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Small guide to making a polycarbonate canopy
- 29 Dec, 2022
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The canopy is one of the easiest architectural and functional elements to make using polycarbonate. Practical and comfortable, it can be installed above an exterior door, a front door or a French door with balcony access and has the function of protecting things and people from the action of the weather.
In practical terms, the polycarbonate canopy is very useful while accessing your home, because it allows you to keep yourself sheltered from the sun, rain during a thunderstorm, hailstorm or heavy snowfall: in fact, this lightweight and durable material tolerates impacts and loads (e.g. of snow) optimally without any risk of breakage.
A properly made polycarbonate canopy also represents an aesthetic embellishment for the front of the building, because it helps to enrich its facade in a graceful and non-invasive way. Its function is therefore twofold: covering/protective and decorative.
To understand how to build or install a canopy, it is first important to distinguish it from a canopy which is, in fact, a very different roofing element.
What is the difference between carport and canopy?
The Standard Building Regulations of 2016, the result of an agreement between the government, regions and local authorities in Italy, defines a carport as a "roofing building element placed in projection to the external perimeter walls of a building and without vertical mullions to support it."
In contrast, a canopy is a "building element covering an open space supported by a discontinuous structure, used for accessory uses or the protected use of appurtenant spaces."
The difference is therefore remarkable! While canopies and shelters share a common purpose-that of covering an area and protecting or sheltering what lies beneath it-they are entirely different elements when it comes to their mode of construction. This clarification is important when it comes to the construction of a polycarbonate canopy, which, therefore, will not have vertical mullions and will instead be installed directly to the wall, projecting.
It goes without saying that, compared to the canopy, the carport will also have smaller dimensions (although this is a feature that usually makes it installable without requiring a building permit, we always suggest checking the regulations of your municipality), which will justify its direct application to the existing building, without the need for vertical mullions to support it.
Why choose polycarbonate for your carport
Canopies of different types and sizes, made of various materials, are commercially available today. Among these, polycarbonate proves to be a winning solution because of its special and advantageous technical characteristics.
Lightweight and versatile, it makes it possible to make canopies that are easy to move and transport and at the same time very sturdy, designed to last a long time and easy to clean and maintain. Such shelters are usually composed of a durable aluminum frame to which the polycarbonate roofing sheet is combined. The latter will prove resistant to shocks and bending, to the action of sunlight thanks to special surface treatments, unaffected by oils and gasoline, grease and water.
And it doesn't end there: polycarbonate canopies are much lighter than similar products made of other materials and more robust and reliable than glass or crystal. The almost total transparency of their sheets makes them aesthetically appealing and perfect for installation over entrances and openings of all kinds, whether in a residence or an office, store or craft workshop.
Polycarbonate carport: ready-made kit or sheets to be mounted on the frame?
For the construction of your polycarbonate carport, PolyPiù provides you with two different solutions: ready-to-install kits, consisting of frame and sheets with instructions, or polycarbonate sheets that you can eventually attach to an existing frame.
As for the pre-assembled kits, you can choose between two models:
- Giorgia: this is a polycarbonate canopy with a self-supporting aluminum frame and already supplied with a very resistant compact polycarbonate sheet with a characteristic "glass effect," that is, with extreme transparency. It can be supplied with a projection between 900 and 1200 millimeters and in white, gray or smoked colors (as far as the sheet is concerned) combined with a gray or dark brown structure.
- Unica: is a polycarbonate canopy that is very easy to install thanks to its self-supporting structure made of plastic arms and aluminum profiles. Black in color, it comes complete with a 6-millimeter honeycomb polycarbonate sheet with UV protection and has a projection of 810 millimeters. Two widths are available: 1200 and 1500 millimeters.
Assembly and wall installation are very simple processes for both of these models because all the necessary hardware is also included in the mounting kit. It is sufficient to define at what height to install the polycarbonate canopy in relation to the top jamb of the door or doorway and, with the help of a bubble, proceed to fixing the frame using dowels.
In the case of the Giorgia model, you will first proceed to fasten the first arch and the wall profile, and then to fasten between the profiles: it will then be necessary to position the additional arches below the wall profile respecting the spacing already defined, and binding them to the profile with two fasteners for each arch. Finally, the level and bubble of each bracket will be checked in order to proceed with wall fastening through the holes already prepared on the bracket. The frame thus installed will simply have to be completed with the positioning and fixing of the channel under the arches (two rivets for each arch will suffice) and the fixing of the side end caps.
As for the compact polycarbonate plate of the Giorgia model, it will have to be placed on the inner seals of the arches, inserted at the front in the gutter and at the back in the wall profile. The attachment of the two plates with external gaskets to be placed at the ends of the canopy will be done with the provided bolts. The last step will be the application of the snap-on pressers on the wall profile. Finally, the profile will be siliconed to the wall.
Thus, the Giorgia and Unica polycarbonate carport models allow you to quickly obtain the finished product and install it with maximum efficiency and speed.
If, on the other hand, you have an existing frame, for example because you simply need to replace the sheet of an already installed canopy, all you have to do is choose from the various polycarbonate solutions offered by PolyPiù for this type of application.
We make available to you the honeycomb polycarbonate models OndaPIÙ, CarboPIÙ Alveolare, GrecaPIÙ, SmartPIÙ and EasyPIÙ and the compact polycarbonate models CarboPIÙ Compatto and LightPIÙ. Each of these polycarbonate sheets is designed for installation on canopies and will be configured in the dimensions you decide, with the hardware and accessories you need: simply enter the necessary data into our digital sizing tool to get the final price of your custom-made product.
Good work!
