W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the garden. Rejected toughened glass as too heavy to work with. Looking into perspex or polycarbonate solutions.

The usual polycarbonate honeycomb sheets aren't transparent, though they let the light through. She'd like to see some sky, trees etc. So thinking corrugated polycarbonate....

But wondering about flat perspex sheets as well.

Anybody have knowledge of making such a veranda? Would be 4.5m wide and come out 2.5m. Particularly interested in opinions on what kind of sheets to use.

Also where to get hardwood beams at a good price.

Eusebius wrote:
W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the garden. Rejected toughened glass as too heavy to work with. Looking into perspex or polycarbonate solutions.

The usual polycarbonate honeycomb sheets aren't transparent, though they let the light through. She'd like to see some sky, trees etc. So thinking corrugated polycarbonate....

But wondering about flat perspex sheets as well.

Anybody have knowledge of making such a veranda? Would be 4.5m wide and come out 2.5m. Particularly interested in opinions on what kind of sheets to use.

Also where to get hardwood beams at a good price.

Perspex can craze and shatter - not suitable IMHO.
Polycabonate with UV surface treatment (make sure it faces outwards) is
the stuff to use.

On 26/08/2014 19:26, Eusebius wrote:
W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the garden. Rejected toughened glass as too heavy to work with. Looking into perspex or polycarbonate solutions.

The usual polycarbonate honeycomb sheets aren't transparent, though they let the light through. She'd like to see some sky, trees etc. So thinking corrugated polycarbonate....

But wondering about flat perspex sheets as well.

Anybody have knowledge of making such a veranda? Would be 4.5m wide and come out 2.5m. Particularly interested in opinions on what kind of sheets to use.

Also where to get hardwood beams at a good price.


No direct experience, but this is worth a look;

http://www.cabp.co.uk/

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

/Eusebius
W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the garden. .../q

She does know she needs planning permission doesn't she....
Could be a good exit strategy for you ;)

Jim K

She does know she needs planning permission doesn't she....

There was a thread on this and one guy thought not.

"From the Building Regulations perspective, a conservatory, porch,
covered yard, covered way or a carport open on at least two sides and
no larger than 30m^2 is exempt as long as it's at ground level only
and any gladd conforms to Part N of the Building Regs. There is also
a requirement regarding separation from the rest of the house and
control of heating arrangements.

Regarding planning permission, a conservatory is exempt if it plus any
existing extensions have a volume of less than 10% of the original
house volume or 50 cu.m for a terraced house, 15% or 70 cu.m for a
semi detached or detached. whichever is greater, as long as it will
not be nearer to the road boundary than the existing property.

It isn't hard to meet these requirements even with quite a large
conservatory and not be required to seek "permission" or "control".

Carports, covered ways and covered areas are all grouped
together for exemption anyway."

/There was a thread on this and one guy thought not. /q

Mmmm 11 years ago?!

Believe things may have changed...

Google "verandah permitted development"

Jim K

On Tue, 26 Aug 2014 11:26:02 -0700, Eusebius wrote:

W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the
garden. Rejected toughened glass as too heavy to work with. Looking into
perspex or polycarbonate solutions.

The usual polycarbonate honeycomb sheets aren't transparent, though they
let the light through. She'd like to see some sky, trees etc. So
thinking corrugated polycarbonate....

But wondering about flat perspex sheets as well.

Anybody have knowledge of making such a veranda? Would be 4.5m wide and
come out 2.5m. Particularly interested in opinions on what kind of
sheets to use.

Also where to get hardwood beams at a good price.

I'll try and remember to post some photos - we have a veranda a bit larger
than the one you are planning.

Not sure why you want to use hardwood - a bit fancy if you are using
plastic sheets. Corrugated polycarbonate could work but it isn't really
stylish or particularly strong. We replaced an asbestos cement roof on a
garage with polycarbonate and that worked very well but this was a roof
onto an enclosed room. With a veranda you have to cope with the wind
getting under it and rattling it, especially in the winter.

You have some interesting design choices - mainly how wide the individual
roofing sheets are and how many posts you have at the front to support the
cross beam.

This makes a big difference to the size of the wood that you need.

We decided to go for minimal posts and we have powder coated steel
verticals supporting a composite cross beam - a centre piece of powder
coated steel and wood on either side.
Very strong and the vertical posts merge into the background.

Again, the width of the plastic sheets dictates how thick the rafters are
- we went for the maximum recommended width (plus a tiny bit) to use full
sheets.

The twin layer polycarbonate isn't see through - you just get plenty of
light.

