Greenhouse plastic is too expensive and time too valuable to replace it annually. The wire-lock aluminum base that allows the spring steel wiggle wire to securely hold the plastic is the way to go. It will outlast your greenhouse and make plastic installation much easier when that time comes. Further, the fact that the film is held securely means less wind damage. If you add up all the costs of strips, screws w/ washers, caulking and tape your "Cheap method" costs will soon add up to more than the better method.

You didn't mention the type of wood used in the frame but if it ain't treated you may want to start from ground up and rebuild. My thoughts were that the walls should be the panels and the roof should be the film. Or you could save a few hundred $ and just use film for both sides and top.

Yeah, something's not right if it only lasted a year. Did you attach it directly to new treated lumber? The arsenate can break down the poly.

If arsenate wasn't the culprit, I would guess that you had poly rubbing against a rough edge, which is what made it tear in the wind.

The wood is douglas fir painted with white exterior enamal. The plastic was inexpensive box store stuff, so I'm not totally surprised. I'm thinking of using a round-over bit in my router to take the edge off the wood.
bmoser: Where can I get more info on the wire lock aluminum base ?

You can check on-line/catalog vendors such as Farmtek & Greenhouse Megastore for the wire lock stuff. But... When I started looking at the various nursery greenhouses using this kind of attachment in my area I noticed that, while the GH film was lasting well, it was frequently tearing and failing at the wire lock.

The farm stand/nursery right next to us uses polypropylene batten strapping (kind of like lawn chair webbing). This is also available from the same vendors above.

They place it over the film and use a hammer stapler to attach to wood boards. If it starts to tear & fail, then they can re-attach a couple inches above. And that's what I'm doing w/ my small hoop frame GH. It's quick, simple, easy to repair and the price is right. Good luck!

I just bought some of that batten tape and plan to use it on my end wall plastic. I bought the wiggle wire for my end hoops, and I am using untreated 2x2 boards painted with a white latex to attach the plastic along the hip boards. I too have noticed that the plastic is stressed where the wire rubs against it, but I want the strength of it for the end hoop attachment. I think the 2x2s will work well, but obviously only on straight surfaces.

Suppliers of the wire-loc aluminum base and wiggle wire are Nolts Produce Supplies, Leola, Pa ; Martins Produce Supplies, Shippensburg, PA or Central Penn Irrigation, Lewisburg, Pa among others. Any of these would send you a catelog which you should look at. There are double wire-loc bases but you can easily insert 3 layers of plastic and 2 wiggle wires in the same channel.

If if seems that I probably reflect enthusiasm in these products that I must get a kickback but I have used the other methods and now I wonder why I didn't switch sooner.