Polycarbonate visor - views and drawings
Canopies, located above the entrance to a residential, commercial or administrative building, called the visor. This architectural element, with its high decorative potential, performs important practical tasks; it serves to protect the porch from snow, rain or other weather problems. Despite the unitary design of the visor, it should not violate the style and design of the structure; therefore, aesthetic, durable, but moisture-resistant materials are used for its construction. In this article we will tell what a visor is above the entrance of polycarbonate.
Functions
The shelters protecting the entrance to the building from atmospheric phenomena are an obligatory architectural element of each building. They entered the usual life many centuries ago, and the design, the size of the visor depended on the climatic features of the area. The Nordic Scandinavian countries preferred wide, long canopies, well protected from showers or snow. And the southern regions, in which rain was considered a rarity, decorated houses with compact canopies. Visor on the porch performs the following tasks:
- Covers incoming or outgoing buildings from rain or hail. It must provide enough space so that a person can collapse or open an umbrella, find the keys.
- Protects visitors to the building from the collapse of snow masses from the roof. In winter, a large amount of snow accumulates on the roof surface, which, when falling, can severely injure a person entering a building.
- Serves as an attachment point for signs and billboards. Beautiful, original polycarbonate visors serve as an excellent place for placing signs in commercial and administrative buildings.
Modern canopies of polycarbonate, which has a record of impact resistance and wear resistance, serve at least 15-10 years, withstanding intense snow and wind loads in any climatic zone.
Important! Experienced architects advise to calculate the size and design of the visor in accordance with the attendance of the building. A private residential building can be equipped with a small shed covering 2 people. And commercial and administrative buildings, through which thousands of people pass every day, need a more spacious visor.
Kinds
At a time when only wood and metal were used for the construction of sheds, the design possibilities of architects were severely limited by the technical characteristics of these materials. The proliferation of polycarbonate radically changed the approach to the construction of this architectural element. It allows you to create light, shock-resistant, translucent canopies of almost any color and shape. Polycarbonate visors are of the following types:
- Straight. Rinse porch visor is a sheet of polycarbonate plastic, horizontally fixed to the wall of the building using a cantilever attachment method. This type of canopies is considered the most simple in execution, however, only monolithic polycarbonate, which is more expensive than cellular, is suitable for it.
- With valor. The visor with a valance differs from the direct one in that it has a frontal rim, which provides the best protection against wind and rain.
- Leaning. The canopy over the porch of the single-slope type, due to the design features, perfectly removes atmospheric moisture, but does not protect against oblique rain and wind.
- Dvukhskatny. The dvuhkatny peak is mounted from two sheets of polycarbonate located at an angle to each other. This design can close the entire porch, including steps.
- Arched. This type of visor fits optimally with the architectural style of modern buildings. Tiered, colored arched designs look easy and perfectly perform protective functions.
- Dome. The visor of this type has a shape resembling a dome. It looks exclusive and original, however, the cost of such a design is quite high.
Note! Superior quality, distinguishing polycarbonate from silicate glass, flexibility and transparency. Thanks to these properties, from this inexpensive and durable material create complex, curly, multi-layer structures. A diverse color range of polycarbonate plastic increases the decorative potential of the visor above the entrance to the building.
Kinds каркаса
Polycarbonate visor consists of a frame and direct roofing. The support and bearing function is assigned to the frame; therefore, the materials used for installation are selected to be strong, durable and weather-resistant. From the quality of the supporting elements depends on the life of the canopy. They are made of the following materials:
- Tree. Wood is considered the most affordable material for the construction of the frame of the visor. It is lightweight, durable and in harmony with the appearance of country houses from a bar or log. However, natural wood under the influence of moisture, eventually rots. To increase the life of the visor on such a frame, all wooden elements are treated with antiseptic preparations.
- Metal. For the construction of the frame of the visor using metal profiles of square or round cross-section. This material has high strength, corrosion resistance and long service life. But the metal frame weighs more and costs more. In addition, the Assembly carried out by welding, which complicates the installation work.
- Forging. Forged frame for the visor, consisting of a set of curls or patterns, looks very presentable and original. It is worth noting that this design, created by hand according to individual sketches, is very expensive. In addition, it has a lot of weight, so it is difficult to securely mount.
Учтите, что срок службы качественного поликарбоната составляет не менее 15-20 лет, поэтому для каркаса нужно выбирать материал с таким же сроком эксплуатации. Wooden frame для козырька требует ежегодного нанесения антисептика, а потом полной замены через 5-7 лет использования. А металлический каркас из оцинкованной стали прослужит долгие годы, не требуя практически никакого ухода.