Thanks, I like that idea. Do you have a good source you can share?I remove my galv roofs and replaced by laying fibreglass for a jointless/seamless fit esp at corners and continuing down the sides 50 - 60mm, top coated in grey.
0.5mm is well good enough. I have used this to protect PIR hives from blue tits.I have some roofs to make up that need sheeting on top. Ali seems a good choice, but what thickness is best? Starts at .5 mm by the look - is that too thin?
This is a great idea, thanks! I’ve been using heavy duty roofing felt (as I did 30 years ago before undiagnosed kidney disease- supposedly all in my head - stopped me after about six years). Just begun with bees again this spring as just now slowly making some recovery with ten years treatment after 34 years of 1/2 the time being in bed. I did make a 1mtr plywood aquarium before I fell ill with just a panel routed out at front for the glass (of course ) and sealed all with glass fibre so should have thought of your solution myself - but didn’t. It lasted a decade and I only gave it away when we moved house. I’ll give your suggestion a try, thank youThe matting,resin & top coat isn't exactly cheap but then again nor is ali sheet.
I had the idea to waterproof the roofs properly during early lockdown as I had spare after prepping and wrapping my Finlock concrete gutters to make them 100% water proof, it was either have one of the gutter companies con me out of 1000's for a day's work or spend £300 on materials and do the job my self. I chose the latter with little else to do and nice dry warm weather.
I cut 125mm strips first and applied them to the sides and to the roof top edge allowing about 70mm cover to the roof top, about 200ml of resin mix used to do this.
Then for a national roof covered with 300gsm matting I found that about 400/425ml of mixed resin was enough to fully wet the matting to the roof board making sure I lapped the over the edge strips by 50mm. I did pre-seal the roof board to stop the resin being sucked in to quickly, for this I used a G4 pond sealer which was tack dry in about 20 mins.
The polyester top coat I use about 125/150g of mixed paint, with both one has to work quite quickly before it starts to turn.
2% cat mix reaction was too quick for me so I kept it to 1 - 1.25% to give me about 25mins working time at 18/20c.
Some 60grit ali oxide sanding sheet to rub down any spikes of hard dry matting before the top coat goes on and to key the surface.
I didn't need a roller or bubble roller to remove air but used the brush to stipple the surface to ensure no air pockets. For brushes I bought very cheap 10/12 packs of disposable 40/50mm blue ones, not worth trying to clean them.
Make sure the roof edges are rolled/rounded matting doesn't like square edges and air gets trapped. one only needs a 6-8 mm radius edge.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5kg-Gene...=233724932454235f5de64f22477c9b7877310e934e32https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-x-10m...=2743407956442d36f13e49e44fa381873791600edd83https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fibregla...275520?hash=item4d89511a40:g:0ocAAOSwkXdaylQ-
How about buying Abelo's deep roofs and be done with?
I have used galvanised steel sheet for hive roof covers. It is far more satisfactory to use a tin snips / shears for cutting thin steel sheet (about 0.7mm thickness), rather than using an angle grinder. I have made a very simple sheet-metal folder by clamping the steel sheet between two pieces of angle iron, and using a rubber mallet to encourage the steel sheet to fold neatly and cleanly. I suggest angle iron size approx 50mm x 50mm x 6mm. It is not difficult to cut corner tabs which close the corners tightly, and if you want the cover to be really 100% waterproof then silicone sealant can be applied to the inside of the corners before the metal cover is attached to the wooden hive cover.The issue with any metal sheeting is jointing corners, eventually damp will get in via the corners as I have found with std galv supplied roofs, the board under gets very damp/wet.
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