What would you cover this with? (Clear roof)

gutteruu

So I plan to cover the area between the shed to the house. Its about 4.4m x 3.3m. I want a clear roof to allow light into room with sliding door. I'm leaving either end open to air. I will put a kids play area under it...so...

What will I use? Perspex, Acrylic, Polycarbonate, toughened glass? I'm not a fan of THIS as it looks very cheap/agricultural.

This is the area...


I will frame out the area fixing to wall and house but would like it as frameless as possible, if you know what I mean.

...__...

You will have to have a good frame in place if a gust catches a sheet it will send it flying.

Id personally use a sheet of 10mm toughened perspex.
and instead of just screwing to the frame use a piece of 2*1 over the edges and along the center to keep it from lifting on a stormy night.

gutteruu

I might make the frame out of box/channel Iron. I was thinking about thin metal rope pulled taut across the top to stop any sheets flying away on me.

I wonder would 10mm perspex sag? Also, would the perspex shatter or just crack if the kids broke it? I'm worried about pieces coming down like a guillatine on them.

antiskeptic

gutteruu wrote: »

I might make the frame out of box/channel Iron. I was thinking about thin metal rope pulled taut across the top to stop any sheets flying away on me.

Mechanical engineer here:

- use wood. Its strong, light, easily worked, cheap and readily available

- forget ropes pulled over sheeting to hold it down (lift a taut guitar string to see how much it deflects). Use normal structural methods which are known to successfully solve the problems you'll encounter

- the corrugated sheeting might not be the prettiest but little you make is going to be pretty (unless you're well versed in construction/design). Dirt is going to get in between the overlap of your clear sheeting anyway so it's not as if your going to have this glass clear roof over your head for long. The advantage of corrugated sheeting is that it's intrinsically strong and light (the corrugations add enormouse strength to otherwise flimsy material. This reduces the complexity of the structure you need to support/affix it

A tidily built unit (following traditional methods) will be attractive by virtue of tidy construction - even if you use corrugated sheeting to sheet it off. An clumsily made unit will look unattractive even if you gold plate it afterwards

Bear in mind that wind loading is by far the greatest loading to be considered -
especially since it will be working on top and on bottom (unlike your house roof which is top loaded only). Such cyclical loading is akin to wiggling a post to uproot it from the ground. The wiggling back and forth is what causes it to come loose. Ditto wind loading acting from on top and from below

That 3.3m span isn't insignificant either (I assume 4.4m is the length?)

You might want to take this thread up in the construction forum to see if someone could throw some bog standard sizes/construction methods at you.

gutteruu

The reason I was leaning towards using box iron was, if I framed it out in wood, given its a 3.33m span between house and shed, it would need to be very chunky wood. If built in metal the overall frame would be less bulky whilst retaining the same strength.

I might revert to the original idea of clear corrugated sheeting so. Although I think I will add a few cross members on top and fix from the bottom upwards to prevent uplift.

On the dirt in between, I wonder if I added a thin length of the same sheeting on top of the usual overlap to stop water/dirt ingress, would this help? I have some 'lap tape' also. Its like a line of putty I can run along the seams.

antiskeptic

gutteruu wrote: »

The reason I was leaning towards using box iron was, if I framed it out in wood, given its a 3.33m span between house and shed, it would need to be very chunky wood. If built in metal the overall frame would be less bulky whilst retaining the same strength.

What kind of sections you supposing? Either way, you can reduce bulkiness by increasing the number of 3.33 lengths (let's call them joists) you use.

A key 'danger' is a 4.5 x 3.3 sheet of anything with wind impinging on it. It's a veritable sail!. One idea that would help is to louvre the corrugated panelling. In other words: raise the lower edge of the highest row of sheets to that they don't rest directly on the next row of sheets down from it.

Set the lower cross batten of the first row (first row starts from the highest point of the lean to) up off the joist using spacers and let the sheet overhang that batten by say 4". The top of the next row of sheets down is then set under the bottom of the row above - but there's a gap between the sheets (say 3"). Maybe use 1 metre lengths of sheeting on each row, trimming the last one once it's over the shed. Carry on so down and overhang the shed roof (somewhere to dump rainwater). You end up with a louvred effect - wind can pass through the louvre-gaps along at each row - much reducing the tendency for the wind to rip the sheeting asunder. Updraught escapes through the louvres before ripping off the sheeting

You'd avoid having to add an unsightly batten to the top surface to hold the sheeting down - you merely need enough fixings at each sheet to hold them securely in place

On the dirt in between

Another advantage of louvring. You'd have no tight gap between sheeting as you move down the roof for dirt to lodge.

dathi

Can I build a garden shed on my property without permission?
Yes, provided that:

It is not forward of the front wall of the house;
Not greater than 25sqm (or no. of sheds aggregated);
25sqm of garden space is left. N.B. extensions attached to house are not reckoned as private open space;
Shed finish is in keeping with the house;
Shed height: max 4m pitched roof; 3m flat roof;
It is not lived in or used for keeping of animals (pigs, ponies, horses, pigeons).

dont for get to comply with planning you need to do above

gutteruu

antiskeptic wrote: »

One idea that would help is to louvre the corrugated panelling. In other words: raise the lower edge of the highest row of sheets to that they don't rest directly on the next row of sheets down from it.

The louvre idea would work well. The more I've been thinking about it the more it bugs me to use the corregated sheeting. It just looks so cheap. I just spotted THIS site that sells just what I was originally thinking, but now I'm doubting it it would be strong enough. I've seen a few of these around and they do look good though.

Ah, what to do, what to do.

Edit: The Irish supplier does good videos on on here