Waterproof retractable pergola canopy - several sizes - grey or ivory
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Waterproof retractable pergola canopy - several sizes - grey or ivory
Waterproof retractable pergola canopy
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!
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a waterproof retractable pergola canopy?
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.
Mounting a waterproof retractable pergola canopy
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.
The test! How slanted should a waterproof retractable pergola canopy or a waterproof pergola cover hang?
On the left you can see a photo of an ordinary waterproof shade cloth that I hung in a purpose-built pergola in 2014 as a test. We wanted to know to what extent this fabric could withstand strong winds and heavy rains at our place on top of the mountain.
The fabric hangs with a slope of more than 30 degrees, so the water should run off easily you would think.
Not so! It went well for quite a long time, but by autumn, during a heavy downpour, a pocket of water did develop in the canvas. It had become a hanging pond (I think there was at least 1 cubic metre of water in it, which is 1000kg!). Surely the waterproof retractable pergola canopy could not withstand that and it was ripped through. No harm to our hardwood pergola by the way, it can take it, we have now tested it ourselves!
IAfter that, I was very reluctant to sell waterproof shade cloths. I only supplied them when people were really very sure they wanted it despite the risks.
So I also built an ordinary wooden pergola with a waterproof retractable pergola canopy in it.
This pergola is built of wooden posts 9x9cm. with that post thickness, it is difficult to achieve a slope of 9cm, so I skewed the pergola slightly. (hardly anyone sees that).
It's winter now, the fabric has been hanging in for a while, no problems so far!
We'll keep you further informed how this will turn out, you'll have an answer before spring!
In what colours can you buy a waterproof retractable pergola canopy?
Choosing a colour can be difficult, especially if you can not see it 'for real'.
We have tried to make as clear pictures as we can, however, the colour might be slightly different on your computer screen or on your telephone.
A waterproof retractable pergola canopy from Garviks exists in 2 colours : Ivory and gray.
Have a look at the picutre and choose the colour of your waterproof retractable pergola canopy.
The waterproof retractable pergola canopy above is in vory, the one below in gray.
How do you clean a waterproof retractable pergola canopy?
To clean a waterproof retractable pergola canopy, I would NOT use a pressure washer. The force of the water jet can damage the Teflon coating of the waterproof retractable pergola canopy.
Just use a soft brush with some old-fashioned green soap and rinse with the garden hose.
Much easier is to protect the waterproof retractable pergola canopy with a cover during autumn and winter. Especially when there are trees nearby. Falling leaves that are left lying around give the worst stains.
Garviks' special covers are easy to pull around the canopy and cables and can be fastened with Velcro.
In which dimensions you can buy a waterproof retractable pergola canopy?
A waterproof retractable pergola canopy is for sale in 2 different widths and 3 different lengths, as you can see in the pictures.
The width is fixed and cannot be changed. Keep in mind that you need to leave at least 5 cm free space on each side. That may be a bit more, 10 or 15 cm doesn't look strange, from 20 cm you really start to see a gap between the fabric and the pergola or wall, but that doesn't have to be disturbing either.
Do you have a terrace against the house of, say, 340cm wide? Then you can use a 290cm wide waterproof retractable pergola canopy in a lean to pergola.
Let's do the math:
- terrace 340cm wide
- minus the width of the beam of the pergola (9 or 14cm): 340 - 9 = 331cm
- minus at least 5cm clearance, but when you have plenty of room I would recommend at least 10cm: 331 - 10 = 321cm
- minus the width of the harmonica fabric waterproof 290cm: 321 - 290 = 31cm
- That leaves 31cm of free space on the wall side.
31cm of free space between the waterproof retractable pergola canopy and the wall of your house is really not much, it can easily be more. At my house it is even more than 50cm, which leaves enough space for the outdoor lamps that hang against the wall.
The sun is never exactly straight above the pergola and thus falls obliquely against the wall. On the ground, there is then just shade. Also, you are hardly ever tight against the wall. Even if some sunlight gets between the waterproof retractable pergola canopy and the wall, you will still be sitting slightly away from the wall and in the shade.
Rain is a slightly different story, as it generally falls straight down through the open space. But usually the roof of your house sticks out a bit (60cm in my case), so the rain won't be too bad.
The table below shows the minimum clear width needed, more is no problem. (For your convenience, we have also added how many steel cables there are in the waterproof retractable pergola canopy, so that you know immediately).
In the length, you don't need to keep a free space. The length is variable. If, for example, you hang a 500cm-long pergola canopy in a 470cm-wide free space, this is not a problem. The waterproof retractable pergola canopy then simply slides open a little less and remains more wavy when fully extended.
Longer than 500cm is not possible. The forces on the tensioning cables would be too great and the waterproof retractable pergola canopy would sag. If the length exceeds 500cm, an intermediate beam is required between two fabrics. This is no problem for Vinuovo, we simply adapt your pergola to it. For a lean to pergola, we can make a 10-metre-long pergola with just 3 posts! (In the case of a free-standing pergola, that obviously means 6 posts, 3 on each side).
The waterproof retractable pergola canopy is not available in the width of 370cm like the regular pergola canopy. The total slope would then become very large and the weight of the water during rain would simply become too heavy.
| Width waterproof retractable pergola canopy | Minimal free width | Pergola canopy length | Suitable for a free length of: |
| 200cm (2 steel cables) | 210cm | 300cm | 200 up to 300cm |
| 200cm(2 steel cables) | 210cm | 400cm | 300 up to 400cm |
| 200cm(2 steel cables) | 210cm | 500cm | 400 up to 500cm |
| 290cm(3 steel cables) | 300cm | 300cm | 200 up to 300cm |
| 290cm(3 steel cables) | 300cm | 400cm | 300 up to 400cm |
| 290cm(3 steel cables) | 300cm | 500cm | 400up to 500cm |
When buying a waterproof retractable pergola canopy from Vinuovo, do you have all the parts you need??
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:
| Width of the waterproof retractable pergola canopy | Decking screw 5x60mm - Reisser RT UT (for fixing the cable tensioners) |
Retinox 2plus stainless steel screw 4.5x45mm - Reisser (for fixing the other parts) |
| 200cm | 8 pieces | 12pieces |
| 290cm | 12pieces | 12pieces |
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.
How do I mount a waterproof retractable pergola canopy?
Here you can see a video that gives you an impression of how to install a waterproof retractable pergola canopy in a pergola.
For additional tips & tricks, check out our pergola canopy page.
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