Three Factors on Making Wise Choices with a Patio Umbrella

Homeowners will find that the patio is an excellent place to spruce up with furniture and fixtures like table and chair sets, planters and even swings. Still, most homeowners will opt for a beautiful, practical and affordable patio umbrella for many reasons.

And with the wide range of patio umbrellas in online sites and stores, homeowners and café owners will have little difficulty in finding the products that will best suit their intentions. The trick is in choosing the right umbrella for the patio of which some choices are market umbrellas or popular Sunbrella outdoor umbrellas. Fortunately, the right choice can be made by knowing the product selections based on size, pole and style, which this article briefly discusses in turn.

Sizes

Patio umbrellas come in various sizes from the single models to the family units. This way, everybody with a desire for patio umbrellas has a choice, be it a person who lives in a small apartment with a tiny balcony or a café proprietor with almost an entire sidewalk to cover.

The choice of the patio umbrella in terms of size depends on a balance of two things. Buyers must measure the area in which the umbrella will be placed in on one hand and the desired area to be shaded on the other hand. For example, a standard 4x6 feet umbrella will shade a bistro table set while a 9x10 feet umbrella is sufficient for a 72-inch table with 6 chairs.

Poles

As can be expected, most patio umbrellas have a pole in the middle in the same way as the portable umbrellas. The pole itself as well as the umbrella's ribs can be made from a variety of materials including wood, aluminum and fiberglass. Its height can start at 8 feet tall, which is sufficient for most people of average height, although most patio umbrellas have adjustable pole heights.

However, if a patio umbrella without the pole is desired mainly because it gets in the way, in a manner of speaking, an offset umbrella and a mounted umbrella are the next best choices. The wall-mounted patio umbrellas are popular among café owners with a patio for customers who like to dine al fresco.

The patio umbrellas can also a tilt function. Basically, the umbrella's pole can be tilted depending on where the sun is shining at the moment and, thus, it always provides sun protection without actually moving the entire umbrella plus the table and chairs.

Style

The patio umbrella can also be chosen based on the style, which comes in two forms. First, the table umbrella where the pole is threaded through a hole in the center of the table and then the cover will be mounted on top. The bases for these patio umbrellas are usually lighter because the table provides for additional stability. Second, the freestanding patio umbrellas require a heavier stand to counterbalance the weight. Manufacturers offer stands with three or four points for this purpose.

No matter the size, pole and style chosen in the patio umbrella, one important thing must be ensured when looking for the best in this category. The fabric used on the umbrella must be weather-resistant, ultraviolet ray-resistant and fade-resistant. This way, the people underneath the umbrella can, indeed, become protected as best as possible.

Kelly Marshall is a writer for Patioshoppers.com – the leading online patio retailer for patio furniture.