Polycarbonate Greenhouses

In many cases, the panels are included in do-it-yourself greenhouse kits and are pre-cut to predefined sizes. However, this is not a rule; the sheets can also be purchased in standard size (6 x 2.10 meters) and cut very easily and quickly according to your structure. Polycarbonate is similar to glass in that it allows light and solar energy to pass through the sheet, but it has a major additional benefit as it retains energy inside the greenhouse or solar, thus helping to maintain a higher temperature than the external environment. An additional advantage is that the range of colors, thicknesses, and types of sheets (cellular, corrugated, compact polycarbonate, etc.) is very varied, making polycarbonate one of the most used materials in the field of greenhouse and solar construction or winter gardens.

In the past, glass was the only option for this type of application. Technological discoveries in the field of plastics have given rise to much more cost-effective, safer, more reliable, and lighter alternatives, and polycarbonate is one of the most commonly used materials in this regard. Being an entire class of plastics rather than a single type, polycarbonates differ from each other, but overall they share the characteristic of being very resistant materials. Much stronger than glass and at the same time much lighter. Some ranges of transparent polycarbonate even have a better light transmission coefficient compared to glass. Compact polycarbonate sheets are much more reliable and have an incomparably longer lifespan than the most resistant plastic films sometimes used to cover greenhouses and solariums.

There is a wide variety of polycarbonate panels that can be used in greenhouse construction, depending on the desired appearance or specific type of application: in terms of appearance, the sheets can be transparent, translucent, or opaque (the latter are not opaque in terms of light transmission but are created so that they cannot be seen through). Translucent panels allow some visibility inside while still maintaining a degree of privacy. Structurally, polycarbonate sheets can be simple compact (similar in appearance to glass) – used in applications with aesthetic impact or projects with certain architectural effects. Corrugated sheets are widely used in commercial applications because they have a higher degree of resistance compared to flat sheets of the same thickness. Cellular polycarbonate sheets also have added resistance due to their ribbed structure.

Source: WiseGeek.com