Help how tp repair poly hive

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charles7

New Bee
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
2
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0
Location
Wiltshire
Hive Type
Langstroth
Number of Hives
5
Hi All,

Rats have badly damaged the floor of one of my polyhives in order to get inside and do more damage to frames etc. What can I use to remodel the floor and bring it back into service. Any ideas welcome.
Thanks

Charles
 
.
I use wooden floors in polyhives. They are easier to clean with flame and they are long living.

But overall you may repair poly structure with piece of tough foam plastic stuff and glue it with polyurethane glue. That glue hardens with water and makes a little bit foam and stucks all crack.

I have got tough foam plastic from some packages. I got 20 holes when woodpecker worked with my hives. Bees shew too upper entrances wider.
 
Hi Fiman

Thanks for the advice, will get some.
 
As the proud owner of a new swienty/wynne jones poly national, I have in my cack-handed excitement broken one of the dovetail tenons (?) at the joint. It's a relatively clean break.
I've seen in another thread that PVA glue can be used to assemble the boxes but isn't essential. Would this also be suitable to mend the broken part?
Thanks
 
As the proud owner of a new swienty/wynne jones poly national, I have in my cack-handed excitement broken one of the dovetail tenons (?) at the joint. It's a relatively clean break.
I've seen in another thread that PVA glue can be used to assemble the boxes but isn't essential. Would this also be suitable to mend the broken part?
Thanks

As it's a stress area I suggest you use a plastic dowel ( placky rawl plug will do stick half way into small bit mark and drill hole in large bit , apply polyurethane glue and fit bits together . no need for holes to be an interference fit , this will only serve to make alignment difficult :)
VM
 
Jimmy, I have a few tubes of the Swienty glue I got them to send me. You are very welcome to bring your kit here for a fix, although to be honest the PVA option is also good.
 
Thanks for the prompt replies.
Chris - thanks for the offer, as you say that PVA does a good job I think I'll give that a go or go with the UHU glue. If that fails I may be in touch!
VM - I only broke one of the three tenons (the top one ) so strength wise it shouldn't be compromised too much if the glue is any good. Using dowels and trying to align them, as you suggest, is a recipe for a disaster for me.
RAB - thanks for the pointer to the repairs page, there's a large model shop near me that should have some of the UHU Por glue.
 
UHU Por is a great glue for poly.

It is a contact adhesive like Evostick and best applied to both surfaces, left for five minutes then pressed together.

It can also be run into crevices to seal them up, and is a little flexible when cured.
 
Most contact glues are spirit based and so likely to attack polystyrene i would have thought.
 
Most contact glues are spirit based and so likely to attack polystyrene i would have thought.

UHU por is very clearly labelled as suitable......

uhuu.jpg


edit - Teemore I assembled my reply before yours but got distracted before posting.
 
UHU Por is used by aeromodellers to repair hard foam aircraft similar to the hive foam. There are a few types of foam it doesn't stick so well, with but if pains are selling it I am assuming it is compatible. Then again if a bee keeping company fails to spot holes in their newly produced poly hives who knows if they have even tested the glue!

There is another great glue for foam, Gorilla glue (white version) which expands a lot, and needs to be used sparingly. It's great for filling minor cracks and building up where a little foam has been lost or compressed. One part is lightly damped with water and the other part coated lightly with the glue. On putting them together it activates, and sets in about one hour.

I am not sure how it would react with poly hive foam but could be tested on a small area. It sets like concrete so not good if you allow it to ooze out and don't level it before it hardens.

WARNING - I have no idea if Gorilla glue is "Bee friendly" or not.

One other trick that works with some foam types. If you get a dent in the foam it can be repaired with hot, almost boiling water. After a few seconds of exposure to the boiling water the foam goes back into it's original shape.

Try this at your own risk though!

One of the big supermarkets that inflated it's sugar prices lately sells it, and I've seen it in the Range stores too.
 
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