The Canvas Retractible Double Roof can be retro installed on your existing roof easily if your roof ridge aligns properly. The arch supports will be braced & double clipped to the rafters by our trained installation techs.
The beauty of the Canvass Retractible Roof System is that you have control over direct solar energy absorbtion.
In the Winter, you keep the retractible, insulated double roof open stacked in its own accordian (is it right to say faberge?) style during the warming sunlight. At night you push the button to close the roof which will help to keep the solar gain in.
In the Summer, you close the retractible, insulated double roof during the daylight. The insulated canvas will absorb all of the solar heat & you have the option of venting the transfere through the side walls of the semicircular roof structure. At night during the summer, you push the button to open the roof & allow heat radiation to escape back into the sky.-- Zimmy, Jan 18 2006 nested shutter http://www.homedome.com/chpt1h.htm [jurist, Jan 18 2006] Salesman are the most practical of poets, Poets are the most impractical salesman. I am the worst of both.-- Zimmy, Jan 18 2006 //(is it right to say faberge?)// It certainly isn't offensive for you to say "faberge", but assuming you meant the legendary Russian goldsmith and jeweler, it is difficult to understand what this idea might share in common with his ornate gold and enamel creations.
It's just a wild guess, but are you describing a multi-panel "nested shutter" device conceptually similar to the ones occasionally used in smaller observatories?
I did attach a link on the off chance that this helps illustrate your idea. I'll remove it if you come up with a better way to describe your idea that doesn't sound like a lot of other products already on the market, or it becomes clear that everyone else is clearly understanding what I'm struggling to visualize.-- jurist, Jan 18 2006 I think Teloscopic would have been the better choice of words. I just had this inescapable image in my mind from sesame street of these eggs that all had another egg inside themself.
Nested is probably the best choice of words.-- Zimmy, Jan 26 2006 The shadecloth could simply retract into the roof cavity under the ridge. This is the aesthetically pleasing, town planning friendly version. No big ugly boxes or lumpy canvas stacks added to your roof, just a subtle slit along either side of the ridge line. Each edge of the slit is a roller. The retraction mechanism is also inside the roof. I'm picturing more like a roll-up window blind/projector screen.
The bottom (eaves end when extended) edge of the canvas would be attached to a bracing rod. This is shaped to fill in and cap the slit, and coloured to match your existing roofing.
In fact, pull it all the way in under the roof, and presto, extra winter insulation. Summer position, above roof, reflective side facing up. Winter position, below roof, reflective side facing down to keep the heat in.
A reflective surface would be more effective than canvas, and cheaper than insulated canvas. You want that summer heat bouncing away.
An air gap integrated into the re-engineered ridge line would allow any hot air generated in the roof-shadecloth interstice to thermosiphon away.-- BunsenHoneydew, Jan 27 2006 random, halfbakery