Visor made of polycarbonate on the porch

The visor above the porch, mounted with the use of polycarbonate sheets is a practical and stylish solution for protecting from all kinds of natural surprises. At the same time, along with purely practical functions, it performs an important aesthetic role, as one of the elements of decoration of the building. The photo shows some of the stunning decorative canopies from polycarbonate, lending a unique look to the whole appearance of the house.

Pros polycarbonate protective structures over the porch ↑

Visors made of polycarbonate, are installed over a porch, are a number of features that make them an important element of the whole structure of the house.

1. Protect the entrance to the building from natural effects in the form of rain and snow. The visor not only will provide comfort in bad weather, but can also significantly extend the life of a porch, protecting it from moisture. This is true not only in the case if your porch is made of wood. Because excessive dampness is also damaging for masonry and concrete. Absorbed in fine pores, cracks, and staying there, the water in freezing temperatures turns to ice. Thus, it makes these cracks and pores to expand, destroying the material.
   
2. The visor, made of polycarbonate do not obscure the porch, letting the sun’s rays. At the same time using dark, colored sheets can be created over the porch is quite effective sunshield.
   
3. A rich color palette gives you a wide choice of design of the visor allows the maximum to seamlessly fit it into an already existing external finishes of the house.
   
4. The low weight of such a roofing material, such as polycarbonate, allows you to do light visors, attached to the wall and do not require additional reinforcements and supports.
   
5. Insensibility of the polycarbonate to care, resistance to UV radiation and mechanical stress, making it durable enough to operate.
   
6. Ease of processing, availability and budget price of the material allows you to easily build a protective canopy over the porch with their hands.
   

Will discuss in detail all the stages of this outdoor canopy for porch or entrance doors in the house.

Types of polycarbonate ↑

In the modern market of building materials there are several varieties of this polymer, which can be used for the device of the visor.

Cell. The most common and sought-after variety, widely used in agriculture. Structurally it consists of two thin sheets interconnected by longitudinal ridges. The result is a design inside similar to a honeycomb, hence the name. The main advantage of polycarbonate is its low cost and easy to ispolzovnii. The standard sizes of sheets can be either 2 x 6 or 2 x 12 m. the sheet Thickness can range from 4 to 16 mm. These tiles are painted in a variety of colors, making them a great option for the decorative design of the facade.

Monolithic. As the title says, this list consists of an integrally molded polymer that does not contain air voids. From previous form, it has high strength and resistance to various mechanical damage. However, for transparency it is practically not inferior to glass. The only cons – higher cost and more difficult processing.

Wavy. Is a kind of monolithic polycarbonate, featuring a wavy form. This makes it even more durable due to the waves, representing the ribs. The visor, made of such material will serve you for decades. But the cost of it, unfortunately, is even higher than that of a monolithic polymer.

The first stage. The choice of design ↑

Manufacturer of a canopy made of polycarbonate with their hands is not too difficult – the main thing is to get serious about this business. First, you need to decide the type of design. You need to decide whether the visor is made of a metal or wooden structures. The metal frame is much more durable, and with proper craftsmanship looks much more aesthetically pleasing wooden one. However, to create a decorative metal frame with your hands, you will need to put much more efforts.

Today, however, it is possible to order or purchase in hardware store parts metal frame variety of configurations. If you decide to make the metal frame with your hands, you need at least to be qualified welder. But if you want to create something extraordinary, for example, in Baroque or Empire style, then you will need a fairly deep knowledge of blacksmithing.

The easiest option is to make the visor above the porch made of wood. Of course, from the point of view of the durability and its ornamental qualities, this option is inferior to the metal frame. However, with appropriate skill tree you can make the design strong enough durable and beautiful.

Likewise only on your aesthetic preferences depends on the size and shape of the frame: whether it’s a small canopy directly above the entrance, or a large overhang along the facade of the house.

Second stage. The drawing of a canopy ↑

The next stage is making a drawing of the future design. To do this, using a measuring tape, take all the required dimensions of the porch and put them on paper in the right scale. Using this drawing of a porch define the necessary number of materials – polycarbonate, wood or metal. Then produce the purchase all the required and proceed directly to the manufacture of the visor.

The third stage. Making the frame with your hands ↑

After that, again based on the drawing start preparatory work for the creation of the visor. First of all you need to do the layout and cutting the material according to the prepared sizes. The metal frame is the best thing to do of shaped pipes of square or rectangular cross section. You can also use wrought iron finished frames – they don’t require additional supports, and mounted directly to the wall. Another option is a frame, one side attached to the house, and the opposite resting on the support poles. This design is usually applied at a sufficiently large size canopy.

Installation of supports ↑

If you took the device canopy over the porch with their hands, you will need to choose the type of installation of support poles. Support for the visor above the porch can be made of any material. Suitable wooden posts, metal or asbestos-cement pipe. They can be fixed as to the surface of the porch, and directly mounted on the ground. In the first case, a wooden support can be attached to the porch with anchor bolts. For installation on the surface of the metal porch posts need to be welded to the bottom of the pipe embedded plate with holes for bolts, by which they will be attached.

Another option is separate from the porch design, based directly on the ground. To do this, dig pit depth 30 -50 cm at the bottom which satisfied the gravel cushion thickness of 10 cm and Then set them in a metal or asbestos-cement pipe, which is filled with concrete. On top of the resulting supports are mounted by welding or bolting the frame of the visor.

The frame for the canopy ↑

Types of canopy over the porch can be completely different – arched, straight lean-to or gable. It all depends on the shape of the frame that you are going to do. It should be guided by practicality, and aesthetics, as the visor above the porch essentially becomes the “face” of the house. The distance between the rafters should not be wider than 50 cm during the operation of a fairly light material, like polycarbonate, may be experiencing a high load in the form of snow, which when too large a step between the rafters can lead to breakage, cracking or warping. After Assembly, both wooden and metal frame, it is necessary to process special means of extending their service life.

Roofing ↑

The most technologically advanced material for device canopy over the porch with their hands is a polycarbonate – it is quite lightweight and easy to process. This material can be cut using almost any tool – grinder, a knife, a jigsaw. While it won’t crack or break. And when you install it on the frame, due to its flexibility, it easily takes the desired shape. The inside sheet is not created the critical stress, which could in the winter to lead to the destruction of the material.

The only thing recommended to do when working with cellular polycarbonate, is to close after installation of a canopy over the porch of his ends special plates. The fact that at high humidity, especially in autumn and spring, inside the cavities of the sheet accumulate in the condensate, which at night the temperature freezes, sometimes tearing thin jumpers, fastening the plates together. And this, in turn, can significantly reduce the service life of polycarbonate roof.

Summary ↑

As you can see from all the above, to make a visor with your hands is not so difficult. The most important thing here is to be able to hold the tool, but have certain creative skills. First of all to have a penchant for spatial reasoning, to determine what protective design you would like to see on my porch. It is also important to be able to create drawings and work with them. Otherwise, it all comes down to patience and skill, without which it is impossible to build your hands even such a simple design, such as the canopy over the porch.

• The visor above the porch made of wood
• How to make a visor made of polycarbonate with their hands
• The metal visor on the porch with their hands