How Much Of An Overhang Should Coping Stones Have?

When it comes to covering and capping off a wall in your outdoor, garden or flat roofing project, making sure you overhang your coping stones correctly is essential for a number of important reasons. Coping stones serve a decorative duty as well as a practical purpose. They not only give a free-standing wall, parapet upstand, boundary wall or flat roof wall an aesthetically-pleasing finish, they also shield the bare upward-face from rain, therefore protecting it from structural damage caused by harsh weather exposure.

At Roof Giant, our Coping Stones & Coping Range is filled with high quality capping stones for professional and DIY projects alike. Whether you're looking for once weathered coping stones or twice weathered coping stones to deal with your exact water drainage requirements, or you're looking at the right porcelain, aluminium and concrete copings to suit a modern or traditional aesthetic, we've got exactly what you need to meet any visual, functional or budgetary coping stone requirement.

However, before any meaningful installation work can begin, you need to know all the key guidance around the subject of overhang...

Why Do You Need To Overhang Coping Stones?

All coping stones need to overhang a wall for three reasons that we'll delve into to broaden your foundation of knowledge:

• Rainwater Protection: Without coping stones, your outside wall will be highly susceptible to water damage and structural problems that occur from constant weather exposure. Over time, your wall can become structurally compromised as rain penetrates the brickwork and masonry, which will cause splits, cracks and crumbling, allowing erosion and frost damage to damage your exposed wall even further. A coping stone first provides a shielding barrier, and secondly, the overhang acts as a drip edge to ensure the water is directed away from the wall.
• Durability: The overhanging sections of your coping stones not only provide much needed weather protection. The robust capped-off design will also help to extend the lifespan of the underlying wall by protecting against accidental damage, impacts and everyday wear and tear. This level of protection will help to reduce the requirement for on-going maintenance and repair work.
• Visual Appeal: The decorative qualities of a coping stone accentuates an upstand wall, making it look smartly finished and complete. The overhang creates an attractive "balanced" look that frames your wall in a smart, eye-catching way to suit many garden wall projects or similar applications. Our Castle Porcelain Coping Stone will help to create a premium look in any outdoor space that requires a touch of luxury.

If you want to learn how to mechanically fix your coping stones or bond them with a secure adhesive, you can find the right methods of reliably fitting your coping stone in our previous blog: How Do You Secure Coping Stones?

How Much Of An Overhang Should Coping Stones Have?

We would always recommend a minimum overhang of at least one inch (25mm - 35mm) to protect the underlying wall from rainwater runoff. These measurements may vary depending on your coping stone materials and the dimensions of the underlying wall, but if you're looking for that protective drip-edge effect, opt for an overhang of at least an inch, or preferably more, on each side. A reliable overhang falls within the 30mm - 50mm (approx. 1 inch to 2 inch) range.

What We Offer...

At Roof Giant, we provide an expansive selection of coping stone options to cap off your garden wall, boundary wall, parapet wall or flat roof. Browse a wide range of modern and traditional copings in different colour options and various sizes from some of the most trusted brands in the industry, including Castle Composites and Alumasc.

Castle Concrete Single Weathered Coping Stone

Made with a single sloping top surface to channel rainwater off one side of your roof or wall. Castle Concrete Single Weathered Coping Stones are ideal for directing the flow of water into a gutter system. They're also fibre-reinforced to enhance strength and longevity. Choose from Buff, Dark Grey and Light Grey finishes and a range of sizes to meet your requirements.

Castle Concrete Twice Weathered Coping Stone

Not only do twice weathered coping stones provide a classic capped-off appearance, they also feature dual sloping surfaces to channel rainwater off both sides. Just like our single weathered copings, they're fibre reinforced and also come in an array of sizes and finishes to make your capped wall project complete.

Castle Porcelain Coping Stone

These stunning porcelain copings are a luxurious choice for using on the top of walls, piers and masonry. Made from high-grade weather resistant materials, porcelain is also stain resistant, low maintenance and will retain its original colour for its entire lifespan. The specially engineered drip checks prevent water from running under the coping stone and onto the face of the wall.

Alumasc Skyline Aluminium Flat Roof Wall Coping

If you're looking for a quick, affordable and simple way to finish off upstanding parapet walls on flat roofs in new, refurbishment and existing retrofit projects, Alumasc Skyline is the answer. Crafted from lightweight, durable and completely recyclable aluminium, these copings are a sleek and uncomplicated choice for more modern, contemporary and functional capping applications.

Castle Granite Coping Stone

For the most sophisticated, elegant and stylish copings, we would opt for Castle Composite's granite option. Designed to give you all the opulence and durability you need for your walls, garden borders and pool edges, granite copings are exceptionally strong and appealing to look at. Great for leaning on and marvelling in the summer while providing peace of mind in winter with their durable, frost resistant composition.

For all other coping stone questions and queries, make sure you check out our previous blog: FAQ: Your Coping Stone Questions - Answered! We cover all your most frequently asked questions, including everything from industry terminology to fixing recommendations, must-have work tools and more.