Location: Gauteng · System: Insulated Patio Ceiling + Skylight Band
The brief
A plastered home with a patio wrapping the corner of the building and windows onto it from two directions. A full-width solid roof would have shaded both.
The comfort of an insulated ceiling is worth having; the daylight is not worth trading for it.
What we built
An insulated patio ceiling on a charcoal frame with cream ceiling panels, standing on its own posts at the outer corner.
Along the house side, the ceiling gives way to a clear glazed band divided by the frame's charcoal purlins. The rhythm of dark ribs against bright glazing is the most-photographed part of the job, and it is doing real work: daylight reaches the windows all day.
The system itself is set out under Patio Ceilings, and the gallery has more of it.
The difference between a skylight and a light band
A skylight is a hole in a ceiling with a panel in it. A light band is part of how the roof is set out — the purlin spacing, the fall and the flashing at the wall are all designed around it from the start.
That is why the finished edge here has no trims fighting each other. The glazing sits in the same structure that carries the ceiling.
The specification behind it
- Insulated patio ceiling — double-roof system
- Charcoal frame with cream ceiling panels
- Clear glazed band to the house side, divided by structural purlins
- Freestanding posts to the outer corner
- 15-year guarantee on aluminium, 10-year on Chromadek®
Why the purlins are left visible
The panels could have been butted into a continuous sheet of glazing. Leaving the purlins expressed is deliberate: they break the reflection, they give the band a scale, and they stop a large clear area reading as a gap in the roof.
It is also more honest. The ribs are what is holding the glazing up, and there is no reason to hide them.
If you’re considering the same
Ask to see the junction detail where any clear section meets your wall. That junction is where a badly built skylight leaks, and it is worth understanding before you buy one.
See more of what our ceilings can do.
