We have a nice outdoor room that the previous homeowner built. He never really managed to completely seal the roof; we have some water ingress between the glulam beams and the glass panels. I've been advised to put metal caps over the beams and have some questions regarding this.
- How best to seal against the glass? I was thinking the caps should have a 2-3 cm "flap" over the glass with some kind of adhesive rubber strip underneath. Is this sensible, or are there better ideas?
- I plan to leave a 4-5 mm air gap above the beams to ensure ventilation. Can I build up something (plastic strips?) under the caps so they don't collapse if I stand on them? The glass is strong enough to walk on, but I want to avoid it.
- How to attach to the outer wall? We have a brick wall where two beams are attached, and I see two options:
-- Cut a straight groove a couple of cm above the beams, fill with construction silicone or latex, and insert the metal there.
-- Cut the joints in a stepped pattern and custom-order a metal piece that follows the bricks (as you often see on chimneys). Fill the joints with mortar.
-- Or is there something simpler? Both my options feel a bit risky.
I plan to screw the caps to the sides of the beams, no screws on the top.
At the bottom, I thought of protecting the short ends of the beams with a small piece of metal that goes under the caps.
All ideas and thoughts are welcome; I have no experience working with metal... ;-)
/Joakim
