The hot tub that feels like a stage
Every change below is put into the plan and the whole model is run again. That is why a pergola's winter cost shows up here without anybody having written it down, and why the cheapest thing that works is allowed to win.
Reading at
In the hot tub after dark
Light after dark is57 over— 92 / 100 against at most 35
Any lamp near the water makes the tub the brightest object in the garden and everything beyond it invisible.
Privacy exposure is18 over— 48 / 100 against at most 30
People are least clothed and most lit at the same moment, which is why this fails on sightline far more often than on temperature.
Confidence low (49%). Treat this as a starting hypothesis, not an answer.
A second seat 19.7 ft south improves things by 30 points without solving any single limit outright.
Ranked by what solves the actual limit with the least effort, not by the biggest number.
Not offered, and why
A 9.8 ft umbrella fixes light after dark and privacy exposure.
A 9.8 feet canopy at about 7.5 feet, set square over the table.
+4 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Remove The floodlight and mark the route instead fixes light after dark and privacy exposure.
Take out The floodlight and put low shielded markers along the route in from the house. Being the brightest thing in a dark garden is the same as being on a stage, and the light that makes the step safe does not have to be the light you sit in.
+4 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A 7.8 ft screen 9.6 ft from the seat fixes light after dark and privacy exposure.
A screen 7.8 feet high and about 9 feet wide, standing 9.6 feet from the seat on the line to Right neighbour's bedroom.
+4 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A 8.2 ft awning fixes light after dark and privacy exposure.
A folding-arm awning projecting 8.2 feet from the house wall at about 8.5 feet, retracted out of season.
+4 hours of usable time on this day. Opens 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
An evergreen hedge to about 7.8 ft fixes light after dark and privacy exposure.
A dense evergreen hedge grown to about 7.8 feet and 9.4 feet along, on the line to Right neighbour's bedroom. It reads as garden rather than barrier, and it will take several seasons to do the job.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A second seat 19.7 ft south improves things by 30 points without solving any single limit outright.
Put two chairs 19.7 feet to the south and leave the main table where it is. The point is not to fix this spot but to stop needing it at the hour it does not work.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
Move the table 6.6 ft east does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Slide the seating about 6.6 feet toward the east and change nothing else.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
Change The floodlight to a warmer lamp does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Swap The floodlight for a 2200 kelvin lamp of the same output. Blue-weighted light scatters more in the air, spills further into the garden and reads as harsher at the same brightness. Nothing structural changes; it is a lamp.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Two low shielded lights instead of one high one improves things by 3 points without solving any single limit outright.
Add a pair of shielded 200 lumen fixtures at knee height near the seating, so the useful light is where people are rather than thrown across the garden.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Shield The floodlight does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Fit a full cut-off shield to The floodlight so the output goes down rather than sideways. The light on the table barely changes; the light on the neighbour's wall mostly stops.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Add 1.5 ft of trellis to Board fence does not move this in any way worth the effort.
An open trellis panel on top of Board fence, taking it from 5.9 feet to 7.4 feet. Open trellis blocks a sightline at an angle while letting light and air through, which a solid board does not.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A shade sail over the seating does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A sail about 16.4 feet by 13.1 feet, set at about 9.2 feet and angled to shed water.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A deciduous climber on tensioned wires does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Wires strung about 8.5 feet above the seating with a vigorous deciduous climber trained across them. In leaf it shades like a light pergola; bare, it gives back most of the winter sun a solid roof would have kept.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A tree between the seat and Left neighbour's landing window does not move this in any way worth the effort.
One multi-stemmed tree grown to about 23 feet, set roughly a third of the way toward Left neighbour's landing window. Interrupting a downward sightline needs height, not length, and a single crown in the right place does what a whole run of fence cannot reach.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A deciduous tree 16.4 ft west of the seat does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A medium deciduous tree planted 16.4 feet to the west, grown to about 26 feet, with a crown roughly 19.7 feet across.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Raise the seating 1.5 ft does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A raised platform lifting the seat about 1.5 feet. It clears low boundaries, reaches faster air, and it works both ways: what you can see over, you can be seen over.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A pergola with open slats does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A pergola about 13.1 feet square at 8.5 feet with open slats, slats running roughly north.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
An adjustable louvred roof does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A louvred roof about 13.1 feet square at 8.5 feet, blades running north and closable.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A paler paving does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Replace Concrete pad with a paler paving of similar mass. The surface itself runs cooler underfoot; the trade is that more light bounces back up at a seated person.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A solid canopy over the seating does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A solid roof about 11.2 feet above the seating, 13.1 feet by 11.5 feet, guttered on the low edge. Unlike fabric it works in rain, and unlike a pergola it takes the winter light too.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Horizontal fins above the opening does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A run of fixed horizontal fins projecting about 2.3 feet from The house, set above head height. Geometry does the work: high summer sun is cut, low winter sun passes under, and the view out is barely touched.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A ventilated timber deck instead does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Replace Concrete pad with a ventilated timber deck. Heavy paving charges all afternoon and radiates back until well after dark, which is why an evening terrace can feel hotter than the air. A light deck over an air gap is done within the hour.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Take up the paving and plant it does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Lift Concrete pad and plant it. Nothing else on this list moves surface temperature as far: paving in full sun sits twenty degrees or more above the air, while planted ground transpires and typically sits at or below it. It is also the only change here that gets better rather than worse over ten years.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.