Roofing Materials: Corrugated Plastic, Polycarbonate, and Fiberglass from PetersvBe8's blog

corrugated plastic roofing is not designed to be a primary roof covering for a house, but is quite beneficial for minor roofs surrounding the home.

Numerous these products are created to resemble comparable steel rolled shaped sheets. This does not imply they are as robust, and caution should be exercised when walking on rooftops with these goods, as I have seen several that appear quite frail when new and become downright deadly as they age and are exposed to sunlight.

Having said that, there are a plethora of extremely durable and attractive products that perform admirably for their intended purpose.

There is a line of extremely robust commercial-grade fiberglass sheets designed specifically for use in extremely corrosive conditions. To my knowledge, the factory where I go for hot dip galvanizing has had its steel roof replaced at least twice. I'm not sure why they don't use fiberglass sheets to cover the caustic or acid cleaning baths.

Apart from strength, there are other colors and transparency ratios available. From transparent to opaque, ranging from clear to various degrees of translucency. Some of them block UV rays while still allowing plenty of light to pass through.

I've added a roofed patio or verandah to an existing house a few times. Because I reside in the tropics, we use steel sheeting to construct many of these for outdoor living areas and shade. When the new roof is built, it occasionally shades the kitchen window, so we installed a couple of sheets of clear corrugated plasticwith the same profile as the steel roofing to restore natural light to the kitchen.

After completing several of them, I've concluded that a single sheet of clear or semi-transparent sheeting would make a fantastic substitute for a skylight. While it may not look as attractive as a skylight, it may cost less than a tenth of the price.

Certain manufacturers standardize on smaller sheets, approximately 1800 (6ft) in length, and refer to them as corrugated plastic roofing tiles. Others manufacture sheets up to 3000 feet (10ft) in length.

These translucent blankets can provide soothing filtered light for terraces and sun rooms in temperate areas.

Numerous these goods are ideal for greenhouses and are a less expensive alternative to glass.

All of these corrugated plastic roofing options have a greater rate of thermal expansion than the majority of other roofing materials. FRP (fiberglass reinforced panels) degrades at a slower rate than polycarbonate and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) panels.