Roofing calculator

Introduction

You can use our roofing calculator to calculate the material quantities of the most common roof types, and it also calculate its cost on the actual list prices. The calculator offers every and all of the installation accessories needed to build a professional cover, and it calculates the plastic sheet sizes as well.

The steps of the calculation:

1. Please chose one from the given 7 cover types that is similar to your task in the first step. Keep in mind that several types can be used to calculate other kinds of shape! The "Flat cover" for instance is suitable to calculate a wall, or a saddle roof, just multiply the result by two at the end. The "Curved cover" can be used to determine the material quantities of a small canopy or even a long skylight!

2. In the second step you have to choose the material of your cover. For example you might choose from solid polycarbonate or multiwall polycarbonate, or a brand like Exolon UV or PLEXIGLAS Alltop. The filters can be used to short the list according to your needs. The thick polycarbonate sheets mainly used as the roof of a wintergarden is not suggested to be used as a roofing material of a simple terace etc.

3. You will enter the details of the cover shape in the third step. You can find help to fill the required fields by clicking or by tapping the question marks at the end of the corresponding row.
After filling all the required fields marked by a star, the calculator will offer you a rafter distance plan that fits the suggestions of the producers of the choosen product. You can check the result in the 3D viewport on the right hand side of the screen.
If for some reason you don't accept the suggested distance or count of the rafters, you are allowed to change it by pressing the "+" and "-" buttons, or by pressing "Change the count of holders" button, where you can customize your complete cover.
If you are satisfied with the result, you are allowed to save it for later purposes, simply by logging into your plastic.hu account and pressing the "Save project" button. If all is done, press the "Calculate the required materials" button to start the calculation process.

4. You can order the products online in the final step, or you can print the list of the products, or you can even ask a unique offer from our colleagues if the quantity is large enough.

1. Select cover type

Choose the type of the cover you want to make!
Depending on your choice, our calculator will offer different types of polycarbonate or acrylic sheets suitable for the given task, and the input form for sizes will also change according to this.
Some types of covers are also suitable for calculating other types of shapes. The flat cover can also be used, for example, to determine the material requirements for vertical walls or partition walls. For a canopy, if you are thinking of an arched shape, choose the curved cover, etc.

Curved

Flat

Closed space

Complex

Complex 2

Stepped

Stepped 2

2. Choose product type

Choose the material you want to make your cover with!

Note that certain thicknesses or types are less or not recommended for a particular job. Although it is not recommended to choose a polycarbonate sheet thinner than 16 mm for the construction of a conservatory, it is possible. It is generally completely unreasonable to use a type with a thickness of 25 mm or more to cover a terace roof. Be aware that solid sheets, especially the thinner ones, can bend unloaded due to their own weight, so - although we allow it - do not plan to use thinner than 6-8 mm as covers. If you are unsure about choosing the right material, please contact our colleagues by e-mail or phone!

3. Enter the dimensions

Enter the typical dimensions of the polycarbonate or acrylic cover, and the details of the supporting structure.

The width of the profile system is determined by the width of the rafters or curved supports of the substructure. For the professional installation of plastic sheets, due to their high thermal expansion, we recommend the usage of a minimum 60 mm wide substructure in each case and, consequently, the choice of a 60 mm wide profile system. The 50 mm profile system only meets the minimum requirements recommended by the manufacturers! In the case of glass structures, the use of a 50 mm wide PolyfiX system is sufficient due to the material properties.

Our calculator also provides the possibility to take into account planned or required material overlaps in the calculations. To allow rainwater to flow safely into the gutter, set the "Overhang below" field. The "Overhang on the left" or "Overhang on the right" fields control the overhang on the first and last rafters, respectively. Also consider the actual width of the rafters! The upper "Gap" is one of the most important parameters in the construction of comfortable terrace coverings, as it allows the air heated under the light-transmitting plates to escape from the covering by gravity. Its size depends on the design of the structure, but it is advisable to leave a gap of 5-10 cm.

Additional dimensions for the shapes are marked in red in the 3D preview window on the right to make them easier to identify. This is especially useful for complex covers (Complex 1 and 2, and stepped covers). Once you have entered all the sizes marked with * (i.e., must be specified), the calculator offers the optimal rafter layout based on the physical characteristics of the selected sheet type, and in parallel displays it on the 3D viewport. Of course, you can deviate from the recommended number of rafters! You can choose more in all cases, as denser support never hurts the load capacity - just the sight and the wallet. However, the program only allows less support to the extent that it still corresponds to the maximum support distance (or available sheet widths) recommended by the manufacturer! You can easily change the number of rafters with the "+" and "-" buttons. If you want to work with unequal rafters or need to adapt to an existing substructure, click the "Specify custom support layout" button after setting the appropriate number of supports and you can specify the distance of each rafter one by one.

When you are satisfied with everything, you click on the "Calculate material requirements" button to calculate the amount of materials needed to cover. If you want to continue your work later, we recommend that you create an account on our site, because you can save your work while logged in, which you can load later at any time, and even create and work on several tasks at once.

By clicking on the question mark at the end of the data entry lines, you will find further help to make your decision sound and to incorporate it professionally.

If you are unsure about the design of a professional and safe substructure, you should consult a qualified expert/static designer.
Our company is not responsible for damages and injuries resulting from incorrect or insufficient support density!

* Mandatory information.

You can freely move, rotate and zoom the 3D view on the screen of your mobile device with the usual gestures, or on your computer with the aid of the left and right button of your mouse. By pressing and holding the left button you can rotate the view, while pressing and holding the right one will move it. You can use the wheel to zoom in and out.

The chosen product:

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