What are Polycarbonate panels???

I certainly had not heard of polycarbonate panels until recently... but I did see them cropping up on homes in Dwell Magazine and my curiosity was piqued.

These must be some kind of polycarbonate panel, as they are filled with Nanogel

Those are polycarb panels cladding the loft railing...

So after a quick google search, I discovered we have a polycarbonate panel supplier right here in Canada called Greenwall Solutions.  As it turns out these panels can be used for all kinds of things.. from greenhouses and fences to bus shelters.  They don't yellow like the old-school acrylic panels, and they are 100% recyclable when they are no longer needed.  For our purposes we chose the Polygal RFX Selectogal which is 16mm thick and features a prism that reflects heat out in the summer and lets it in during the winter.

image from greenwall solutions

We installed the panels with a nifty system called the Mega-lock Aluminum Glazing System which makes it a very doable DIY with some careful planning and patience.  Avi and Diane at Greenwall Solutions have been SO helpful, we could not have done this without their patience while we figured out challenges in installing this on the house.

Tomorrow I will start showing you the photos of our install.  It took us two weekends, but we got them all in!