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Adhesive for greenhouse plastic

OK, a question for you chemists and techie types. I have a greenhouse that is covered in greenhouse plastic. The door has a velcro strip to open and close it. However, the velcro soon came adrift, so I bought some plastic adhesive to glue it back on. It came off again.

I went looking for a strong adhesive, and read the labels carefully. I discovered that all glues had warnings on them saying 'not suitable for polyethylene or polypropylene'. Which I assume is the root of my greenhouse plastic non-sticking problem.

Can someone please recommend a glue that will work with greenhouse plastic?

Cheers, Hamish
 
I have never tried to glue it but found this interesting information on the subject.

glueing poly

Good luck!

Tony
 
My chemist roommate has explained to me before that polyolefins lack the molecular bonding points to work well with most glues. When you glue this type of plastic, you're relying on surface area and vacuum force - the glue doesn't really stick, it just dries in the shape of the plastic and that's hopefully enough to keep them together. Polyolefins are actually designed in this way to give them easy-cleaning, non-stick properties. (It's the 'low-energy state' the article talks about, I think.) In return, the plastics industry usually does a one-pass approach when working with polyolefins; the plastic is mixed together and then formed or molded before reaching solid state, and once it hardens it's never reshaped again. They're prone to tearing and shearing and it's impossible to chemically join two pieces of them reliably, so the general concensus seems to be to not try to rework them. If anything will work, it's the stuff Tony found - from my personal experience I can tell you that pretty much everything else is worthless.
~Joe
 
Well, if the glue doesn;t work what about giving a hand held sewing machine a try? What could it hurt? Sew the velcro on. It might last you one more season or longer. Or you can get the tracts sold for holding the plastic down and then putting in a storm door. Using the tracts and wire to hold down the plastic around the door and the storm door for the new door, but that might be over kill. Since it sounds like you have one of those small GH kits that is basicly a pop up GH right?
 
hmmmm, the invention and ease of velcrostrips sure seemed like a great idea during the age of convienence "wow you mean i have to teach my child how to tie their shoe?" next i'll have to teach them how to tell time ~ ...{ you know numbers on that round thing.}, i found velcro buckling under my home made curtains after one careful hand washing {Choice is sometimes an afterthought ey?...its not completely useless ~it held the dog food container down for about 20 minutes ...and reappeared stuck to the side of his face ~ then what happened to it ~ well .... lets just say it must have had a RUFF journey.if your greenhouse opening can support a little wood and there is a a couple of inches of excess plastic to stretch around a strip of wood on each side ~power staple it on and use 3 hook latches ... like on screen doors one on top ,one in the middle and one on the bottom ~ they too may warp a little in a few seasons,,i'm not sure the size of your structure but thats what has worked for me .my green house is 7x12 and 9 feet in height.mostly made up of 2x2's with green house plastic also.
 
The greenhouse is a completely self-made jobby, and I used the velcro strips for convenience as I couldn't be bothered with a proper door. I've now realised that I'll have to do a door to have something durable. It won't be too difficult, I just have to get round to it. Plus I want to extend the greenhouse...
 
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