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Saturday 14 April 2012

Build Your Own Poly Tunnel

As promised here are the basics on how to build your own Poly Tunnel
First concrete 4 foot lengths of scaffold tube in to the ground at 5 foot centres the quantity will depend on how the finished tunnel will be. These tubes should be 3 foot long above ground

Next fix scaffold planks to the outside of the poles on both sides and the back using builders Band 



 Next put the 50mm water or gas or gas pipe over the scaffold tubes and push down to the top of the scaffold boards to create the hoops for a 10foot wide tunnel use 19 foot lengths

Next build the frameworks at both ends using randomised cls timber from Wickes or B+Q







The hoops need bracing on the smaller tunnels I use 2x1 timber 
on the larger ones I use the same cls as the framework just screw the wood in to the pipe 
you are now ready for the sheet 
you can find the sheeting instructions here






23 comments:

  1. That is bloody fantastic
    What is the cost for getting the frame up together as per your instructions

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  2. Great stuff Paul, makes me want to build one. Be interested in how much you reckon it costs as Darren says.

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  3. Great article Paul.... Thanks for that..... Will build one next season.... Can get all the stuff off Ebay for reasonable prices! Top Man!!!

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  4. Got any Pics putting the cover on?

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  5. Seems a lot of effort for a parrot!

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  6. Darren Damo it depends how cheap you can find the stuff on ebay a roll of pipe went a couple of days ago for 36.25
    the guy mentioned in his listing he had some more Item number: 320883733500
    corny I did not take any photos but it was straight forward and took a couple of hours to do
    Simon thanks once again for your kind comments and encouragement

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  7. Paul
    That looks great. Its the pipe that's the problem up here in the "artic circle" I think it is a 12ft wide one I'd want, do you have a lenght for the pipe needed per hoop?

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  8. Are you dead you lazy Northern bastard? I'm getting fed up with this post. Pull your finger out and do another!

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  9. Hey Paul just wondering what size of scaffolding pipe did you use :) ?

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  10. very well put together excellent tips tanx margaret

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  11. cool tunnel man and thanks for putting this up, allotments have been so much fun this year

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  12. Really interested in this...how solid have you found it to be in a high wind? We're moving to north-east Scotland, and our neighbour (a farmer who grows produce for farmer's markets) lost the cover off his commercial grade tunnel twice last winter...

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    1. Hi Jill I live high in the Pennines and it can get windy I have 3 of these and have had no damage the first one I built is 7 years old thanks for your question and good luck

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  13. A very informative article to read.Thanks a lot for posting this.Good Job.Keep it Up.

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  14. Hi, great article...many thanks..is the MDPE pipe 63mm with ID of about 51mm??

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    1. Hello. I appreciate that this post is quite old however, would 32mm dia pipe be suitable if placed closer together?

      Thanks

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  17. Built one of these using yellow pipe, solid as any normal tunnel. I used 4 by 1 to run along the ridge which I bolted through using 6mm bolts. I trenched the polythene into the ground. Excellent thing and growing plenty of produce in it.

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  18. I am thinking this method might work for a yurt.

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  19. If my pollytunel is 12 x 16 how much plastic would I need for my pollytunel

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  20. very good idea. Unfortunately, the link to the sheeting instructions is not opening

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