Which patio roof to choose – fixed or retractable?
We have a new building (10 m wide) with a garden of about 10 x 20 m. The terrace to 3 x 5 m will be, but later will be extended to 5 x 10 m (10 m wide).
Which patio roof would you recommend?
Fixed or flexible? For example an awning with frosted glass or a movable patio cover such as an electric awning?
Answers
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.
