Location: Fairlands, Randburg · System: Clear Polycarbonate Roof
The brief
A ground-floor courtyard sitting directly beneath a first-floor balcony walkway, with a door and window onto it. Sheltered from directly above, exposed to driving rain from the open side.
The space was already the darkest part of the property. A second solid roof under an existing concrete one was the wrong answer.
What we built
A charcoal-framed roof glazed in clear polycarbonate, set beneath the existing balcony at a shallow fall and taken out past its edge to catch the rain the balcony does not.
Clear sheeting means the courtyard keeps whatever daylight reaches it. The frame is charcoal rather than white, so it reads as a shadow line under the balcony instead of competing with the railings above it.
More on the specification under Fixed IBR Awnings, and more jobs like it across Randburg.
Roofing under a roof
Building beneath an existing structure means working to two constraints at once: the fall of the new roof, and the headroom left under the old one.
Get the fall too shallow and water sits; too steep and the frame drops into head height at the open edge. Both are set on site, measured against what is already there rather than assumed from a standard detail.
The specification behind it
- Clear polycarbonate roof on a charcoal aluminium frame
- Fitted beneath an existing first-floor balcony, projecting past its edge
- Fall and headroom set on site against the existing structure
- Gutter and downpipe to take run-off clear of the courtyard
- 15-year guarantee on aluminium
Clear sheeting, honestly described
Clear polycarbonate lets light through and stops rain. It does not stop heat the way an insulated ceiling does, and a courtyard under clear sheeting in full summer sun will be warm.
That is why it suits a position like this one, where the balcony above already does most of the shading and what the courtyard is short of is light and rain cover. In an open sunny position we would specify solar-control sheeting or an insulated ceiling instead, and say so.
If you’re considering the same
Where a space is already shaded by the building itself, clear sheeting is usually the right answer. Where it faces open sky, ask about solar-control sheeting or an insulated ceiling instead.
See more Randburg work.
