Waterproof retractable pergola canopy - several sizes - grey or ivory

A waterproof retractable pergola canopy seems like the ideal soultion, right? Protected against the sin, the rain, and you can slide it open or closed. And last but not least: affordable!

Now you can sit outside the whole summer, also when the rain is trying to ruin your nice BBQ dinner!

A waterproof retractable pergola canopy is indeed a very good solution, but there are a few things that you have to bear in mind. Which things? You can find out below!

ELet's start with the advantages:

• You can slide a waterproof retractable pergola canopy open or closed, or only halfway.
• You get to decide whether you want to sit in the sun or in the shade, without having to dismantle a normal pergola shade cover or demolish the roof of your veranda.
• If you slide the waterproof retractable pergola canopy open halfway, you get rid of the arguments at the table about whether or not to sit in the sun; everyone can choose where to sit! (Want to bet they like to have the pergola canopy closed when it starts to rain? ;-))
• Affordable, compared to a veranda or other fixed roof, a waterproof retractable pergola canopy is really not that expensive.
• Waterproof of course! (I almost forgot) Some precision for the engineers among us; the waterproof retractable pergola canopy is technically not waterproof but water-repellent. The seams are not taped and therefore not 100% waterproof. That doesn't matter, the seams are at the highest point of the waves in the cloth, so that rain does run down into the wave and not onto your burger bun. If you wanted to make a pool with this fabric, you do have a problem, it will slowly drain....
• Easy to install, provided you can hang it at an angle (slant). This brings us straight to the disadvantage:

The disadvantages:

• You need to be able to hang a waterproof retractable pergola canopy at an angle ("slant"), which we will come back to later.
• Warm air cannot rise through the fabric, which is possible with an ordinary retractable pergola canopy. No problem when the surroundings are open and the heat can escape to the side. In a dense city garden without a breath of wind, it can get several degrees warmer.

The most important thing when mounting a waterproof retractable pergola canopy is the slope. The waterproof fabric should hang at an angle so that the water can drain away to one side.

How slanted then?

That is exactly the key question and opinions are very much divided on that.

• According to our manufacturer Garviks, a slope of 2 to 3% is sufficient. That means a height difference of 2 to 3 cm per metre width. For a 290 cm wide waterproof retractable pergola canopy, a height difference of 9 cm across the entire width should be sufficient.
• I come across people on the internet who say that the slope of a waterproof retractable pergola canopy should be at least 15 to 20%, i.e. 15 to 20 cm per metre or more. With a width of 290cm, that's over half a metre! In a normal pergola, you won't even manage to hang your fabric at such an angle. Of course, we can build you a pergola with a slanted construction so that you can do it if you want, but I wonder if this is really necessary... I think this gentleman or lady is confusing 2 things and in both cases he/she is not right as far as I am concerned....

First, let's explain an important difference between 2 different waterproof pergola canopies that are often mixed up. 

ou can talk about:

• A waterproof shade fabric

or about:

• A waterproof retractable pergola canopy

A waterproof shade fabric is simply a square or triangular canvas that you hang at the corners. All around, this fabric is reinforced at the edges, so the edges remain slightly higher than the waterproof fabric itself. If rain falls on it, it becomes a kind of bag (the water cannot run over the edge because it hangs slightly higher) and that bag eventually tears through. So for a fabric like this, you need a very large slope to ensure that the water runs away very quickly, especially in very heavy showers!

A waterproof retractable pergola canopy has a completely different structure. The cloth hangs from steel cables and has baleens (tubes) to keep it straight. This gives the fabric the shape of a row of rain gutters open to the left and right. So a very large bag of water can never form in there because the gutters empty on the left and right. Nevertheless, you should hang such a waterproof retractable pergola canopy at an angle, especially if it is 5 metres long. If you just hang it straight, most of the water will drain away, but in a heavy downpour, a layer of water will remain and could weigh heavily over the entire length and damage the waterproof fabric or the pergola.

Of course, we could say that you should slide open the waterproof retractable pergola canopy in heavy rain. Especially since you don't want to stay outside in heavy rain anyway! (Unless you're an inveterate smoker like me and your wife doesn't want you smoking inside...)
Sliding the canopy open I think is quite a cowardly answer, won't do you any good. After all, we're all away from home sometimes when it starts raining and then, of course, you just forgot to slide open the canopy before you left.

Right, we still don't have a clear answer on how big that slope should be. I don't like just shouting anything, so we'll just test! (I like testing! ;-))
I do want to mention that we have sold dozens of waterproof retractable pergola canopies over the last years and have never had a complaint about them. And usually people do complain when something is not right. Well, not to us, but on Google and Facebook.

Basically yes, it depends a bit on how you want to install the waterproof retractable pergola canopy.
The standard package of a waterproof retractable pergola canopy includes the follwoing items:

• 1 Garviks waterproof retractable pergola canopy with Teflon coating
• The aluminium ribs in the reight size (these are the aluminium rods that are slid across in the waterproof retractable pergola canopy in order to hang the fabric straight)
• The stainless steel cables with tensioners and fixing brackets. These cables are stretched lengthwise between the beams of your pergola, the waterproof retractable pergola canopy slides underneath.
• pulleys, rope, a tiewrap and a hook to wrap the rope around when you have slid the waterproof retractable pergola canopy open or closed.
• stainless screws to secure anything in wood. But, be careful with these screws! I personally find the screws supplied by Nesling and Garviks to be of poor quality. In softwood it's okay, but I have broken many of them in the past. When fastened in hardwood, you can forget it altogeher, they will all break off! I therefore recommend ordering good screws and throwing away those from Garviks or Nesling. Below is a table with the number and type of screws you need per size of waterproof retractable pergola canopy:

NUmber and type of screws for fixing a waterproof retractable pergola canopy:

If you want to attach a waterproof retractable pergola canopy to a wall you will need different materials, you can read more about that on our page: pergola canopy.