Skin Health And Patio Shades
The time between May and September is when kids of all ages come out to play outside the house. Some kids engage in sports or physical activities in the porch, patio or yard areas. Other kids get to indulge in a home pool where they can invite all their friends over. These outdoor activities share the problem of too much sun light, which has both a near term and a longer term health risk.
The immediate consequences of excess sunlight is the classic sun burn that happens on the shoulder, arms, neck and other exposed areas of skin. The long term consequences of too much sun has been shown rather convincingly to result in increased risk for skin-related cancers. Both of these are preventable problems.
Part of the answer lies in ensuring adequate cover such as hats, long-sleeved shirts, or sun block. However, another method is to install patio shades for the house. These exterior patio shades are fixed and permanent, for the times when the kids just forget to put on the hat or sun block. Outdoor shades have another benefit in that they add value to the home.
The most familiar to most are window shades like bamboo roll-up blinds. The three major kinds of home outdoor shades are the following: the window awning, the outdoor canopy, and the pergola (or arbor).
A canopy can be thought of as a fancy term for an oversized tent. The archetypal configuration is a large self-supporting metal frame draped with a heavy section of shade material. It is important to shade out solar radiation coming from the top so there is always a shade material roof. On the other hand, putting up shade material for the side-walls is not vital, according to whether one is interested in privacy or better aeration in the canopy. If sized small enough, it can fit on a deck where it becomes known as a deck canopy.
Awnings are exterior shades that are attached to a building structure, the installation point usually being atop a door or a window. In contrast to retail establishment awnings, the ones for houses are built for entertainment and comfort of customers. The most recent kind is the retractable model.
Pergolas are part of a special breed of outside shade in that they don’t provide total shading. They actually let in a bit of light. The design is quite straightforward on paper but requires a fair amount hard work to build up. A number of support beams are inserted into the floor which support a few overhead wooden bars. These overhead slats shade against a bit but not all light. Pergolas can be over backyard decks and occasionally in home gardens. An undersized subtype of a pergola is sometimes called an arbor. Arbors have been installed as entry ways to backyard trails.
