How to make your own polytunnel

The first step is deciding where you want to possition the tunnel and how big you want to make it.
The garden here runs North South with the house at the southern end. A line of tall conifers 35 feet
high both shades and shelters the Western boundary. I decided to remove a line of hedging to make
some room for the tunnel. Width was an issue and I did,nt have the space for a standard 10 foot
wide tunnel.
After clearing the area I used the 3/4/5 pythagoras rule to set out the basis shape and using 10 mm
reinforcing bar/string marked the footprint out as with any build.
Being over optomistic structurally I decided that it might be possible to span the 8 feet using 3/4
inch pipe. This was a mistake it’s much too flexible!. The rebar and 3/4 inch water pipe has come in
handy since for protected covering etc as the re-bar fits perfectly into the pipe as does typical
bamboo dims.
I needed to get stronger foundations and stronger piping and eventually went for the following
setup. I got the piping in Chadwicks Sallynoggin Dublin . Ask for Shane Jordan ( helpfull guy).
They have 60mm O/D  (outside dimension) Qualplast. You will need to bring along a bit of the
piping you choose to the steel yard to be sure of a fit.I would not recommend the standard 48.3mm 
scaffold as a cheap option as it is difficult to find a piping to sleeve over it comfortably without
cutting or additional work.  I got the steel cut at a steel yard. It cost 70 euro to get 10 x 6 foot lenths
of 43 mm galvanised steel tubing.Its 43 mm O/D and allows the plastic piping to fit over it easy.
The weight of a person is enough to sleeve it into possition.
Once set out drive the 6 feet steel tubing into the ground to a depth of 3 feet using a sledge hammer,
use a piece of timber to protect the pipe. The tubes are 4 feet apart.  For the 8 feet diameter I cut the
plastic pipe 5.4m long giving a ridge height of 2.1 m plenty for the door and head height. In total I
needed about 30 metres of plastic pipe at a cost of about 60 euro.
I did,nt want to use a trenching system so I designed a simple baserail.I got some 16 feet lengths of
20mm board and drilled through the board and into the steel tubing to fix this.
Using the base rail as a guide I drilled through the plastic pipe and steel pipe and bolted to secure.
This acts as an anchor for the structure preventing uplift. To protect the baserail timbers I used a
stabled on strip of D.P.C. and a paint on wood preservative.

The structure ended up being quite strong.

I used 2×1 batten to stiffen and some diagonals on the corners for lateral stability.
Above the diagonal bracings and a 100mm air gap. The soil/compost does not touch the base rail to
prevent rotting. This way it is easier to replace rotten timbers in time.
Door detail
Top of door frame is secured to plastic tubing using 1 inch galvaband.

This is the basic structure before the covering went on. Its quite sturdy
Before the covering goes on its important to use anti-hot spot tape on the plastic pipes where the
covering will touch. This prevents the covering from chemically reacting with the plastic pipe and
becoming brittle thus prematurely needing replacement.
To secure the plastic covering I fixed lenths of of 2×1 to the baserail.
Then lengths of batten are used to secure the plastic. There is a method to attaching plastic to a
tunnel. Start by getting tention above the doors on both ends. Then move to the centre on the sides
and fix short lenths of batten tentioning as you go. This was the only part of the build that I need a
second person to help. Work from the middle into the corners. Then start fixing around the doors
and finish working the folds to the bottom of the doors.Its worth looking this in detail.

The plastic covering going on. Its best to do the work in the early summer on a warm dry and calm
day as this help to get good tention on the plastic allowing it to stretch with the heat..The covering
came from highbank, it’s 1000 guage plastic.
My wife Laura and I had quite a long day working on getting the plastic tentioned properly. We
were very pleased with the result as was little Archie.

As I did,nt want to dig the ground I basically built raised beds inside, independant of the structure. I
began by laying overlapping carboard boxes I got from a bike shop on the ground.
.
The rebar cut into short lenths came in handy to support the timbers of the raised bed. I filled them
with a mix of rotten down farmyard manure, envirogrind, sieved and screened topsoil from
elsewhere in the garden, some leaf mould and enrich compost.
Then the great pleasure of bringing in some plants from my smaller 6×8 foot greenhouse and
planting out the tunnel.
I was,nt too worried about perrenial weeds etc on the paths as I reconed by making sure they
received no water and got plenty walked on ,they would die off.
The tunnel was planted up in late July, here it is in August 2012. Not too many red tomatoes that
year. In the background a geodesic duck enclosure under construction.
This is the tunnel before the pond went in and my neighbours trees got a haircut 2013.