4 Magazine/October, 2017
There are hundreds of greenhouses offered every day. Sometimes they are good purchases, others are a waste of time. Knowing when to buy and when to walk away is an important skill. But before we look at the nitty gritty, we should examine the alternatives.
A new aluminum frame greenhouse will cost £30 per linear foot for a cheap one to £50 for an expensive one. A wooden frame greenhouse will cost a lot more. The way to work out the value of a second hand greenhouse is to check on the glass.
Glass greenhouse panes cost between £12 and £15 each. PVC ones cost around £8 each. So first of all the number of panes missing on the greenhouse is an important consideration. You should also factor in to the equation how many panes you might break in transport. You never manage to get them all back in one piece, and the merry tinkle in the back of the car as you drive over yet another traffic calming structure is another £15 to add on to the bill. You should estimate that you will break at least two.
So the cost of a second hand greenhouse should be no more than £15 per linear foot, which includes a calculation for replacement panes. Otherwise you might as well get a brand new one.
This calculation aside it means a 6-ft greenhouse should cost no more than £75 to make it potentially a good buy.
Structure
But then there are a few other problems to look for before you decide to buy. If you can manage it buy a greenhouse that you have to dismantle yourself. There are a number of good reasons for this. You can see exactly that everything is there because the whole thing is already in one piece. You will already know how many bolts you have to buy because you will have a record of the number you have to cut out with a hack saw because they have seized up.
You will also know that all the cross members are in place and if the door works and the window opens. And if all the base plates are actually straight and not a twisted wreck.
Installing a second
hand greenhouse