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Shade Structures

Whether you opt for the dappled light of a pergola or the complete protection of a covered roof, shade structures are all about enhancing comfort and usability. These structures lower the ambient temperature and reduce glare, ensuring your outdoor living area remains a cool, functional respite throughout the summer. By turning a deck or patio into an outdoor room, you’re ensuring your landscape will draw you outside throughout the seasons. Get the most out of a shade structure with additions such as string lights and perennial vines. 

Choose the Right Structure for Your Need:

  • Pergolas offer partial shade and are excellent for growing vines, but they often require a fabric or louvered cover for meaningful sun blockage.
  • Gazebos/Pavilions offer a solid, full roof, creating a true outdoor room that provides rain protection as well as shade.
  • Shade Sails are affordable, modern, and excellent at blocking UV rays, but they require robust, properly angled anchors to handle high tension and wind loads.
  • Arbors are often used as entryways into garden areas and allow plants to climb up and over their arched tops.
  • Trellis’ support climbing plants by providing a vertical framework for them to cling to. They are often incorporated into other structures and can be used as walls to block sun, visibility of neighbors, or nearby noise.

Consider installing a shade structure if you want:

  • Protection from direct sunlight and harmful UV rays
  • To lower the ambient temperature of covered areas—often by 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit—making patios and decks more comfortable and usable for longer hours throughout the day and deeper into the summer season.

Quick tips for shade structures!

  • Before you build anything permanent, use a patio umbrella or stake a tall pole in the intended structure location and observe the shadows. This will tell you the exact size and angle needed for the structure to block the sun when you need it most (often late afternoon).
  • When strategically placed near the south or west side of a home, a shade structure acts as a passive cooling system, blocking solar heat gain on windows and walls, thereby reducing the need for air conditioning indoors.
  • Always check your local building codes and HOA rules (if applicable) for permanent structures. Structures over a certain size (often 100-120 square feet) typically require a permit, and you may need to consider setback requirements from property lines.