Do you have a pergola?

[FireHorseStar]

We're going to have a new patio laid and a pergola (with sides) installed.
I'd love to hear your recommendations for the pergola and/or your experiences in this area. Are there anythings we should avoid or consider before going ahead with the work?

Thank you in advance ☺️

Hoping to bump this post up a bit.

I’m looking for recommendations for pergolas, any any dos or donts when buying one.

By pergola, you mean a grid of wooden joists, supported on posts, for plants to climb, but with no roof or sides?

I don't think it's a pergola if it has sides.

The overhead grid, with climbers, gives partial shade from the sun, and is very popular with people who like earwigs, spiders and caterpillars dropping on their heads.

Thanks for replying. No, I mean an aluminium structure with sides. All the websites I’ve been looking at call them pergolas, so I just used the same term.

🤣

Do you have a picture of the kind of thing you mean? I wouldn’t describe something with sides as a pergola.

They are rather neither one thing or the other, if you mean those things with a solid roof and sides but no front. It will take light from the house to a surprising degree.

We had an aluminium frame with 3 sides (also referred to as a gazebo) which was useless despite being marketed as 'heavy duty' and professionally installed. Just had a custom made oak frame pergola (without sides) and it is amazing.

Do you mean the type with slats which can be turned to provide shade or opened to let light through?

Briefly looked into one but eventually went with a glass roofed veranda instead as it is more robust construction and provides complete shelter over the patio whether that be from sun or rain.

Pigeons love to sit on them and shit on everything underneath (my parents used to have one)!

Yes, I had one like this installed on a new patio area quite recently. I have the bbq etc under it and a tall bar style table and stools. More comfortable seating and table is elsewhere. I like it, it provides shade while cooking and eating. No pigeons yet.

@Tubbyinthehottub thankyou for your reply. Who did you buy it from? There are so many companies out there offering deals. It would be so helpfully to have a recommendation!

Thank you everyone for your replies. This is the type of structure I’m asking about https://hyggepergola.co.uk/product/hygge-aluminium-pergola-with-lighting-system/?_gl=11r9sluf_upMQ.._gs*MQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-4XFBhCBARIsAAdNOktnZaqUhmJlmiVd4nHY7hHwG8shcw6P3uYQlby-14w5xvzGFAFBeIQaAjK7EALw_wcB&gbraid=0AAAAAqiiJrQtCR885L3SFSWEcoxxytFVq

We have something similar. Be mindful that anything under it will get wet in the rain.. it will blow in and soak everything so you’ll still need to cover whatever is under it in dodgy weather.

We have the aluminium pergola from White Stores with the extra privacy screens for when we keep it shut.

The louvered roof is nice in principle but as a pp said birds poop through or depending on what it’s near you can get loads of stuff fall through when you open it so my husband tends to open it and do a cleanup before we can actually use it or we just keep it shut. We tried leaving it open instead of keeping it closed but birds just poop through.

We do enjoy ours and it looks great but a bit more cleaning up work for us than we realised if we want it open. If you don’t get one of the louvered roof ones it might be a different experience.

@olderandnonthewiser @olittlegreene Thank you for your comments, they’re really helpful.. I’d not thought of either of these things but definitely will think some more now.

It's from Sweeek

We have one from Maze Living. It's about 2 years old. It still looks like new but the lights have stopped working annoyingly. We've definitely sat outside more since getting it. I like that you can sit out even if it's raining.

That looks mega expensive to me. I think you would be better just buying a large tilting umbrella and having a proper patio area for your furniture.