best glass for green house roof?
#1
05-08-06, 10:02 PM
Join Date: Aug 2005
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best glass for green house roof?
hidyho,
i'm thinking about building a sun room or green house off the breakfast room. basically i want to enclose the patio in glass.
what would be the proper glass to use on the ceiling? i don't want to use plexiglass or plastic. but i want something that will be very hard to break and in the case of breaking i want it to be safe.
any ideas?
thanks,
max
i'm thinking about building a sun room or green house off the breakfast room. basically i want to enclose the patio in glass.
what would be the proper glass to use on the ceiling? i don't want to use plexiglass or plastic. but i want something that will be very hard to break and in the case of breaking i want it to be safe.
any ideas?
thanks,
max
#3
08-10-06, 09:09 PM
If design permits panels sized the same as sliding glass patio doors, you can save a lot of money by recycling these. You get two panes out of one (double-glazed) door.
#4
08-11-06, 04:51 AM
Patio door replacement glass also comes in single-pane, which is thicker (1/4" If I remember correctly). I built a greenhouse entry on a passive solar home with those panels - saved thousands, but you only have 2-3 sizes to work with.
#5
02-29-08, 10:07 AM
Originally Posted by Ubob
Patio door replacement glass also comes in single-pane, which is thicker (1/4" If I remember correctly). I built a greenhouse entry on a passive solar home with those panels - saved thousands, but you only have 2-3 sizes to work with.
#6
02-29-08, 07:26 PM
rp2008,
Welcome to DoItYourself.com and the Shed & Sunroom forum.
If you are thinking about using sliding glass door panes in the roof of a sunroom or greenhouse, securing it isn't a problem. Simply wood stop the panes in.
But it all comes down to planning EVERYTHING from the very begining. First off. sliding glass door panes only come in a very few standard sizes. The most common height is for a 6-8 door -- 80". (The glass is about 76".) Widths for sliders are 6', 8', and 10'. The glass panels run a couple inches less than half of the width of the door -- about 34", 46", and 58".
Get all of your panels first and design your framing aroung that.
For a roof application, I would stick with using just panes from 6' or 9' wide sladers -- panes that are about 34" wide.
"Additional weight of the glass" -- a single glass pane weighs less that the same square footage of standard comp. roofing. Weight isn't an issue, but supporting the center of the panes will be if snow is an issue where you're at. Again. it's all in the design and framing. You might have to work in some small (3/4" or 1") steel or aluminum squre stock under the panes, much like grids in a window, to provide extra support.
Welcome to DoItYourself.com and the Shed & Sunroom forum.
If you are thinking about using sliding glass door panes in the roof of a sunroom or greenhouse, securing it isn't a problem. Simply wood stop the panes in.
But it all comes down to planning EVERYTHING from the very begining. First off. sliding glass door panes only come in a very few standard sizes. The most common height is for a 6-8 door -- 80". (The glass is about 76".) Widths for sliders are 6', 8', and 10'. The glass panels run a couple inches less than half of the width of the door -- about 34", 46", and 58".
Get all of your panels first and design your framing aroung that.
For a roof application, I would stick with using just panes from 6' or 9' wide sladers -- panes that are about 34" wide.
"Additional weight of the glass" -- a single glass pane weighs less that the same square footage of standard comp. roofing. Weight isn't an issue, but supporting the center of the panes will be if snow is an issue where you're at. Again. it's all in the design and framing. You might have to work in some small (3/4" or 1") steel or aluminum squre stock under the panes, much like grids in a window, to provide extra support.
#7
03-02-08, 10:30 PM
I suggest you build it such that you'll never have to Spiderman up there and re-do caulk or replace rotten wood. Custom made steel flashings for the joints will conceal and protect the inevitable goop and also keep panes from lifting off in windstorms (that latter happened to my father).
If you lap them - one above the other - construction becomes very complex and unforgiving. I did this once for 20' (up) at 12/12 pitch, and used oak tapers and a micrometer. *shudders* I did not allow the panes to rest on each other, but rather lapped them ~2" with an 1/8" air gap. Why a gap: because this may be cleaned, but anything else would fill with yuck overtime, or look goopy. Just don't aim a pressure washer at it from below. I secured additional plexiglass panes from inside (removable), so there's no draft or falling glass hazard.
If you lap them - one above the other - construction becomes very complex and unforgiving. I did this once for 20' (up) at 12/12 pitch, and used oak tapers and a micrometer. *shudders* I did not allow the panes to rest on each other, but rather lapped them ~2" with an 1/8" air gap. Why a gap: because this may be cleaned, but anything else would fill with yuck overtime, or look goopy. Just don't aim a pressure washer at it from below. I secured additional plexiglass panes from inside (removable), so there's no draft or falling glass hazard.
#8
03-08-08, 11:02 AM
Member
The proper glass to be used would insulating glass units made with 1 pane of tempered glass on the outside and 1 pane of laminated glass (plastic sandwiched between 2 panes of glass) for the inside pane. The laminated glass will prevent any glass from falling into the room. These panels must be made to order. The biggest problem you may encounter are leaks.
#9
03-08-08, 11:57 AM
One of the biggest problems with solariums is they leak. There are companies that develop skylight aluminum extrusions that hold and cushion the glass. In addition they form gutters that channel the water downward. If there is a leak past the glass the water is channeled down and out.
We used to build solariums with laminated beams topped by one of these skylight extrusions. This is in the rainy northwest. While we were in the solarium business we never had one call back. Those who did wood covered with wood battens had continual problems caused by shrinking and expanding of wood and failure of sealants.
All of our solariums were living spaces and hence had to meet code requirements and be water tight. With true greenhouses codes are less restrictive and a little bit of leakage is no bother.
Jim
We used to build solariums with laminated beams topped by one of these skylight extrusions. This is in the rainy northwest. While we were in the solarium business we never had one call back. Those who did wood covered with wood battens had continual problems caused by shrinking and expanding of wood and failure of sealants.
All of our solariums were living spaces and hence had to meet code requirements and be water tight. With true greenhouses codes are less restrictive and a little bit of leakage is no bother.
Jim
#10
03-08-08, 01:28 PM
