![]() ![]() ![]() Properly installed steel roofing, has the shear strength to be able to transfer loads induced by wind or seismic forces across the roof, through the building endwalls, to the ground. With a minimum allowable shear strength of 110 pounds per lineal foot, this steel is identical in strength to 7/16” oriented strand board (osb) installed in an unblocked diaphragm (no blocking at the seams between the sheets of osb). These tests resulted in shear values for these panels being published in the National Frame Builders Association (NFBA) Post-Frame Building Design Manual. ![]() We’ve had an engineer perform full scale testing of steel panels similar to what is used on your new Hansen Pole Building (our tests were performed using thinner 30 gauge steel). Polycarbonate panels do expand and contract much more than steel panels and they are much weaker and deflect more. You’ll also have to take some precautions about thermal movement. Roof areas without a good vapor barrier, which would be provided by properly installed insulation, are prone to condensation issues as well. If you are really planning on using polycarbonate roof panels, then you cannot insulate the roof in these areas, or you will block all the light. Instead, we recommend these skylights be used in the walls as eave lights to allow light into the building to prevent anyone from walking on these panels. Polycarbonate roof panels are normally used as in-plane translucent panels and are used with steel panels. With a high performance glazing which stands up to punishing exterior applications, Polycarbonate Panels offer multiple advantages over traditional FRP panels: up to 20 times greater impact resistance, the highest light transmission rates, the lowest yellowing index, the highest load rating, and the highest resistance to wind uplift-outstanding properties confirmed in accredited laboratory testing and in installations worldwide since 1984. Polycarbonate panels are virtually unbreakable, they self-extinguish if exposed to flame, are hail resistant and are Underwriters Laboratory (UL) 580 Class 90 recognized. Polycarbonate panels are designed specifically to match up to the metal panel profile. For use in pole buildings, most instances where FRP panels would have been used, the work is now being done by polycarbonates. Local kids, out for “fun” were throwing rocks through the panels!Īvailable technologies have improved. Within a matter of just a few years, the panels had yellowed and become brittle. The idea was to be able to gain natural lighting. At the first truss manufacturing plant I owned, we constructed a new building in 1982, with FRP panels at the top of the south facing sidewall. Lateral loads being transferred through the roof from wind had elongated the holes around the screws, causing numerous roof leaks.īrittleness over time is another issue with FRP. In the case of this particular building, the skylights had deteriorated to a less than lovely yellow color, allowing very little light transmission. Over time the glazed pigmented seal applied during the manufacturing process can crack causing the structural breakdown of fiberglass resin by weathering. The operative word here being “were”.įRP panels are strong mold-resistant sheets. These panels were designed and placed with the intent of allowing natural light into this very large building. ![]() About 20 years old, the building had a steel roof with numerous fiberglass (actually Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic or FRP) panels in the roof. My first thoughts go back to a building I worked inside of over the winter of 1980-81. A request we receive frequently is for skylights to be installed in the steel covered roofs of our pole buildings. ![]()
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