If you want really clear roofing then you probably have to go for glass
but this is heavy and you also need to have glazing bars which work with
glass - and these generally require quite a steep slope. Our roof is a
very shallow pitch so we had to go with plastic. So you might need a steep
slope and narrow panes (and so more glazing bars) if you go with glass.

Anyway, we are very pleased with ours because it keeps the weather off the
back of the house and we can have the doors open even if it is raining.

Cheers

Dave R

--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

On Tuesday, August 26, 2014 7:26:02 PM UTC+1, Eusebius wrote:
W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the garden. Rejected toughened glass as too heavy to work with. Looking into perspex or polycarbonate solutions.



The usual polycarbonate honeycomb sheets aren't transparent, though they let the light through. She'd like to see some sky, trees etc. So thinking corrugated polycarbonate....



But wondering about flat perspex sheets as well.



Anybody have knowledge of making such a veranda? Would be 4.5m wide and come out 2.5m. Particularly interested in opinions on what kind of sheets to use.



Also where to get hardwood beams at a good price.

Polycarb is very tough, bus shelter/riot shield tough, but soft and scratches easily.

Perspex is trade name for acrylic and will yellow eventually in the Sun, more scratch resistant , shatters like glass...

Talk to a proper plastic supplier

http://www.amariplastics.com

then polcarb twin/triple wall may seem very attractive ;-)

Even that does not like uv and frost over a few years though as I found on a
greenhouse.
I don't like the corrogated. Hard to fix securely and waterproof, and high
winds can cause havoc when it goes brittle. I've had the odd sheet go milky
after just a couple of yeards while others are still clear.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Eusebius wrote:
W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the
garden. Rejected toughened glass as too heavy to work with. Looking into
perspex or polycarbonate solutions.

The usual polycarbonate honeycomb sheets aren't transparent, though they
let the light through. She'd like to see some sky, trees etc. So thinking
corrugated polycarbonate....

But wondering about flat perspex sheets as well.

Anybody have knowledge of making such a veranda? Would be 4.5m wide and
come out 2.5m. Particularly interested in opinions on what kind of sheets
to use.

Also where to get hardwood beams at a good price.

Perspex can craze and shatter - not suitable IMHO.
Polycabonate with UV surface treatment (make sure it faces outwards) is
the stuff to use.

I notice in my local council over the summer quite a few of the verandas
needed retrospective planning consent subject to structural inspection.
Maybe folk have been having theirs collapse. Sounds nasty.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Adam Aglionby" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, August 26, 2014 7:26:02 PM UTC+1, Eusebius wrote:
W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the
garden. Rejected toughened glass as too heavy to work with. Looking into
perspex or polycarbonate solutions.



The usual polycarbonate honeycomb sheets aren't transparent, though they
let the light through. She'd like to see some sky, trees etc. So thinking
corrugated polycarbonate....



But wondering about flat perspex sheets as well.



Anybody have knowledge of making such a veranda? Would be 4.5m wide and
come out 2.5m. Particularly interested in opinions on what kind of sheets
to use.



Also where to get hardwood beams at a good price.

Polycarb is very tough, bus shelter/riot shield tough, but soft and
scratches easily.

Perspex is trade name for acrylic and will yellow eventually in the Sun,
more scratch resistant , shatters like glass...

Talk to a proper plastic supplier

http://www.amariplastics.com

then polcarb twin/triple wall may seem very attractive ;-)

On 26/08/2014 19:26, Eusebius wrote:
W.London. Small house. My ex wants to put up a veranda looking onto the garden. Rejected toughened glass as too heavy to work with. Looking into perspex or polycarbonate solutions.

The usual polycarbonate honeycomb sheets aren't transparent, though they let the light through. She'd like to see some sky, trees etc. So thinking corrugated polycarbonate....

But wondering about flat perspex sheets as well.

Anybody have knowledge of making such a veranda? Would be 4.5m wide and come out 2.5m. Particularly interested in opinions on what kind of sheets to use.

Also where to get hardwood beams at a good price.

Isn't a veranda usually open?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=verandah&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X& ei=GJf9U6vRJdKh7AbHkoDQCw&ved=0CFYQsAQ&biw=1174&bi h=1071

Does anyone know about the relative load bearing properties of aluminium box tubing and hardwood? Sapele seems to be the recommended hardwood for reasonable money - better than US white oak and more stable than iroko. But it could be interesting to use aluminium for the beams for a light and sturdy roof.

Anyone know how to size hardwood or aluminium section for a job like this?