed I'm exactly like you now that I "work" full time at home . . I can't seem to find the motivation to just go and visit place .. if I'm not working, I prefere relaxing at home ...

Thanks,
Camile

Camile · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:05 am Post subject:

Hi wayland,

The soil becomes clayish when you dig for about a 1ft or 2ft .. but before that it's great top soil .. so digging deep enough definitely won't be an issue (I like digging holes !! Laughing

) ..

and I also have a hip of clay in the front field that could help a lot I'm sure ..

and thank you very much as for you offer of this weekend or anyother time ... anytime would suit me because I'm at home all the time . .. and I can't be fussy if someone offers to come when suits them .. especially for such a long way ... dinner and beds would of course be offerred .. it goes without saying ..

and maybe that could be a motivation point for Blowin to come at the same time if he can/wants because I know how busy we can all be at time between the cuppas/ciggies ...

and I will ask Callie also if they could help because they have experience with polytunnel, and it would be really great to be able to have a get together that way as we all talk about but never managed to do ..

Camile