New Greenhouse nearing completion

The trouble shooter from Harfords Greenhouses has come to view his team’s handiwork and try to settle some of the problems we have. Many of these problems resulted from an amazing lack of communication from the construction team. That much has been acknowledged.

What’s gone wrong? Remember, this is a 900 square metre (around 10,000 sq ft) greenhouse.

The whole house was built sloping the wrong way, so that the gutters took water to the wrong end of the house – away from the down pipes. They fixed this when it was pointed out, but only to “level”. That’s ok but....

The central gutter, when full, leaks water inside the house.

One ratchet arm that’s involved in opening the vents is badly aligned and bangs into a truss.

The internal insect screens weren’t finished, so insects (including bees) can pass freely between sections of the house. This should not happen. We don’t want stray pollen.

The doors don’t have stoppers to prevent them blowing in, in a strong wind.

The insect screens attached to the roof vents were cut down (without consultation) when they were installed, preventing the vents from opening to their full extent, which they need to do in still, hot weather.

That’s about the lot. We’ve discussed the problems and he has agreed to fix them at their cost. It has, however, cost us most of the seed crop we hoped to harvest from the new house this summer.

It’s Sunday. The sun’s shining, the birds are singing and lunch will soon be ready.