A white patio cover over a herringbone brick terrace, looking across a lawn toward the coast. One motorized screen shade closes the open side when the sun gets low.
Can you still see the ocean view through a motorized exterior patio shade?
Yes. The fabric is an open weave screen, so from under the patio cover you look straight through it to the lawn, the rooftops and the haze over the coast.
That was the whole point on this Carlsbad terrace. The patio cover is white, with square posts and a solid roof, and it sits over a curved herringbone brick floor. Past the brick is a lawn, a low white wall and then the view, which runs out toward the water. When the sun gets low, it shines straight into that opening. Without a shade, you squint.
A motorized exterior patio shade drops a screen down the open side and takes the edge off that sun while you keep the view. You see the palm tree and the hills as darker shapes through the mesh. From the yard side, the screen reads as a soft gray panel and the patio behind it is hard to make out during the day. Screen fabrics come in different openness levels. A tighter weave blocks more sun and more of the view, and a more open weave does the reverse. We pick that balance for each site.
How do side tracks keep an outdoor shade steady in the wind?
The edges of the fabric ride inside channels mounted to the posts. The shade cannot billow out or flap against the frame the way a loose roller shade would.
This terrace is open to the breeze off the coast, and wind is the first thing that ruins a cheap outdoor shade. With the edges held in tracks, the screen stays flat and quiet. You can see it in the photos: the fabric runs tight from the cassette at the top down to a weighted bottom bar that sits just above the brick.
There is a heater here too. An infrared patio heater is mounted under the cover near the front edge, and the shade sits just outside it. On a cool evening the lowered screen blocks some of the draft, so the warmth from the heater stays on the people sitting under it instead of blowing across the lawn. It is not a wall, and it does not seal the patio, but it makes a real difference in how the space feels. Our motorized exterior shades are built for exactly this kind of open patio.
What goes into installing a motorized patio shade?
Power, a solid mount and careful measuring. The motor lives inside the roller tube, so it needs a power feed up at the cassette, and the cassette has to bolt into framing that can hold the weight.
In this photo one of our installers is on a ladder at the corner post, working on the wiring at the top of the shade. That cable has to reach the motor from a power source nearby, and it gets planned before anything is mounted so the wire runs neatly instead of hanging along a post.
Measuring for outdoor shades is less forgiving than indoors. Patio posts are rarely perfectly plumb, and brick floors are rarely perfectly level. The side tracks have to line up from top to bottom, or the bottom bar will rub. We measure each opening at several heights before ordering. Once it is up, a motorized shade like this runs from a remote or a wall switch, and many can tie into a home system too. Our post on motorized blinds and smart homes covers how that works.
Are motorized exterior shades worth it for a Carlsbad patio?
For a patio that takes low sun, usually yes. Without a shade, a spot like this goes unused in the hours when it should be the best seat at home.
Look at the wide shot. The patio cover sits right beside a big window into the house. When the screen is down, it shades the patio and also cuts some of the glare that would otherwise bounce off the brick and into that room. When it is up, it disappears into the cassette and the patio looks exactly as it did before.
Motorized makes sense at this size. A screen this big is heavy and awkward to crank by hand, and you are far more likely to use a shade you can lower from your chair. We install window treatments in Carlsbad indoors and out, and patios like this one, with a view worth keeping, come up often near the coast.
If your patio has a view you love and sun you cannot sit in, schedule a free in-home consultation. We will look at the opening, the power and the wind, and bring screen samples so you can check the view through them yourself.
