Robinsons Victorian Ratcliffe 8 User manual

NOMINAL SIZE A (mm) B (mm)
8 x 6
2602
2012
8 x 8 2632
8 x 10 3252
8 x 12 3872

2
Thank you for purchasing your new Robinsons greenhouse. We recommend you familiarise yourself with the instructions and read all safety
information before you commence assembly. This instruction manual is also available online at www.robinsonsgreenhouses.co.uk
in our technical help section should you need to reprint it. Should you require any additional advice you can always call us on 01782 385409.
These instructions are divided into sections highlighted by a white number/letter on a black background at the bottom corner of most pages (see opposite
page for details); part lists, B-base, P-preparation, 1-sides, 2-front gable, 3-rear, 4-joining the four sides together, 5-louvre, 6-roof, 7-vent, 8-glazing, 9-
vent attachment, 10-door attachment, 11 anchoring down, 12 finishing touches, 13 optional shelf, 14 optional staging. If you need to contact us for assis-
tance please refer to the relevant section/s. If your building is longer than 12’, i.e. has an extension then please also refer the separate extension manual.
Safety Warning
 Glass and aluminium can potentially cause injury. Please ensure you wear protective goggles, gloves, headgear and suitable footwear when
assembling and glazing the building.
 Please remember that glass is fragile and should be handled with extreme care. Always clear up and dispose of any breakages immediately.
 Do not assemble the greenhouse in high winds.
 For safety reasons and ease of assembly, we recommend that this greenhouse is assembled by a minimum of two people.
 Please clear all lying snow from the greenhouse roof as it can cause the roof to buckle or collapse.
Site Preparation
 When selecting a site for your greenhouse, it is vital that you choose as flat and level an area as possible.
 A concrete or slabbed base will provide the most solid foundation for your greenhouse.
 IMPORTANT: Do not fix your building down until the building is fully assembled, including glazing.
 Avoid placing your greenhouse under trees or in other vulnerable locations.
 To minimise the risk of wind damage, try to select as sheltered a site as possible, e.g. beside a hedgerow or garden fence.
Additional Considerations
 Please bear in mind that assembling your greenhouse can be time consuming. You may need to spread the construction over two or more
days. We recommend that you avoid leaving the building partially glazed. If you ever have to leave your greenhouse half assembled and not
anchored down, weigh it down with slabs or bags of sand to stop the wind moving it.
 You will find it helpful to prepare a large, clean and clear area in which to work in. A garage floor or flat lawn area is ideal.
 If you have arranged for someone to install your greenhouse for you, please check that all components are included. Some parts are numbered
and can be identified by a stamped or hand written number (without the ’D’). Alternatively, the components can be identified by their distinctive
profiles, lengths and quantities detailed in the parts list (see next page).
 Anchoring down your greenhouse should be the final stage of construction (including glazing).
 Once installed your greenhouse requires little maintenance, but to maintain the smooth running of
your door(s) WD40 or similar can be applied to the door pivot pins / lock etc...
Guarantee
 Your new Robinsons greenhouse is guaranteed for 10 years against faulty manufacture of the frame-
work. This does not include glazing, moving parts, accidental damage or wind damage.
KEY
SYMBOL KEY DESCRIPTION
EXTERNAL VIEW
THINK
THIS SECTION
RELATES TO
ANOTHER
(e.g. 1 to 5)
CORRECT
DO NOT FIX DOWN!
TWIST TO LOCK
TIGHTEN
PUSH AND HOLD
CUT TO LENGTH
INTERNAL VIEW
639mm D866

