A patio is just a stoep with a fancy hat.
Need to overhaul your outside areas
Spring is just around the corner, but it’s not too late to overhaul your outside living spaces. We have been warned that this coming spring and summer will be exceedingly hot, so ample outside shade is the way to go to keep cool. Luckily there are many solutions.
Do you have a stoep? Well, then you are already halfway to a patio!
The only thing an outdated, and let’s be honest, largely unused stoep or piece of paving, or open deck or whatever you have around your house needs, to be a proper patio, is a hat. And by hat we mean roof.
We want to help you find the easiest, most affordable and still aesthetically pleasing solution to turn your uncovered, “open air” stoep or deck into a useful, multipurpose patio of perfection.
Cheap and easy to overhaul your outside space
There are many ways to do this. If you’re simply looking for shade and you are not to bothered with waterproofing, you can go the pergola route. A slatted roof structure with either vines and foliage or some other shade cover like reeds, bamboo or even netting/canvas is a very easy DIY fix to give you optimal shade cover with the minimum of funds and build time invested.
This type of patio roofing can add an interesting design element to your outdoor look and feel, and even though it won’t keep real rain out, it will at least allow you to finish braaiing once the drizzle starts.
Corrugated greatness
Another sensible option is to use corrugated plastic sheets. These come in a whole array of tints and colours, and they are much easier to work with (and have a much lower risk of injuring you) than corrugated aluminium. I
The point of using plastic, (polycarbonate to be exact) instead of aluminium is that the plastic sheets allow for some level of transparency, while providing effective UV cover.
Let the light shine through.
By option for the clear, completely transparent sheets you can ensure that the new patio roof doesn’t “steel” valuable sunlight from any adjacent rooms in your house. If that’s not a concern, then you can pick a darker tint, to ensure some level of shade cover, and to regulate the temperature under your new patio. (Believe me, the transparent sheets allow a LOT of sun and heat through, even though they still offer 97% UV protection)
A corrugated sheet patio roof can be made completely waterproof as long as you ensure there is proper drainage and the joints between sheets as well as between sheets and the wall/roof it adjoins are watertight.
If you don’t want to think about it too much and need the roof up before this weekend’s kickoff, most of our local Home DIY centres actually offer complete DIY Patio and Pergola kits. They aren’t even that expensive!
Trusted Patio Roof Conversion Specialists
Find trusted and vetted suppliers of patio roof conversions here on HOMEMAKESonline.
