light and flexible roofing sheet

[TimW]

I am building a beehive, a long hive not unlike the Drayton seen here

is to have a lightweight lift-off barrel roof, for which I need a weatherproof flexible sheet that I can form around curved timber rafters. Galvanised steel sheet would be heavy and sharp edged and difficult to work for me, aircraft ply too expensive, oil tempered hardboard possible if painted but not too light...

- but there are a lot of modern materials I don't know about in roofing and elsewhere. What would do the job? TW

[Andy Burns]

onduline/coroline?

[Colin Bignell]

Corrugated uPVC bends well, provided you only want it to curve in one direction.

[wasbit]

Twinwall polycarbonate. However it only comes in clear & tinted.

[alan_m]

Pond liner?

[GB]

This sort of thing?

[Colin Bignell]

I was thinking of this, but in green, which I used several decades ago. However, clear seems to be the only option available these days:

[nothanks]

"Proplex", or similar, might work. It's light, cheap, flexible and waterproof ... but you'd need to check UV resistance (or paint it).

[Andy Burns]

It's piss weak ...

[nothanks]

True, but that might not be a problem if used for a beehive roof and glued to a wooden frame. An alternative might be tent fabric or tarpaulin, stretched over the frame.

[alan_m]

I've found that tarpaulins (and lawn mower covers etc.) degrade over summer and start disintegrating within a year if used outside.

24/365.

[TimW]

I didn't want to complicate my query but in beehive design there is always an element of architectural fantasy and what I was after was a barrel roof with a classical arched gable end, a bit like these doemer roofs:

idea being that bending the material will render it rigid and therefore I can have a nice light lift-off roof.

Tim w

[TimW]

That is interesting! I will have a look. I wonder if it will take paint. TW

[TimW]

Sensible and practical materials for keeping the rain off, but I wanted something flat but bent into a cylindrical surface, for aesthetic reasons. TW

[TimW]

Is it like the stuff estate agents signs are made of? that might do. TW

[Tim Lamb]

How about Correx board if not already mentioned.

Never used it but it should bend as required and be rigid in one direction.

[Andy Burns]

Kind of, but thinner; I used it for modelling the balconies of a house and it wasn't even strong enough to support its own weight over a few inches

[Andy Burns]

Mor like it, I that *is* estate agent stuff ...

[Andy Burns]

The scraps I have left over have recycling code 05 on them, so polypropylene? which I think doesn't take paint very well without a primer ...