Rhino Greenhouses: Useful Information

Here you'll find answers to frequently answered questions about Rhino greenhouses. 

This page is specific to Rhino. If you're looking for information about a different brand, please select from the list below:

Elite | Swallow

Rhino Ranges & Stock Availability

Contact Rhino Greenhouses

Sales Enquiries:

Mon-Sat: 9am-5pm | Sun: 10am-4pm

0800 694 1929 | sales@greenhousesdirect.co.uk 

Service Enquiries (after-sales, delivery, spare parts, technical assistance):

Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm

service@greenhousesdirect.co.uk

Interested in visiting us?

Visit our greenhouse show site in Norfolk.

Free Delivery for all Rhino Greenhouses

Current Lead Times:
Rhino Classic & Premium - 2-6 weeks
Rhino Ultimate - 4-8 weeks

Free Delivery Area: Mainland UK

Free delivery is available to to all areas highlighted in green on the map below. This includes any Rhino accessories ordered with a greenhouse.

We also have delivery options available for territories outside of the UK. For more information please email sales@greenhousesdirect.co.uk or call 0800 694 1929.

To help guarantee a safe and efficient service, every customer is issued with a 'Help the Driver' form. 

By filling out this form in advance of delivery, we can identify any potential issues related to:

• Remote locations
• Limited lorry access
• Health and safety concerns (e.g. unloading on a busy road or operating a socially distanced delivery).

All orders are dispatched from our factory/warehouse in a delivery lorry like the one pictured below (approx. 42’ long, 9’6” wide and 12’ high, non-articulated with a gross weight of 26 tonnes and fabric curtain sides). For customers with limited access, we arrange delivery in smaller vehicles.

The greenhouse frame and accessory packs are typically long and narrow. The glass is loose. It is checked for breakages and correct sizes and quantities by our driver and should ideally be left leaning in a stack. The total delivery therefore occupies a modest area.

A signature is required for just the number of packages and glass pane quantities at the time of delivery. If you are out, this must be done within 24 hours of delivery. Any discrepancy or glass breakage must be notified within 24 hours of delivery.

We are also happy to deliver in your absence – all we ask is that you advise a safe, convenient place to leave the goods and that you check the packages and glass quantities on your return. You do not have to open packs and check individual components at the time of delivery – we will accept claims for any missing or incorrect items up to 14 days afterwards.

Any non-Rhino goods from a different supplier will be delivered separately.

Accessories Delivery

Current lead times: Estimated delivery 1-2 weeks.
*Due to exceptional demand, our next deliveries for Cold Frames & Raised Beds is w/c 3rd June.

Postage and Packaging Costs:

Delivery on Rhino accessories is free when ordered with a Rhino Greenhouse.

For standalone accessory orders, costs will vary by location and product. Please refer to the colour-coded map below for estimates or contact our sales team to discuss. Exact costs are calculated at checkout.

Green: from £9.50

Orange: from £24.00
Please note that at present we do not offer delivery to NI.

Purple: from £32.00

Rhino accessories are delivered by courier, usually in a van similar to the one pictured below.

25-Year Guarantee

The Great British Rhino is guaranteed for 25 years, so a generation of gardeners can rest assured that the frame and the powder-coated colour finish are made to last.

Full guarantee information will be provided at the time of purchase, or at the request of the service team.

Rhino Greenhouse Bases

Careful and correct site and base preparation is absolutely essential for correct installation of your Rhino greenhouse. Making the site safe for installation is as important as technical considerations.

Base Plans

These guides contain precise measurements for Rhino Classic and Premium greenhouses, along with helpful suggestions for base preparation. Precise measurements should be strictly adhered to if a brick plinth is to be built.

• Rhino Classic 6ft Wide - click here to download
• Rhino Classic 8ft Wide - click here to download
• Rhino Premium 6ft Wide - click here to download
• Rhino Premium 8ft Wide - click here to download
• Rhino Premium 10ft Wide - click here to download
• Rhino Premium 12ft Wide - click here to download
• Rhino Ultimate 7ft Wide - click here to download
• Rhino Ultimate 9ft Wide - click here to download

Preparing the Site

• Clear the space of all potential hazards.
• Ensure there is sufficient space away from the site itself to lay out and assemble the greenhouse components.
• Maintain a clear perimeter that extends at least 2ft around all sides of the greenhouse itself. You should have enough working room around the outside of the greenhouse to safely work and use a stepladder, including carrying and manoeuvring large panes of glass.
• Consider having convenient access to electricity and water, if you so wish.
• Think about drainage on the site. Have you made this part of your base plan?

