Keeping Your Patio Cool With Awnings

The Florida sun can be tough to take even when it's not very hot out. The bright light and the humidity can combine to make days rather uncomfortable. You can't do much about humidity when you're outside, but you can do something about the light and heat. Adding an awning to your home, over the patio, gives you a cool place to retreat to where you don't have to worry about sunburn or too much heat.

Awnings for Shade and Glare When you stop direct sunlight from hitting your patio furniture and the concrete, you end up with a cooler patio. You create shade that blocks the heat and light from reaching anything underneath. In winter, heat isn't such an issue, but glare can be. If you want to sit out on the patio but don't want to squint in the direct sunlight, the awning will block that light. Awnings also provide shade that keeps your home a bit cooler, and they also reduce glare. By limiting the amount of direct sunlight that enters your home through the windows, the air inside your home can remain cooler.

Awnings and Your Trees Awnings block direct sunlight until the sun gets lower in the sky as it sets. In summer, that means the pre-sunset hours can get very warm on the patio. If you plant fast-growing trees, however, those could act as an additional shield against direct light. You do have to be sure you can care for the trees properly. Old branches can drop onto the awning if you don't trim the branches back. Leaves can also end up on the awning, creating a mess. Even if the structure of the awning isn't affected, the leaves just look bad. Luckily, you can easily solve the leaf: just brush off the awning occasionally with a long-handled brush.

Awnings or Tents or Pergolas Awnings require installation on the house, so if you're not keen on arranging for that, you should consider if a house-adjacent tent or pergola be better. If you're absolutely not able to attach anything to the house (e.g., you're in a rental), then a standalone structure might be best. But for homeowners, the awning is the all-around winner.