3
SECTION
No TITLE ASSEMBLY SYNOPSIS: IMPORTANT INFORMATION / CONSIDERATIONS
PARTS LIST Most components should have a ‘D’ code punched into their metal surface. Identify and separate all like for like com-
ponents prior to assembly. The ‘parts list’ also separates parts into the various sections 1 - 12 shown below. Parts can
also be identified by their profile pictures and stated lengths etc..
B
BASE Base dimensions and recommendations. Ensure that your base is level as this will make assembly of the building,
especially the glazing of the roof much more straight forward. Please be aware that the hinge door on your green-
house opens inwards, make sure that there will be no interference between the door and the foundations.
P PREPARATION Tools required. IMPORTANT: Use WD40 or similar in the glazing bar channels and insert the black glazing rubber
prior to frame assembly.
1
SIDES Take the side glazing bars ‘D066’ with the rubber inserted and the diagonal braces ‘D103’, use 10mm bolts to join
them to the gutter and 15mm bolts to the cills (note how the head of the bolt slides into each glazing bar during con-
struction). Please also remember to slide in your 22mm bolts for attaching the decorative eave spandrels ‘DV100’ in
section 5.
2 FRONT Again ensuring that the gable framework is rubbered-up follow the diagrams to assemble each end of the building.
Make sure that you have inserted the extra bolts utilised in sections 4 and 5. On the roof and side corner bars not
every rubber channel will require rubber unless it is to be utilised in a partition (see separate manual and section P).
3 REAR
4 JOINING THE
FOUR SIDES Take the two sides (1) and both gables (2 & 3) and join them together on your base. It is a good idea to tie some lad-
ders to the sides to support them if you do not have anyone to hold them for you.
5
LOUVRE They attach to the building during the glazing process (8) like a piece of glass with a black separator above and below
them. If you are fitting an optional auto-louvre then you need to carefully drill (3mm bit) out the rivets which mount the
handle to the frame. You can then either utilise those holes or create more to mount the unit.
6
ROOF
Attach the ridge and then the rubbered-up roof bars ensuring that they are fully butted up to the ridge and down onto
the gutter. Attach your cresting before you glaze the building to give yourself more room to work. Utilise the 22mm
bolts slid into the side (section 1) and roof bars to attach your DV100 and DV101 spandrels. On longer models you
may need to carefully prop up the roof and tie the sides together to keep the ridge and gutters straight (i.e. not sag-
ging or bowed) until the building is fully glazed.
7a VENT Once the vent is glazed add silicone to the vent sides and top. Stand the vent/s on their hinge (vent top) and then
leave the silicone to set.
7b VENT SLAM The slam bar ‘D079’ can be moved up and down between the roof glazing bars so that it can be butted down onto the
pane of glass beneath, the autovent will be attached to it later on (9).
8
GLAZING
Layout the bar cappings and covers around the building like a sundial checking that all is present and correct. You can
also place the roof cappings in the gutters so they are closer to hand. The glass in the sides has to bevel on the black
separator strip which is on top of the 305mm high glass base panels. This bevelling action allows the glass to tuck
underneath the gutter canopy. Use the capping and the self tapping screws to then hold the glass in place. The covers
then enclose the screw heads giving a neat finish. It is a good idea to glaze two roof sections first to ensure the build-
ing is square followed by two side sections to ensure the building isn't leaning.
IMPORTANT: On the roof sections please make sure that you place a screw around 25mm / 1” from the bottom of
each capping strip (create a hole in the plastic if required) and that the screws are nice and tight to avoid any glass
slippage.
9 VENT
ATTACHMENT Take the assembled vent and slide the vent hinge ‘D866’ into the end of the ridge allowing the vent the pivot open and
closed. Vent stops go either side of the vent to stop any lateral movement (so insert stop / vent / stop). Attach the
Bayliss XL autovents.
10 DOOR
ATTACHMENT Your door comes pre-constructed and locked minus the handles and their pivot pin but now it needs to be mounted to
the front end of your building. Utilise the ‘DV522’ plates and twist in crop headed bolts to join the door and its frame to
the building (pinch the door frame against your long front verticals whilst tightening your ‘DV522’ plates to ensure that
there is no gap). If you are struggling to eradicate the gap between the door frame and verticals then some silicone
can be carefully applied to the area to create a vertical seal. Be careful not to lock yourself in the building and to avoid
damage do not open the door until it is attached to the front gable. Getting the door to swing perfectly without dropping
or rubbing on the ground may require some small but vital adjustments. You may also need to insert a packer under-
neath the door frame hinge to increase ground clearance. Part ‘DV275’ canopies the door frame top hiding the clear-
ance space at the top of the door. The door can only be made to swing inwards.
IMPORTANT: Please do NOT let the door slam open or closed as it is likely to cause damage to the door and the
frame. Please twist the handle to open and close. Please also be aware that your door KEYS (3 provided) are unique
to the building so they should not be stored together.
11 ANCHORING
DOWN Now that the greenhouse is finished and the door and vent/s are operating without interference then you need to an-
chor the building down using 2” rawl plugs and screws. Use a 7mm masonry bit in a hammer drill to create the holes.
12 FINISHING
TOUCHES Now that the main body of the structure is complete you can add; downpipe fittings, eave bungs, gutter stop ends. It is
also important to carefully apply some silicone to the internal eaves corners and external and internal ridge corners to
minimise the chance of water entering the structure.
13 OPTIONAL
SHELVING
Robinsons integral cantilever staging and shelving attaches to the inside of the greenhouse frame using either square
head bolts (insert four into each side glazing bar ’D066’ during construction of the sides (1)) or rectangular ‘crop head’
bolts which can be fitted retrospectively (both sets of bolts accompany the shelving/staging). This system allows the
height of either the staging or the shelf to be set at an operator specific height. Commonly the staging brackets are set
900mm from the cills though you can alter this to suit the end user/s. The aluminium shelf / staging slats come in two
lengths; (4’):1240mm ‘D2002’ and (6’):1860mm ’D2003’. These slats can combine to create any length of staging re-
quired, i.e. 4’+6’ = 10’ etc...
14 OPTIONAL
STAGING

