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Original poster

AIBU to wonder how best to shade the back of a house with a south west facing garden?

60 replies

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM · 22/06/2026 14:02

The back of my house is south west facing (slightly more west than south). We have the sun blaring into our bifold doors along the back of our house from about 3pm and the heat becomes unbearable.

however I can’t work out how to block the sun from coming into our bifolds! I was considering getting a big electric canopy along the back of our house but I don’t feel like it will block out the sun due to the angle?

OP posts:
Pineapplewhip · 22/06/2026 21:27

Look into aircon OP. It can be installed for about £1500 and will be a sure way to get the temperature down without spoiling your view. Awnings and pergolas are lovely- but a good ones probably on par with the aircon install anyway!

Sonolanona · 22/06/2026 21:24

We have a similar set up... south facing, bifolds (and glass roof, straight from the living room).
We have hung heavy curtains and it makes a HUGE difference ...and they will stay shut all week. Also a sail shade in the garden coming out from the bifolds. They are very cheap on Amazon and do make a difference!

idril · 22/06/2026 14:31

We have an awning. We first had them with a south facing window but we now have south west facing and it still works. The other option is an external blind but it means you block the view.

hairstreak · 22/06/2026 14:29

We face south, but are fortunate enough to have big trees at the bottom of the garden - these shade the garden beautifully, but the house is still fully exposed to the sun. In hot weather we put sun umbrellas (the sort you'd use over a dining table) up against the wall so they cover the glass doors. That means the glass and the room are shaded, and it makes a huge difference to the temperature. It's a bit cumbersome and not very pretty, but it's effective. We'll get retractable awnings at some point, but it's so much faff...

Yellowsubmarine55 · 22/06/2026 14:17

Our whole back of South facing house is glass 🥵🥵🥵 but we have the click fit pleated blinds - they're thermal so keep heat in during winter but deflect heat in summer. Okay it's not an ice box here but it's pretty good as we keep them down from mid morning when the sun hits.

Think we got them from blinds2go and had to measure the individual panes of glass.

Original poster
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM · 22/06/2026 14:10

CraftyNavySeal · 22/06/2026 14:07

You could get a sun sail and then put it at the correct angle

It’s the angle I can’t quite envision! I think it would have to be basically like a sheet pitched from the top of the bifolds to near enough the floor! I’d like to have a retractable awning but I don’t think it would make a difference.

OP posts:
DuringDinnerMints · 22/06/2026 14:09

In the short term, for this heat wave, I'd recommend taping some space blankets to the windows (the kind they put around marathon runners). It doesn't completely block the light but massively helps with the temperature.

CraftyNavySeal · 22/06/2026 14:07

You could get a sun sail and then put it at the correct angle

jeaux90 · 22/06/2026 14:05

I had this and the one way is to close the bi folds and have some curtains you close to try and cut down the solar gain. I did consider a large automatic shade but I put it on the market to move so didn’t go too far down that path.

Yorkshiredolls · 22/06/2026 14:04

Why not get one of these metal framed pergolas with the retractable canopy?

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