The Benefits Of Choosing Perspex Instead Of Glass For Your New Greenhouse
A well-constructed greenhouse can be an excellent place to grow your plants, particularly species that benefit from high temperatures and humidity levels such as tomatoes and watermelons. Unfortunately, a traditional greenhouse made with horticultural glass can be a delicate and finicky structure and may not stand the test of time as well as you'd like.
Consequently, more and more gardeners are choosing greenhouses with perspex windows over traditional glass greenhouses. This tough, clear acrylic plastic has many advantages over horticultural glass, and a perspex greenhouse can be an excellent investment in more ways that one.
What are the advantages of perspex greenhouses compared to glass greenhouses?
Durability
The thicker a pane of glass, the more UV light it blocks out, and a greenhouse with overly-thick glass would be somewhat counterproductive for growing plants. The horticultural glass used in greenhouses is very thin and, correspondingly, fragile and will shatter relatively easily under impact damage inflicted by falling branches, dislodged roof tiles or errant footballs. This can be particularly troublesome if you live in a windy area.
Perspex greenhouse windows are far more durable, as they have a degree of flexibility that allow them to bend rather than break under heavy impacts. Perspex is also not as easily scratched as glass, so your greenhouse will stay looking new and beautiful for longer.
Low cost
Perspex greenhouses tend to be significantly cheaper than glass greenhouses, and when you take their added durability into account they represent an excellent long-term investment. Perspex is a particularly good choice if you intend to build a larger greenhouse, as large amounts of horticultural glass can be prohibitively expensive.
Lightweight
A perspex window is considerably lighter than a glass window of equivalent size. This makes perspex greenhouses easier to construct, especially when fitting windows in the roof of your greenhouse, and also allows you to use thinner, weaker frames to hold the windows in place, maximising the amount of light the plants within your greenhouse receive.
Excellent heat insulation
One of the most important functions of any greenhouse is retaining heat, which allows your plants to grow optimally during cold snaps and inclement weather. Unfortunately, glass is not a particularly good heat insulator, and some glass greenhouses require the use of space heaters to keep temperatures reasonably high during prolonged periods of cool weather. Perspex has far better insulation properties, and a perspex greenhouse will retain heat far more easily and minimise your reliance on space heaters.
Improved light diffusion
Perspex has a fundamentally different molecular structure to glass, which causes the light that shines through perspex greenhouse windows to diffuse more evenly. This helps ensure that all the plants in your greenhouse receive an equal amount of nourishing sunlight and also helps to prevent excessive, focused glare from scorching delicate vegetables and fruits as they ripen and become more heat-sensitive.
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