4
Section
Ref Part
No. Section Size (mm) 8 6 8 8 8 10 8 12 Section
Ref Part
No. Section Size (mm) 8 6 8 8 8 10 8 12
D043 1894 2
D021 2514 2
D022 3134 2
D023 3754 2
DV213 1897 2
DV210 2517 2
DV211 3137 2
DV212 3757 2
D103 1787 4
D066 1676 4 6 8 10
RUBBER 1000 (1m)
14 21 27 34
D174
N/A
4 4 8 8
DV204 1897 1
DV201 2517 1
DV202 3137 1
DV203 3757 1
DV254 1790 4 6 8 10
RUBBER 1000 (1m)
15 22 30 36
D866 639 2 2 4 4
D863L 613 2 2 4 4
D863R 613 2 2 4 4
D862 593 2 2 4 4
D079
PLUS FLUFF
590 2 2 4 4
D114 N/A 4 4 8 8
D220
PLUS FS6060
SCREW
N/A 4 4 8 8
D205 N/A 4 4 8 8
DV231 2614 1
DV225L
855 1
DV225R 1
D048 1676 4
DV235L
2021 2
DV235R 2
DV237L
2489 2
DV237R 2
DV261 2925 1
DV270L
782 1
DV270R 1
DV273 2468 1
DV292 1794 4
DV251L
1790
2
DV251R
2
DV263 930 1
DV275 904 1
DV104 N/A 4
DV105 N/A 2
RUBBER 1000 (1m)
70
D174
N/A
9
D163 90 2

5
10 DV479 1384
2/3 DV635L/R 2021 2 + 2
2/3 DV637L/R 2489 2 + 2
5 DV654 1821 4
3 DV661 2925 1
2 /10 DV663 905 1
1 D812 1660 4 6 8 10
1
6 8 10
2/3 D813 1675 4
1 D834 1660 4
5 DV651 1790 4
1 D825 1660 8 10 12 14
2/3 D826 1677
2/3 DV636L/R 2021 2 + 2
2/3 DV638L/R 2489 2 + 2
10 DV480 1384 1
5 DV657 1821 8 10 12 14
3 DV667 2925 1
2 / 10 DV669 905 1
4
Section
Ref Part
No. Section Size (mm) 8 6 8 8 8 10 8 12
D522 N/A 10
D119 N/A 1
DV120 N/A 4
D841 N/A 2
D211
PIPE
1625 2
D207 N/A 2
D214 N/A 2
D201 N/A 2
D208 N/A 2
DV219 N/A 2
DV218 N/A 2
SILICONE
10mm
SYBOLM6X11
10mm
74 80 86
SYBOLM6X15
15mm
28 30 32
SYBOLM6X22
22mm
24 36 48
92
34
60
SYNUTM6
M6
NUT
126 146 166 186
MAIN FRAME QUANTITIES
VENTS / DOORS etc SEPERATE
Size
(mm) 8 6 8 8 8 10 8 12