Self Support Roofing
Self Support Roofing
Self support glazing bars do not need rafters to support them. The self supporting glazing bars have a heavy duty aluminium core that gives the structural support needed for the glass or polycarbonate roofing materials. The glazing shop has a complete Self Support Glazing bar System with all the parts you need for a self supporting Lean To roof. Engineered and designed to be high quality and easy to install, this self supporting roof system is perfect for a wide range of applications including conservatory roofing, canopy roofs and carports roofs.
The system consists of self supporting glazing bars with dedicated main and end bars. It also includes wall plates and eaves beams designed specifically for use with these self support glazing bars for seamless compatibility and a high end finish. All available in a wide range of colours including White, Brown, Anthracite Grey, Black, Rosewood and Light Oak.
All delivered quickly throughout the UK.
July Savings! - get 10% discount off your self support glazing bars in July when you buy your polycarbonate roof sheets from us, simply use the discount code BAR10 at the checkout.
Please see our guide on what you need for a self supported roof.
The self support glazing system from the Glazing shop is of the highest quality and has been engineered and designed for a high end finish, strength and ease of installation. The self support glazing bars accommodate 16mm, 25mm, 32mm and 35mm multiwall Polycarbonate Sheets or 16mm and 24mm Glass units.
This system contains all the elements required for a complete self supporting Lean To roof including:
- End Glazing bars – for the left and right edges of your roof
- Main glazing bars – for between the sheets of your glazing
- Wallplate – for fixing the high end of your roof to the wall
- Choice of eaves beams – The system eaves beam for when structural support is not needed under it e.g in a conservatory or other enclosed space. Alternatively choose the aluminium eaves beam for when support is needed beneath e.g for a canopy – please check the spanning capabilities
Structural Guidelines for building your Self Supported roof
You need to consider the strength needed in your self supporting glazing bars when you are building a Self-support roof for a canopy or conservatory. As you cannot rely upon wooden rafters to provide any structural strength, it important that the centres of your glazing bars (the spans between them) are within the guidelines given for that roof system.
The following chart shows the Glazing Bar centres for The Glazing Shop Self Support Glazing bars over a range of projections. This shows the recommended spans for conservatory roofs. As you can see recommended centres are different if you are using these bars for glazing a polycarbonate roof or if you are using glass.
You simply choose either polycarbonate or glass as shown on the chart and follow the graph to see how wide apart your glazing bar centres can be e.g. If you are making a polycarbonate roof with a 4m projection, the maximum space between your bars is 500mm. Alternatively If you want just a 3m projection your centres can be as wide as 1000mm provided your polycarbonate is thick enough (please see below).
For glass you follow the same principles and as you can see you could not have a 4m projection in glass, the maximum at 500mm centres would be around 3.3m as glass is heavier and deflects more. For a glass roofed canopy (or other open structure) we would recommend keeping the centres at around 500mm even for smaller projections. If in doubt check with your glass supplier.
Maximum recommended sheet widths based on Multiwall Polycarbonate sheet thickness
The following are our conservatory roof guidelines for maximum centres based upon each polycarbonate sheet thicknesses. The centres of the glazing bars in the above chart may in some cases be bigger than those given for the sheet thickness. You must not exceed either the centres recommended for the bars or those for the thickness of the sheets, always go to the smaller of the two. For example: As you can see here you could glaze your 3m projection roof with 25mm and upwards of polycarbonate but 16mm would be restricted to 900mm centres. For a canopy we would recommend keeping the sheets no more than 900mm for all thicknesses.
| Sheet Thickness | Maximum recommended width |
| 16mm Triple wall Polycarbonate | 900mm |
| 25mm Multi wall Polycarbonate | 1050mm |
| 32mm & 35mm Multi wall Polycarbonate | 1200mm |
We also supply a full range of accessories for your self support roof, from wall bar adapters to sheet end closures to complete your project. We also have gutter clips that fit onto the eaves beam without the need for screws.
If you roof is polycarbonate, we supply all thicknesses of multiwall polycarbonate at highly competitive prices. We cut it to size for you at no extra cost so you only pay for what you use.
Also if you buy your polycarbponate from us you get 10% off your self supporting glazing bars!
Fitting instructions
For fitting instructions for our self support roof? Please see our Self support assembly instructions.
At the Glazing shop we aim to provide all the information you need to make informed decisions about the parts of your self-support roof. If you have any questions please call us on 01536 446395 and we will be very happy to help.