Summer is a great time of the year. The days are long and the temperatures allow you to relax outdoors in tee shirts and shorts. However, there is a downside to this season: it can get uncomfortably hot. While you can retreat into your air-conditioned home, it just isn’t the same as eating and enjoying sports on your deck outside. After all, you already spend far too many months indoors during the winter. It’s summer and the season shouldn’t be wasted indoors. So how do you cope with the outdoor heat when you don’t have a swimming pool? You can install a deck awning and/or deck misting system.

Deck Awnings

The first step in staying cool is keeping the sun off of you. While non retracting awnings are relatively cheap, retractable awnings give you the option of getting direct sun on cooler days and are easily retracted before damaging wind storms. If the expense is a put-off, you might want to get a manual awning rather than a motorized one. It won’t be as convenient, but if you’re only retracting the awning before a storm or if you only use it for the hottest days, then the manual effort should be reasonable. Make sure that the fabric is water proof so that a bit of rain won’t interrupt your outdoor grill.

Awnings also protect your deck furniture from the sun and can reduce your electric bill. The awning will shade the glass door to the deck and prevent sunlight from heating your home. This reduces the load on your home air conditioning system.

Deck Misting

Misters spray a very fine mist into the air. The tiny droplets quickly evaporate which causes a cooling effect. Evaporation of water draws heat out of the air and lowers the air temperature in the process. A misting system can reduce the temperature on your deck by twenty degrees.

There is a large variety of misting systems available. High pressure systems cost more and use a pump that may or may not produce undesirable noise. However, low pressure systems are inexpensive and operate off a garden hose. They consist of flexible tubing where one end connects to a hose. The tubing is easily attached to any convenient structure. The best arrangement would surround the deck with a wall of mist. If you have an awning in place, you can attach the misting tubing with plastic zip ties.

Misting fans are also available that combine the cooling effects of blowing air and evaporating mist.

For more information on enhancing and caring for your deck, please contact us.