Believe it or not it has been a little over 5 years since we completed building our covered patio. We love how it turned out, but I want to share how it is going… maintenance, upgrades, answer your frequently asked questions and let you in on our plans to complete the space. So, let’s get right to it…

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Prefer to watch instead of reading… check out video below!

Painting The House
Painting Post & Beam
Adding Vine Shade Screens
Installing Fans
Adding Shade Sails

Painting The House:

I went back and forth on going with a dark color and white, in the end white won. I like it, but who knows in another 5 years I might change my mind… it’s just paint.

Painting The Post and Beam: I loved the look of the wood, but it just wasn’t realistic in Arizona. The sun just beats everything up. So I decided to paint them black. I had to completely sand them down because the previous finish was flaking and chipping, then prime them and then several coats of black paint. I hope it last 5-10 years. Fingers crossed.

Loved the look of the natural wood, but not enough to do maintenance every year. The original outdoor poly like finish was already chipping and pealing after 1 year. Plus, I think the black post and beams look really sharp. Which do you prefer… natural wood or painted black?

Adding Vine Shade Screens: The afternoon sun was a killer so I knew I wanted some sort of shade screen on this side, but I didn’t want to completely close it in. So I figured some screens and vines would be an awesome element to add some greenery and block the afternoon sun.

Shade screens were a must for the west side of the patio. I can’t wait for the jasmine vines to grow!

Installing Fans: A fan is a must for a patio in AZ. I decided to go with these ceiling mount Mule fans. They were easy to install and boy do they move the air. They have three speed settings and can be adjusted where you want the flow to go. And no wiring, just plug them in.

Air circulation in the summer time is key to being able to enjoy the patio. These Mule fans are awesome, super easy to install and move a ton of air!

Adding Shade Sails: Well if you haven’t figured it out yet or not shade is very important in Arizona. So to help my vines grow better and give us a little relief when BBQ’ing we added shade sails to both the east and west of the patio. I think they are just another fun element that adds character to the space and gives us more shade.

The vines needed a little more shade to thrive, so the shade sails to the rescue.

Why is the beam so big?
Why did you cut into your roof?
Does it leak?
Does it block the light inside?
Does it get hot under the metal roof?

Why is the beam so big? When we were planning the build we knew that we didn’t want to obstruct the view from inside the house, so in order to get a 30 foot span with no post in the middle required a beam 5 1/2”W x 18”T.

Man I remember this day… so exciting getting this far in the build!

Standing at the kitchen sink I have a clear view of the backyard. Eventually I want one giant slider here to replace the door and the 8ft slider that is currently there.

Why did you cut into your roof? With the beam needing to be 18”T and us still wanting unobstructed views we needed to increase the ceiling height or beam height. In order to do that we had to set the joists on top of the house wall which required us cutting into the roof. We ended up with a height of 86” from bottom of posts to bottom of beam.

That crazy feeling when to tear part of your roof off!

The joist sit on top of the house wall and into the attic about a foot or so.

Does it leak? NO and a little. Where we cut into the roof there are no leaks. But we have had a couple of really crazy monsoon storms with heavy rain and winds and a little bit of water did get between the seams on the corrugated metal. It has only been minimal and in only a couple of spots, so nothing we feel we need to fix. But if we were to do a corrugated metal roof again we would add some sort of sealant at the seams.

Flashing and sealant were used to cover the connection between the existing roof and the corrugated metal roofing.

Does it block the light inside? Keeping the ceiling height high for the views also allows enough indirect light into the house to keep my plants thriving in that part of the house. But it also blocks all bright direct light from shining in, which I assume helps with our utility bills.

Does it get hot under the metal roof? While sitting under the patio I don’t feel that the metal roof increases the temperature of where you are sitting. From the floor to the metal roof is 104”. When I go on a ladder and touch the metal roof in the middle of the day it is very hot to the touch. But even being up there it doesn’t really feel hotter. I think because the metal is so thin that the heat dissipates quickly.

Pavers
New Windows
New 16’ Sliding Doors
New Patio Furniture
Built-In BBQ Area

To-Do #1 - Pavers: Pavers are #1 on my to-do list, but they also come with the biggest budget! You see I want the pavers from the patio, to fill in area from patio to cool deck, the entire pool deck around the pool and in front of the primary bedroom. So a lot of square footage. But when the time is right I in vision either a Saltillo tile or some sort of more natural paver. Plus, when we do the pavers I want to replace the tile in the pool to be green and white stripes or checkers. Here is my inspo pics:

To-Do #2 New Windows: I have some of these already purchased that just need to be installed. They are black windows and are a little oversized than what we already have. So they require me to remove a couple rows of the block to install them. I think they will let in so much more light and really modernize the house.

To-Do #3 Sixteen Foot Sliding Doors: I want to remove the weird door and 8 foot slider that are next to each other and add two black 8 foot sliders that open in the middle. I’d love to add one of those folding doors, but I just don’t see those ever being in the budget, so the solution was two 8’ doors opening together. I have seen this before and it looks great.

To-Do #4 New Patio Furniture: I have built a ton of furniture and when the pavers are installed I want to build all new furniture back here that fit the space. Thinking a large rustic dining table and a seating area.

To-Do #5 Built-In BBQ Area: We want to build a block built-in bbq area, but we need to decide what kind of pavers we are going to do first. That way we know if we need to remove existing concrete slab or keep it and then put in footer for block bbq. I am thinking concrete countertops and room for our grill and griddle, but other than that haven’t done too much planning because it is farther down the list.

So after the updates, f.a.q.s and our to-do wishlist this is where we stand today.

Such a huge improvement from where we started. But also a long way to completion.

We have come a long way, but there still is so much to do. Remember that DIY doesn’t happen overnight and that is okay. This is real life where time and budget are factors. Just remember to have fun and Build LOUD, Build WILD… oh and have an AWESOME day!

Sadie

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