Polycarbonate carport

Your car is well protected

Car owners know how important it is to provide a safe and practical parking space.

To protect the car, many car owners use awnings, because they:

• ✔ Compact;
• ✔ Easy to mount;
• ✔ do not require huge financial costs;
• ✔ they do not restrict or" eat up " the open territory of the house.

The structures are essentially an alternative to bulky garages, but unlike them, they have enough open space for easy access to the car from any side.

For the manufacture of a protective structure, wood or any sheet roofing material is used – slate, profiled flooring, but polymerized carbonate is at the peak of popularity. The carport made of polycarbonate is strong, durable, and can vary in shapes and colors.

Selecting the installation location

There are a number of requirements for the future parking lot, the site must:

• ✔ be spacious enough to accommodate a motor vehicle;
• ✔ have a convenient approach and entry;
• ✔ Do not disturb the existing landscape.

As a location for the installation of a carport made of polycarbonate, it often acts as:

• ✔ departure from the yard;
• ✔ territory adjacent to the garage;
• ✔ the area on the border of the site on the side of the roadway.

The universal parameters of the parking area for one car are 3. 5x6 m,for parking for two cars – 5. 5x6 m.

Types of structures

According to its structural principle, the construction of a carport made of polycarbonate is primitive and consists of three basic elements:

• 1. Platforms that can serve as a platform filled in with concrete, rolled up with asphalt, covered with paving stones or vibropressed tiles with a thickness of 60 mm.
• 2. Vertically oriented load-bearing supports for reliability and strength of the awning.
• 3. The roof, which acts as a key element of the canopy and protects the car from bad weather and direct sunlight.

The floor covering for the carport must meet the following parameters::

• • have high abrasion resistance;
• * have mechanical strength;
• • be resistant to fuels, lubricants and chemicals;
• * have a high coefficient of adhesion to the rubber of automobile tires;
• * blend in with the surrounding landscape design.

The basis of racks for canopies can be a metal profile, a wooden beam, and even stone, brick, or concrete racks. It all depends on the overall stylistic concept of the yard.

The shape for a polycarbonate roof for a car due to the characteristics of the roofing material can be any:

• • flat;
• • single-pitched;
• • gable roof;
• • arched;
• * undulating;
• * spherical.

Pitched and arched roofs are considered the most practical option. They do not allow snow and debris to accumulate on the structure and look presentable.

When building a covered parking space, two types of structures are often used::

1. Autonomous 1. - characterized by the presence of metal pillars located in two parallel leading rows, and a roof frame covered with polycarbonate plates. The roof geometry can be either single – pitched, double-pitched, domed, or arched.
2. Adjacent 2. - implies interaction with the external wall of the house or garage, which acts as a supporting structure. Metal supports are mounted parallel to it. It is important to form a single-pitched or slightly rounded roof.

The choice of structure type is based on the object's location, aesthetic characteristics, and practical functions.

Properties of polycarbonate

To fully understand all the advantages of a carport for a country house made of polycarbonate, you should read more about the material base of the tent element of the structure. The polymerized carbonate thermoplastic used for the roof, which is produced by extrusion of colorless granules, has a wide range of performance properties that favorably distinguish it from alternative building materials.

Due to its ductility, the transparent material is malleable to molding and colorization, which allows manufacturers to vary its color scheme, expanding the product range and increasing market demand.

By its structure, the material can be:

• monolithic • - cast profiled material with high light transmission capacity;
• honeycomb • is a multi-layer impact-resistant product with internal voids filled with longitudinal lintels.

The demand for polycarbonate is due to its upgraded operational qualities:

• transparency • - lets in up to 83% of sunlight, protects against UV radiation;
• lightweight • – 35% lighter than glass of similar thickness;
• durability • - guaranteed service life of at least 8-20 years;
• flexibility • under thermal stress;
• environmental friendliness • – no release of harmful substances into the environment;
• hygiene • – easy to machine work with abrasive detergents;
• low thermal conductivity • due to hollow structure;
• impact resistance 2-4 J •, 200 times stronger than glass.

Polycarbonate for canopies belongs to the category of non-flammable, self-extinguishing materials of the G1 flammability class. It does not absorb and does not allow moisture to pass through, is resistant to fungal formations and has an antibacterial surface. Suitable for interior decoration and exterior work.

Features of calculation and construction

When self-installing, you should take into account the specifics of this roofing material and its linear dimensions. Manufacturers produce standard 2.1 m wide planes with length variations of 6 m and 12 m for honeycomb products and 1.15 x 2 m for profiled polycarbonate.

