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

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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?

We had a quote for a retractable awning (£4.8k) but our concern was that it wouldn’t reach far enough to shade the patio where we sit out. We have the west facing problem of low sun in the evenings so need a drop down extension but it would fall smack in the middle of the garden furniture.

We bought a £69.99 Lidl gazebo and it works pretty well. I think a permanent structure is probably what we need, but it’s a big investment to get wrong.

Think long term and plant some trees.

Trees are the best natural AC.

Thanks for all the suggestions😊.

I really don’t want curtains as they just wouldn’t go with the rest of the room!

I do have blinds which we do close, but the back of our house is our main living area so it’s depressing having the blinds closed all day in the sun.

I have a retracable canopy over my patio and West facing windows

In the afternoons it gives very little shade on the patio, but does an excellent job of keeping the kitchen cool.

I'm now wondering if north facing houses will become more popular/saleable after decades of people favouring south/west facing ones.

We have a retractable awning, it cost under £200 (I think it's 3.5 m x 2.5 m?) but that was DIY install. However, DP takes it down in autumn, because even when retracted, it is noisy when it's windy. It went up at the beginning of the first heatwave and will stay in place until Septemberish, depending on when we think the warm weather has ended.

Curtains

that’s what I’ve got - am I just a pleb?

I'm now wondering if north facing houses will become more popular/saleable after decades of people favouring south/west facing ones

Yes I suspect so. we are looking at the moment and I’ve always been insistent on S facing but even I am now looking at my baking kitchen wondering if I am stupid.

On the other hand when it’s autumn to early spring I really do appreciate any glimmer of sun in the kitchen and N facing just doesn’t get it!

I notice that Victorian streets quite often have the grander houses on the N facing side, so that was the favoured side in those days. I think this was because their “best” rooms (drawing room, master bedroom) were always at the front so would have been S facing. Now of course we live more at the back of the house by the garden.

Don't north facing houses also face south?

Mine is E/W so the front is hot in the mornings but cool in the afternoons and vice versa.

Some do (our first one didn't because it was a back to back) but like @minipie illustrates, S facing is far more popular, so whatever is wrong with north facing, a benefit must be that it's not as hot in high summer.

Yes of course - and thank goodness as I’m currently hiding in my N facing front room - but listings generally refer to the way the house faces at the back.

I actually just randomly wrote a thread about this after reading an article about super expensive shades and things.

I wondered about chalk paint. It is non toxic, slightly opaque, washes off and can reduce solar gain more than closing curtains - without having to closet the curtains. I am going to do windows around my French doors this week and experiment.

This might be my only chance at a nobel prize, so I am hoping there is something in it.

We have blinds and curtains on ours. We keep them closed. Also south west-facing. It’s actually the coolest room in the house now.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/23/how-to-shade-your-home-supercharged-heatwaves-uk

I like the big sail idea....

Trees in pots?

I just have a massive parasol that shields my kitchen window and pull down black out blinds on my french doors which are down from early afternoon.
Appreciate may not work for bi-folds, maybe an electric blind?

Actually a shade sail could work quite well. You’d attach two corners to the house and two corners to posts (or your fence posts if they happen to be in the right place). If you put hooks at different levels down the posts then you could adjust the angle of the sail to deal with W facing sun?

This is a long term suggestion, but we’ve got a pergola with a grape vine outside our south facing kitchen. It’s took about 5 years to become established but is now the perfect shade and even today I can sit outside in comfort.
A friend harvests the grapes every September, he’s a keen home made wine maker, and we get a few bottles of our very own house wine in exchange.

the back of our house - which is an orangery so lots of glass - faces due south and gets hot whenever the sun shines and is unbearable in this kind of weather. Surfaces are screaming hot to the touch and everything melts. We considered blinds and other types of barriers but didn’t like the look of window coverings. To solve the issue, this year we installed an air con unit inside. It’s been life changing.

@Abustedflushwould you be willing to share a photo of your pergola? It sounds lovely. This is something we want to do too and I’m looking for inspiration

Wow!

I’ll take no credit for it, my DH built it and planted it, and the current highlight is the most beautiful jasmine( variety unknown) that will bloom and scent the garden until autumn.

I always think people are nuts putting huge bifolds on south facing walls. My friend did this with a lantern window in the roof & behold, his kitchen is essentially a greenhouse.....

• awning to shade it
• exterior shutters

I use a gro blind on my patio doors. They are just the right size for one of the panels and affix with suckers. It’s mainly because I don’t want a blind on the doors the other 51 weeks of the year so it’s an easy / cheap solution.

Do you affix to the inside or outside of the window @snowymarbles? I wonder if outside is more effective as then the sun doesn’t hit the glass at all.

@Thatfattrollopi do inside so I can slide it open but I guess I could put one on the other panel on outside - the really hot year I did one pane and then tilted a umbrella for the other pane. That said outside is probably a better option as you are right it wouldn’t even get to it.