Nurseries & Schools are just a few of the locations across the country could benefit from a playground canopy. Whether to let the kids enjoy an outdoor meal under the protection of a roof or to provide a secondary location for playground activities once the rain starts to fall, a playground canopy is the versatile solution to all of your outdoor play needs.
Primarily purchased as an alternative to fabric roofed shade canopies, the high quality steel construction, combined with a solid PETg roof provides a much more attractive and secure roofing system.
The vast majority of fabric roofs come are supplied with a roof thickness of just 1mm – 1.52mm. This is fine for deflecting a beam of sunlight and, assuming it’s correctly fixed to the steel frame, an occasional light breeze isn’t going to jeopardise the structural integrity of the canopy, but when compared to a more traditional steel framed PETg roof, a fabric roofed unit struggles to maintain its appeal.
Starting with the tensile strength, which is a measurement of the force of impact which a material can withstand. An average thickness fabric (1mm - 1.52mm) can withstand somewhere between 75 – 100kN per meter squared before any adverse effects can be seen. Whereas the tensile strength of a PETg sheet measures around 50,000kN per meter squared, easily clearing the numbers offered by a fabric roof.
In total, the difference in tensile strength between the two canopy solutions means that a PETG roof is five hundred times more protective than a fabric roof!
That two products servicing the same sector, each with such similar goals can offer such a large difference in the quality of protection given to the end user is a mystery of the modern age.
With the most popular customer for these type of shelters being schools & other educational facilities, it is the onus of the purchaser to ensure that the product they choose must be as safe as humanly possible, doubly so if the purchase is for use with children.
Naturally, the fabric material will come with a little more ‘give’ than a solid PETg sheet. The flexibility of the material would allow it to stretch across the entire area of the canopy roof to absorb any impacts and abrasions that might otherwise tear the fabric. In the real world, this versatility can allow the material to handle an impact that the raw data around tensile strength tells us would rip or tear the fabric, with little more than a stretch mark left over in the location of the impact.
With a high quality steel framed PETg roofed structure, the risk from falling objects is greatly reduced. Not only is the actual roof material hundreds of times stronger than the fabric alternative, there is an additional benefit in the steel frame! Fabric roofs provide their rain and sun cover by being fixed to three or more corners, leaving the structure to be little more than 3 or 4 support posts connected by the aforementioned fabric. PETG roofs on the other hand are supplied as standard with a supporting steel frame which sits under the roof material, offering a second layer of steel constructed protection to anyone on the underside.
So if you’re looking to offer a solution for your playground but find yourself worried about the durability of a fabric roof, a PETg playground canopy could be the right solution for you. A playground canopy facilitates a healthy learning environment, ample opportunity for exercise, and a fresh take on how break times should be enjoyed.
