DIY & Home Improvement

mopinko

(71,798 posts) Mon Nov 19, 2012, 06:21 PM Nov 2012

would you use polycarbonate panels for a garage roof?

working on the design for our "barn" aka garage. architects like these panels, but they give me the creeps. i just can't see them holding up long enough to make them worthwhile. spendy, too. the panels are cheap, then the accessories are nutso.

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/easy-ship-2-ft-wide-twinwall-polycarbonate/polycarbonate-panels

1 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

would you use polycarbonate panels for a garage roof? (Original Post) mopinko Nov 2012 OP

I made cold frame "lights" out of that product Kolesar Nov 2012 #1

Kolesar

(31,182 posts)

1. I made cold frame "lights" out of that product

Reply to mopinko (Original post)

Tue Nov 27, 2012, 05:41 PM

Nov 2012

I bought them as surplus "cut offs" from the local greenhouse builder. Nice product!

My hunch is that you would have to support them at close intervals or they will flex. I don't think they would work over rafters with a 24" spacing.

Comment: The benefit I was interested in was light weight compared to 1/4" plywood. Very good in that respect. A possible downside in construction is flexibility if used for roofing in snow country.

Unless you really need to control the temperature in the barn, you could use something simpler like the wavy fiberglass panels that are ruffled like Ruffles potato chips. You could wait until March to keep some plants in there at temperatures above freezing.

Reply to this discussion