Rhino Greenhouse Base Options

The great news is that a Rhino greenhouse allows for flexibility, giving you options when choosing a base that's right for you.

You can choose one of the options below, based on how you want to grow, the aesthetic you're looking for or if the chosen positioning of your Rhino is dictated to you by the quality of foundation.

Soil Option

Unlike most other brands of greenhouse, Rhino greenhouses can be erected on soil. This is only possible because the Rhino greenhouse is so strong. Its combination of a sturdy base and framework mean it will happily sit on a properly prepared soil site.

In most situations soil is a perfect foundation, as long as it is level and fully compacted (freshly dug soil will shift too much to create a stable foundation).

While you do need to take time and care to properly prepare a soil site to the required standard, it does have the considerable advantage of doing away with the extra cost and time of building hardstand foundations.

Take note of the quality of the soil itself. Very heavy clay, waterlogged or very sandy soil can cause problems; a good amount of loam is ideal.

The greenhouse is held in its permanent position by concreting it in place using the specially supplied brackets and J-shaped ground anchors.

N.B. The ‘low-threshold door’ feature on the Rhino greenhouse is most easily incorporated onto a soil site, ensuring the bottom door runner and integrated ramp are supported from beneath. See Base Plans for example.

Hardstanding Option

The versatility of the Rhino greenhouse also allows installation on a hardstand. There are a number of different types of hardstanding bases, all of which must be smooth and level:

• Paving Slabs: must be laid flat and level and should ideally be slightly over the greenhouse footprint size. See Base Plans to confirm exact size as this may differ from nominal sizes quoted verbally, in sales literature or website descriptions.
• Concreted Area: see 'Paving Slabs' above.
• Brick or Block Perimeter Plinth: must be laid on suitable footings so that it is level, square and exactly to the correct greenhouse footprint size. See Brick plinth base plan to confirm exact size as this may differ from nominal sizes quoted verbally, in sales literature or website descriptions.
  

On all types of hardstand base, the greenhouse is held in its permanent position by plugging and screwing down using the specially supplied base brackets and, wherever possible, the supplied raw bolts.

Please note that some hardstand bases may require a different fixing, which is the customer’s responsibility to source and use. We also strongly recommend that the top course is laid ‘frogs down’ to give a smooth surface on which to sit and fix down the greenhouse and that bricks/blocks are of a type that will allow drilling without cracking or splintering.

Rhino Greenhouses do not recommend the use of hardcore or hogging as base materials due to issues surrounding levelling and securing the greenhouse.

Materials

Aluminium Frame

All Rhinos are made from extruded aluminium. The raw materials are imported and then manufactured by hand at our Norfolk factory.

Aluminium is strong and hard-wearing and, together with our class-leading engineering, will stand the test of time.

Toughened Safety Glass & Glazing Beads

All Rhinos are made with 4mm Grade A Toughened Safety Glass and is 33% thicker than most greenhouse glass. We believe it is the safest for families and the best for gardeners. Even the edges of the glass are rounded so that you don’t cut yourself during installation.

The glass can take some high impacts without breaking. Of course, no glass is indestructible. If it does break, it will shatter into very small pieces which seriously decreases the chance of injury, which you may expect from jagged shards of horticultural glass.

The large panes have no overlaps, which means the greenhouse is more airtight, easier to clean and lets in more light.

Furthermore, our unique glazing system makes it highly resistant to winds and storms. The rubber glazing strips hug the glass from top to bottom, locking it into place no matter how hard the wind blows.

Powder Coating

The quality of our greenhouses extends to our painted, powder-coated finish. 

This is applied offsite by a dedicated powder-coating specialist in the UK. They also coat parts for the likes of Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin.

The powder itself is specially formulated for Rhino greenhouses and is manufactured in the UK. The process is also chromate free, so it doesn’t harm the environment.

Aluminium is not easy to paint. In fact every part is immersed in 12 different tanks in order to clean, etch and prepare it for the powder.

Once treated, each part is hung on a conveyor by hand in a very precise way so that the finish is applied exactly as required.

An electrical current is passed through the powder so that it is attracted to all areas of the aluminium parts and is applied consistently.

Once fully powder coated, the racks are then baked at 200 Celsius, which melts the powder onto the sections for a perfect finish.

This highly technical process is so good that it allows us to offer a 25-year guarantee on coloured Rhino frames. You don’t even get that with a luxury car - but you do with a Rhino!

Colours subject to change due to stock availability. For current availability please see product pages.

Installation

You can find more information about installation options and the installation process here.