As you can see it used to have some plastic covering. The frame is held together with (sorta brittle) plastic pins but my main focus is how I'd re-cover the frame in plastic:
What sort of adhesives should I consider for outdoor metal-plastic bonding?
Is adhesive and soft (clear) plastic even a good idea?
Have any of you done something similar?
the gold standard for plastic on frame is 6 "mil" aka 6 mm thick clear polyethylene film "greenhouse plastic sheeting" for something that small, I would look at a series of removeable clips to fasten it and unfasten/remove at the end of season. plastic gets holes and eventually degrades in the sun after a number of years.
for fastening, in the states we have a product lovingly referred to as "wiggle wire" that uses a precisely pre-bent stiff wire along a metal tracking to hold plastic into place. I think they make smaller gauges for smaller houses like that, because the stuff I have used would be overkill. and really, your project is small enough that like a box of those heavy duty binder clips from an office supply store would probably work. I would make the back+sides more or less "permanent" and make the front be made to easily open/seal for access, watering, and venting on bright sunny warmish days.
edit: this is what I am picturing when I say binder clip, but really once you get the material and get a feel for its durability, you will know what will work. 6mil poly is no joke. like I wouldn't puncture it, but you can clamp the shit out of it.
edit2: the other thing I would recommend down the line once it's rigged up, would be to get your hands on some "injection molded" trays (as opposed to the flimsier, "blow molded" trays). you wash and reuse them and they would make life easier with that existing shelving in there by not drooping or breaking/falling through. I like to think I'm a gentle, deliberate person, but early morning watering can get clumsy).
I think 'mil' is related to imperial measurements. No way is 6 mil greenhouse plastic 6mm thick.
There are about 40mil to 1mm, though, and I don't think they're talking about food wrap. But plastic greenhouse panes are about 5mm thick, so maybe that's what is meant here.
shit I dunno, it's thick. I figured it was some nominal b.s. like with lumber where it's totally not the thing, but people talk like it is. I would guess it's like 1.5-2 mm actual. I don't know what "mil" refers to, maybe some machine gauge?
found an answer.
This thickness is indicated as MIL (thousandth of an inch).
I worked for a while in The Academy, so we flipped around units a lot depending on the audience. I just assumed this was one of the SI friendly units.
what a dumb country. thousandths of an inch, what a useful meaurement! lmao
Yeah that's what makes it confusing. Shortening mm to "mil" is pretty standard when dealing in metric. But will be orders of magnitude off if it's in imperial measurements.
I'm so tired I read this as mental greenhouse and was like yeah let's fixit
mental greenhouse is how my head feels in this 30C weather on antidepressants AND methamphetamines
heavy-duty zip ties are a cheap way to reinforce the pins holding it together if it feels shaky. also, depending on your climate, having a plastic cover you can remove or peel back during high temps is easier on some plants than one permanently affixed to the frame (plus, as others have mentioned, the plastic will degrade due to exposure over time).
also, i usually place something with some heft (larger potted plants, unopened bags of soil or fertilizer, or bricks, etc.) at the bottom to help stabilize the set-up from wind, pets, and such. have fun!
That's a good shout! I have some iron bricks that were laying about that could work for that ๐
Polytunnels seem common enough to legitimise plastic as a covering material. And, if it's thick enough to withstand the weather, then the plastic could be wrapped around the frame and riveted back to itself. That'd avoid problems with glue/clamping/etc.
That's what im thinking too. Lighter plastic would make it wasier to fit the frame. I'll see what sorta rivets you can get (or maybe buttons) since my SO knows a lot of seamstressing stuff
You should be able to find a replacement cover, something similar to this, that you can just slap back over it. Be a lot easier and probably cheaper unless you already have the plastic lying around.
Yeah that's also a good idea. I wasnt sure if there were standard sizes that people fit these things to which made me think bespoke!
Finding an exact fit might be difficult, but if you find something that's only a little bit too big/wrong shaped you can use binder clips to secure the excess and keep it tight.
Finally, a comm for that one user who hand-makes longbows. This ones for you, comrade.