Let's figure out how to build a canopy to the house yourself. In this material, we have to analyze one very specific design - with a wooden frame and a translucent roof made of cellular polycarbonate. So let's get started.
Solution Benefits
There are several of them:
- Easy assembly using the most affordable tools. Agree that not everyone has a welding machine and welder skills, but woodworking does not require special qualifications.
- Roof translucency. Under a polycarbonate covered canopy, it will not be excessively dark and will not require artificial lighting during the daytime. This is especially useful where the canopy covers the space between the wall of the house and the fence of the site.
- Finally, the relatively low price of materials also looks attractive.. Pine timber is noticeably cheaper than a profile pipe of comparable rigidity, not to mention welded trusses.
However: three or four meters of a profile pipe measuring 100x60 will still come in handy for us. It will be concreted and become the basis for wooden poles: such a construction is much more durable than dug into the ground or concreted soil.
Pole concreting
So, how to attach a canopy to the house with your own hands? First of all, we tear off the holes for the supports. The easiest way to do this is with a garden drill.
- The diameter of the pits is standard for the drill 30 cm, the depth is 60 - 80 cm, depending on the density of the soil.
- Then the bottom of each pit is covered with gravel by 8 - 10 cm.
- A rectangular pipe is cut into segments of such a length that they rise above the ground by at least half a meter.
- Then the segments are cleaned of rust residues with a metal brush and painted twice with bituminous mastic below the ground level. The goal is to reliably protect the steel from further corrosion.
- The segments are installed in pits strictly along a plumb line and covered with rubble with a layer-by-layer, every 20 centimeters, rammer.
- The last stage is the actual concreting, filling the pits with a liquid cement-sand mortar, prepared in a ratio of 1: 3.
frame
From what kind of lumber can our canopy-extension to the house be built?
| Structural element | cross section |
| pillars | Two boards with a section of 100x40 mm per pole |
| Beams and lintels between pillars with a span of up to 3 meters | 100x40 mm |
| Beams and lintels between pillars with a span of 3 - 6 meters | 150x50 mm |
Here is an approximate instruction for assembling the frame.
pillars
- We mark and drill in two boards, which are to be pulled to the support from the professional pipe, and in the support itself, holes for a long bolt or stud M16 - M20.
Nuance: any significant efforts can be applied to the supports only 4-5 days after their concreting.
- We tighten future pillars with a lintel beam with the same bolts or studs with wide washers, having previously drilled holes. When installed on supports of a finished sufficiently rigid structure, there is less chance of getting distortions.
- We install what we got vertically. First - on the extreme pillars, with fixation on one bolt or stud; then to all the others.
wall mount
How to attach an attached canopy to the house? Obviously, for this you need to make a support for future beams and attach it to the wall.
The longitudinal support for the beams will be a board of the same section that will go to the beams themselves. The board is attracted to the wall with anchors with wide washers in increments of no more than one and a half meters.
beams
How to fix the beams to the supports:
- From the side of the house, they are cut at such an angle as to ensure abutment to the surface of the anchored board.
- Then the beams are placed on the second jumper and are attracted by the ends to the board with the help of galvanized corners. It takes two corners to fasten one side. The step between the beams is 0.8 - 1 meter.
- On the jumper between the pillars, the beams are fixed with the same corners.Overhangs of 40-50 centimeters are usually left to prevent rain from falling on the poles.
crate
It is a bar with a section of 40-50 mm, attracted by self-tapping screws to the beams perpendicular to their direction with a step of 40-60 cm. The step depends on the thickness of the cellular polycarbonate you have chosen: the smaller it is, the more frequent the crate has to be used.
Roofing
The construction of the canopy to the house ends with the laying of the roof. Polycarbonate is attached to the crate with wood screws with rubber press washers. As in any other business, there are a number of subtleties.
- The screws are tightened just enough to fix the sheet, but do not squeeze it. Excessive force will cause the surface to crack.
- As a rule, polycarbonate is equipped with an ultraviolet filter on one side only. It is indicated in the marking of the sheet. For obvious reasons, this side is oriented upwards: plastic that is not protected from UV rays becomes brittle after 3-5 years of service.
- The size of the canopy is best done as a multiple of the sheet size. In this case, the amount of waste will be reduced to zero.
- Adjacent sheets are connected by an H-shaped profile, planted on a sealant. Without it, drops are guaranteed at the seams. A simple sealing with a sealant is not enough: due to slight fluctuations in linear dimensions when heated, the seam will quickly lose its tightness.
- The edges on the side of open honeycombs are also closed, but with a U-shaped profile. Of course, he sits on the sealant. Yes, the edge profile will not have any effect on the leaks of the canopy; but it will prevent the accumulation of dust and dirt inside the cells.
Useful little things
Finally, let me give the reader some unsystematized advice:
- At the junction of the canopy to the wall, it is better to close it to a height of 20-30 centimeters with an overlay made of galvanized or other waterproof material, fixed with a slight overlap on polycarbonate. In this case, the spray will not decorate the wall with fungus.
However: the pad can be replaced with a strip of rubber waterproofing paint or silicone water repellent.
- Despite the fact that the frame of the canopy is covered with a roof, it is better to treat its parts with an antiseptic and a water-repellent composition. In the role of the latter, drying oil heated in a water bath is often used, applied twice without intermediate drying.
Tip: instead of drying oil, you can use the already mentioned rubber paint. It looks great and reliably protects the wood from moisture.
Conclusion
Of course, the construction we have described does not claim to be absolute perfection: it is quite possible that the reader will have his own creative ideas after reading the article. The video in this article will introduce you to alternative solutions. Good luck!
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