Nowadays, many owners dream of building a carport for themselves, saving money. As the main material for these purposes, it is best to choose polycarbonate. In the process of construction it is desirable to use a metal frame, which will have sufficient rigidity. Its task is to carry the wind and snow load. By making a canopy with your own hands, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the dimensions of the metal structure primarily depend on the size of polycarbonate sheets. When working with this material, you should be careful and strictly adhere to the installation technology.
In the store you can buy sheets of the required size, but more often polycarbonate is cut to three, six or nine meters in length. The width of it, as a rule, is about two meters. The material is transported without problems in the body, while it is usually rolled into a pipe. However, it is strictly forbidden to fold it along longitudinal honeycombs. To unloading and loading should be approached very responsibly, because in most cases, scratches appear at this stage. Then make a quality canopy with your own hands is unlikely to work. The aesthetic component will be broken, and this is not included in the plans of any master.
Fastening of sheets is carried out by means of self-tapping screws for metal. It's best if they have heads for the color of the material. Of course, you can use self-tapping screws with a simple galvanized head, but they can stand out against the background of the sheet. Carrying out the polycarbonate canopy with your own hands, you need to know that the sheets are joined using a special docking profile, which is a conventional plastic lock. First it is fixed on a metal frame, after which polycarbonate sheets are inserted into it. The special lid after clipping firmly holds the material. In places with open honeycombs, an end profile is used.
It is much easier to make a canopy with your own hands if you have a Bulgarian next to you. With its help cutting sheets is very fast, but you can also use a sharp knife. As for the metal racks, they can not be cut by a Bulgarian next to the polycarbonate, since sparks flying from the metal can damage the surface of the sheets. To create a metal frame suitable conventional profile pipes. The finished structure must pass the primer immediately before installing the polycarbonate to avoid rust problems in the future.
Some owners prefer not to make a straight line, but an arched canopy. With his hands it will also be built in a fairly short time. It is only necessary to pass profile pipes through a special machine, giving the required radius. However, in the case of the arc-shaped construction, there are some nuances. Therefore, experts recommend that such a metal frame be completely collected on the ground, and afterwards with the help of several people lifted up.