Which patio roof to choose – fixed or retractable?

I am happy with our fixed roof with a retractable awning.

Furniture, BBQ's, etc. can stay outside during the winter. Garden shoes are outside the door, not in the living room. And the cat has a dry place, too.

And for the western sun in the evening, we have a vertical awning.

But you need a depth of at least 4 meters.

I'd also like to have a permanent roof on our patio, but the idea of always seeing scaffolding instead of sky kept me from doing so. Canopies often don't cast shade where it's needed. For us, a large umbrella was a better alternative.

Depends on the location of the patio. If the roof makes the house dark in the winter, flexible. If the roof doesn't affect the light in the house, a sturdy, fixed roof.

Our terrace is about 6 cm wide and about 9 m long; it's L shaped.

On one side, we have a flat roof with a side roof overhang of 60 cm (SO) and a concrete terrace roof about 3 m deep (SW). Next is the chosen. controlled canopy of about 5x5 m. (Markilux) – we have had the awning for 10 years and it works fine.

No, it's not dark in our living room, the sun reaches the back of the room in winter; the terrace is in cool shade in summer. We have a fan on the patio ceiling for very hot summer days.

Orienting to the southwest, you can easily cover 2-3 m and the rest with a canopy with rails – it can withstand more wind than an awning with flexible brackets. Awnings also have a wind shroud; with us, it mostly extends only to "half mast," also out of caution because of wind gusts. At the height of summer there is usually no wind – then you can extend it fully.

It's much cooler under a solid roof in the summer than under a canopy alone, and you have all-weather protection for garden furniture.

For a stationary roof, I would choose a glass roof with the ability to extend the awning underneath.