When calculating material consumption, we recommend that you read the basic rules:

• 1. The pitch for rafters should be a multiple of the width of the material: for 2.1 m – 1050 mm and 700 mm, for 1.15 m – 575 mm and 383 mm.
• 2. The docking point is formed by a connecting profile, the width of which is 20 mm.

Placement of the docking profile is not carried out close to the plastic, but with a gap of 3 mm on each side. This is due to a significant thermal expansion of the material.

To achieve an optimal load on the frame of the structure, rafters and purlins are placed in the same plane at a distance of at least 400 mm. The minimum angle of inclination of the roof is 6°, while the steeper the angle of inclination, the further apart the purlins are located, up to 1 m. Support profiles are driven into the ground to a depth of 1400 mm.

Installation technology

The process of erecting a carport from polycarbonate with your own hands is carried out according to the established algorithm:

1. 1. Registration of the parking area.
2. 2. Concreting of supporting pillars. When laying a tile floor covering, the load – bearing supports are filled separately, while when concreting the floor, they are filled in during the site filling process.
3. 3. Fixing the pillars to the concrete base with anchor bolts.
4. 4. Production of metal structures for the roof. For the arched version, it is possible to order the frame in specialized companies or, if there is a pipe bender, independently. A single-pitched roof implies the manufacture of welded metal structures with longitudinal and transverse beams, one row of which is 30-40 cm lower than the opposite one.
5. 5. Pasting metal surfaces in contact with polycarbonate with thermal tape.
6. 6. Installation of ridge and docking profiles, connecting them to metal with self-tapping screws with press washers along the marking.
7. 7. Cut the sheet lengthwise.
8. 8. Cleaning the cutting area from dust and chips, pasting the ends (8-10 cm from the edge) with a protective tape to prevent moisture from entering the channels.
9. 9. Installation of polycarbonate panels in guides designed with profiles, fixing them with screws with thermal washers.
10. 10. Perforation of the free edge with a 2 mm drill bit in order to secure the end profiles.
11. 11. Removing the protective film from the polycarbonate roof.

To install a polycarbonate canopy, you will need to purchase the following materials::

• ✔ load-bearing roof skeleton (arched, single-pitched, gable);
• ✔ square profile for crate (40x20 mm);
• ✔ Square profile for purlins (60x40 mm or 60x60 mm);
• ✔ square support profile (60x60 mm, 80x80 mm, 100x100 mm);
• ✔ Concreting mix;
• ✔ Floor covering material;
• ✔ press washers;
• ✔ self-tapping screws with galvanized coating;
• ✔ anchor bolts;
• ✔ polycarbonate with a thickness of at least 10 mm.

You should also prepare your tools in advance:

• ✔ Roulette;
• ✔ square;
• ✔ electric jigsaw;
• ✔ Keys;
• ✔ screwdriver;
• ✔ hammer;
• ✔ sandpaper.

Compliance with the specified dimensions of the layout of structural components of the frame prepared in advance on paper will ensure the reliability and stability of the structure as a whole.

Where to order polycarbonate

It is better to purchase plates made of polymerized carbonate for the installation of a canopy from trusted suppliers, including the official online store of the plant for the manufacture of cellular polycarbonate and polycarbonate profiles of PLATYLUX GROUP.

Here you can choose materials for every taste that differ from:

• * structure (monoplites, cellular products);
• * shade (from light-transmitting transparent to sun-blocking color options);
• * thickness (for cellular products-4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm and 10 mm products, monolithic slate is presented in a thickness of 0.8 mm).

The following grades of polycarbonate are available, characterized by individual characteristics and different service periods:

• ROYALPLAST • - dense plastic with double-sided UV protection and a specific weight of 0.83-1.4 kg / m2, warranty period of 20 years;
• POLYNEX •– non-flammable impact-resistant plastic with a density of 0.94-1.3 kg / m2, quality guarantee for up to 15 years;
• SUNNEX • is a mid-range polymer with a density of 0.59-1.25 kg / m2, guaranteed for up to 12 years;
• ULTRAMARIN • is an economy class option with a specific weight of 0.55-0.99 kg / m2 and a manufacturer's warranty of up to 10 years.

In our online store you can also buy auxiliary plastic products for high-quality and reliable installation of car sheds – connecting profiles (4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm), end profiles (4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm), thermal washers.

If you have any questions about the products sold, their delivery and payment, or difficulties in placing an order, please contact the company's managers by phone or ask your question in the online chat.