Canopy roof over alley

[John.Stitch]

I have been asked to put up a sloping canopy roof, perspex or similar over an alley that runs alonside the side of a house.

The purpose of the roof is to give a dry area that can be used for keeping dogs in and other general household items, The alley is regularly used to enter and exit the garden.

There is a wall about 3 feet from the house wall that forms the alley and it run for about 15-20 feet.

It gives the house owner access to the garden from the front without going through the house to get to the garden.

A side door along this alley goes into the kitchen and there is a door at the front of th ealley, 5 foot hogh wooden.

The alley wall is about 6 foot high and has steps in it so it not a uniform length, the steps are 5 feet long and step out about 12 inches from the wall.

On the house wall are two or three pipes, I can put a wall plate above all except one, a vertical run of 18mm copper CH pipe.

The house owner owns the land on the other side of the wall, grass, and wants a water butt to collect water from the gutter on the roof.


I think I am ok on putting a wall plate up to secure the roof to the house wall, but not too sure about the best way to get round the 18mm pipe. I was going to channel into the mortar to set some lead into it, to keep rain off the joint.

I am not sure what kind of roofing material to use, flat perpex I guess going upto a flat house wall.

And I am not sure what kind of wooden structure to use on the alley wall, and how to get round the steps in it. The roof will probably be about 18" to 2' above the alley wall.
So I am thinking of some kind of truss design, one section each for each step and they are angled together wher they have to join up for the long piece of wood (plate?) that holds them all in place that mini rafters are then screwed to, if you understand me?

Would the size of the timber frame be 2" square?

What suggestions do you have for this?

I am a supercalifragalistic handyman but I'vs not done this before.

 

[breezer]

flat perspex will cost a fortune and no g'tee which way the water will run. use corugated sheets.

 

[kevnurse]

I agree with Breezer that corrugated roofing is generally better for the rainwater issue. However, its only a 1 metre span and a decent gradient will ensure that the water runs directly down to the lower wall. I would put a small rainwater fence at the front and back ends of the roof. I wouldn't tie myself in knots over the sealing around the 18mm pipe. Bearing in mind that you are only building a small covered walkway, which will not be weatherproof, the amount of rainwater that will run down the wall or the pipe will not matter much. If sealing the roof to the house wall is important to you, corrugated roofing will be more difficult to seal than flat panels. Breezer is right; flat panels tend to be more expensive. I'm not sure that 2" x 2" timber is strong enough. I would go for the 4" treated wood commonly used for fencing and decking, but I'm having difficulty envisaging the arrangement of steps and the wall.

 

[big-all]

i personaly if possible would try and shed the water over the wall because
this will give you a dry area around 6ft6" under the roof
this will allow lighting without banging your head
it will also allow the six foot high pannels for the new fence or shed to pass through and because its a dry are they have the option of locating there freezer inside it

look at all the browny points you can score

another point to note without a good slope and without good through flow of air you will get lots of dripping condensation hopfully with around a 30% slope it will shed on the outside of the wall
this only happens during the cold winter months where the moist warm air thats trapped cools on the plastic

 

[bendylow]

i don't know if someone has already mentioned it but ,if that 18mm pipe has no insulation around it,it is probably a gas pipe