Your patio has the capacity to be a unifying space on your property. It’s like the beach, providing the best of two different landscapes. On the one hand, it’s a hard surface that will support chairs, tables and even a full sized grill to help you live your best indoor lifestyle out in your yard. On the other hand, it’s an outdoor space, giving you all the fresh air, warmth and scents that sitting anywhere else in your yard gives you. The proximity to your home makes your patio a perfect “home base” for younger kids to venture from, and a great place for their supervising adults to watch the chaos gently unfold.
However, using your patio in Calgary comes with some problems, especially in the warmer months. The first obvious issue is the eternal wind that seems to blow through the city, which can bring dirt and debris onto your patio. Keeping on top of clearing your patio from this can be a pain, especially when summer feels like it’s over before it begins. The second challenge is the high temperatures in midsummer when you sit out in direct sunlight. Nothing will stop you from using your patio more than overheating, especially when the patio stones store and reflect heat back quicker than grass or a deck. Finally, you have to keep an eye on the weather, as you’ll need to cover up any patio furniture when one of Calgary’s summer storms rolls around.
Enter The Patio Cover
Fortunately, there is a way to protect you and your patio from the worst parts of a Calgary summer: a patio cover. A patio cover is exactly what it sounds like: a permanent structure that provides shade and cover to your patio. It can be a freestanding structure or attached to your home, depending on the size of patio cover that you want/need. It keeps your patio clear from debris and provides protection from the sun and rain, allowing you to use your patio all season long.
How To Pick Your Patio Cover
Not all patio covers are created equally, and you’ll want to find the balance between a durable patio cover that does the job well and one that fits with the aesthetic of your backyard. Here are some options to help you choose a patio cover in Calgary:
- Full cover – a full patio cover is one made from vinyl or aluminum, and provides complete protection against all the elements. You can add some design elements with the ends and the material, and you’ll always be sure of a strong, sturdy cover.
- Lattice cover – a lattice cover provides less protection against the sun than a full cover. However, it gives more of a dappled shade effect and feels more like a pergola if that’s the style you’re looking for.
- Hybrid – for the perfect combination, talk to your patio cover contractor about a hybrid design, where part of the patio cover is solid and part of it is lattice. This option tends to cost more, but is the perfect marriage of durability and design.