Cheap outside walls

[DanteA]

Hi,
I have a construction - a simple plastic flat roof fixed on wooden pillars (roughly 12m x 3m) which performs the function of a simple parking space. I would like to put walls around it (leaving one long side open) to cover the place from wind and rain.

The question is - what is the cheapest reasonable way of building walls (roughly 2m high, 18m long) which could withstand rain and wind?

I thought about ordering some acrylic sheets and then painting them, but... they are surprisingly expensive (one website quotes £120 for 2mx2m sheet). Maybe I should buy plasterboard (what type?) and then paint it with some exterior/protective paint?

Or, I have found this plywood - http://www.builderdepot.co.uk/12mm-x-1220mm-x-2440mm-wbp-bb-cc-external-plywood.html - £17 per sheet seems reasonable... would that work?

Thank you all very much for your thoughts and help!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

At what centres are the posts?

 

[DanteA]

Sorry but would you mind paraphrasing? I am guessing that by "posts" you mean those wooden/metal/god-knows pillars on which the roof stands. What do you mean by "at what centres"? The pillars are approximately every 3.5m or so (all around the construction), if that's what you mean.

 

[tomfe]

Canvas, you'd have to make sure the pillars where strong enough to take the force of the wind however.

 

[cjard]

Check on ebay to see if anyone is selling second hand hoarding (used to stop kids wandering onto large building sites) - it's notmally 18mm ply, and a good weatherproof variety. Painting it will prolong its life.

If you've the appetite for it, static caravans come up from time to time as "free to a good home" - can probably hack one of those up into usable wall panels and weigh the rest in as scrap

 

[^woody^]

building walls

Canvas

hoarding

 

[cjard]

Not quite sure what you mean there, woody..

 

[^woody^]

The OP wants "walls" (but mentioned ply)

Tom purposes a circus tent, and cj mentions hoarding which is close to ply but not a wall.

So does the OP want a wall, a circus tent, or something like the Alamo?

 

[garyo]

People make some amazing sheds with Pallets nowadays :
https://uk.pinterest.com/search/pin...rm_meta[]=pallet|typed&term_meta[]=shed|typed

 

[tomfe]

Hurr?
He's not asking to build a new garage nor has he said what the original structure is made of. To say go ahead and make a timber frame up and clad it is one thing but as the op is on about using plaster board he is hardly knowledgeable about building works.
I don't see the problem in using canvas it is light weight and you can take it down when not needed and would be within the remit of the op.

But yes go ahead fix some 3x2 horizontally to your timber posts, then some ply then paint it why not.

 

[^woody^]

Well if the OP is in a favela, or just outside Cape Town, then plastic corrugated sheets will fit in nicely.

 

[^woody^]

he is hardly knowledgeable about building works.

Exactly, so he does not want his structure leaving port on the next trade winds.

"Heave to the fore'sall"

 

[cjard]

The OP wants "walls" (but mentioned ply)

To be honest, I was left with the impression that walls to the OP were just some kind of vertical surface to keep the wind and rain out..

Though you do have a "buy cheap, pay dear" point..

My old man built an orangery of sorts, using hardboard sheets that have a brick pattern on. At the time I thought they wouldn't last 2 minutes, but I have to admit I underestimated how long they'd last in the weather and still (from a distance, with slight myopia) how much they'd look like an actual brick wall...

 

[DanteA]

Hi all,
Thank you very much for this discussion - it was very enlightening to me.

I think that ultimately I will go with the least professional but "good enough and cheap" suggested solution of buying some tarpaulin. It will protect against the rain and wind and that's all I need!

 

[cjard]

When you fix it, sandwich it between something. For example, a screw with a washer, that has a rubber disc under the washer, then the tarp (then the post); the wind will be fairly persistent in its attempts to fatigue the tarp fabric and ruin it as the fixings.. "What gives won't go"