A glass canopy over the entrance: laminated glass, fixing, water run-off

A glass canopy over the entrance: why a house by the sea needs one

In Batumi rain often comes with wind, and an unprotected front door gets wet, the threshold floods and keys have to be found in a downpour. A glass canopy over the entrance shelters the door and porch from rain without darkening the entrance, and is barely visible on the facade. Canopies go over the entrances of private houses, over doors to the terrace, over shop and cafe entrance screens and over garden gates. Unlike a carport or pergola, a canopy is small and fixed directly to the house wall.

Types of canopy

Polycarbonate is cheaper, but in the southern sun it clouds and yellows over time, and it drums in a downpour. Glass stays clear for many years. We make the canopy wider than the door with a margin on both sides, and set the fixing height so the door opens freely underneath and a person with an umbrella can pass.

Laminated glass only

A canopy hangs over people's heads, so its glass is only laminated, made of toughened panes. If a pane cracks from an impact or a falling branch, the interlayer holds the fragments and the glass does not fall. We do not use single glass in canopies, even toughened. The laminated thickness and the rod sections are calculated for the projection, wind and the possible load of wet leaves.

Fixing to the facade

A canopy transfers its load to the wall, and can only be fixed to something load-bearing: concrete, brick, solid block. If the facade is externally insulated, ordinary anchors through the insulation will not hold. So the fixing points are built in before insulation: cast-in plates in the slab or wall and thermally broken brackets that pass through the insulation without a cold bridge. How such a facade is built is described on the facade insulation page. Over an entrance screen with a curtain wall we design the canopy together with it, more on the curtain walls page.

Where the water goes

• a fall away from the wall so water does not run down the facade;
• enough projection that driven rain does not reach the door;
• a drip edge so water does not creep under the glass;
• a gutter or side run-off if water must not fall on the steps;
• a sealed abutment profile at the wall.

Over wide entrances and porches with steps, water from the canopy is collected in a gutter and led to the house downpipes. How gutters work is described on the gutters page. If you need shelter for a car, that is a carport on its own posts, covered on the carports page.

How much a glass canopy costs

A laminated glass canopy on stainless steel tie rods, installed, costs from 1 380 ₾ per m² of glass. A canopy in a cantilevered aluminium channel without rods from 1 800 ₾ per m², an entrance canopy on a metal frame with polycarbonate or glass from 1 980 ₾ each. A glazed roof on an aluminium frame over a terrace from 930 ₾ per m², an aluminium pergola with a fabric roof from 1 050 ₾ per m². The final cost is set after the survey and an agreed estimate.