The patio the neighbour's window sets on fire
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
Dinner outside
Wetness is25 over— 70 / 100 against at most 45
A damp seat ends dinner faster than a cold one.
View is18 short— 22 / 100 against at least 40
Half the point of eating out here is what you are looking at.
Confidence low (38%). Treat this as a starting hypothesis, not an answer.
Two 8.2 ft parasols instead of one fixes wetness.
Ranked by what solves the actual limit with the least effort, not by the biggest number.
Not offered, and why
A second seat 19.7 ft south fixes wetness and view and costs you what it feels like and glare.
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.
+0 hours of usable time on this day.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Two 8.2 ft parasols instead of one fixes wetness.
Two parasols about 8.2 feet across, set 7.2 feet apart along the table. Between them they cover a rectangle, which is the shape a table actually is.
+0 hours of usable time on this day.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A shade sail over the seating fixes wetness.
A sail about 16.4 feet by 13.1 feet, set at about 9.2 feet and angled to shed water.
+0 hours of usable time on this day.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
A 11.5 ft awning fixes wetness.
A folding-arm awning projecting 11.5 feet from the house wall at about 8.5 feet, retracted out of season.
+0 hours of usable time on this day.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
A pergola with close-spaced slats fixes wetness.
A pergola about 13.1 feet square at 8.5 feet with close-spaced slats, slats running roughly north.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
Raise the seating 3 ft fixes wetness and costs you glare and what it feels like.
A raised platform lifting the seat about 3 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.
Move the table 11.5 ft east fixes wetness and costs you what it feels like and glare.
Slide the seating about 11.5 feet toward the east and change nothing else.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A 13.8 ft umbrella improves things by 22 points without solving any single limit outright.
A 13.8 feet canopy at about 7.5 feet, tilted toward the low sun.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
An adjustable louvred roof improves things by 20 points without solving any single limit outright.
A louvred roof about 13.1 feet square at 8.5 feet, blades running north and closable.
It takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
A solid canopy over the seating improves things by 20 points without solving any single limit outright.
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.
A deciduous climber on tensioned wires improves things by 14 points without solving any single limit outright.
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.
Relay it as a permeable surface improves things by 6 points without solving any single limit outright.
Relay Poured concrete patio as permeable paving or resin-bound gravel over an open sub-base. Water goes down instead of sideways, so the spot dries hours earlier after rain and stops holding the film that makes it slippery and green.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
Two low shielded lights instead of one high one does not move this in any way worth the effort.
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.
A 8.5 ft panel to the west does not move this in any way worth the effort.
A solid panel about 8.5 feet high and 9.8 feet wide, standing 7.2 feet to the west. Low sun arrives almost horizontally, and only something vertical stops it.
It does not meaningfully change the beam in either season.
A deciduous tree 16.4 ft west of the seat improves things by 3 points without solving any single limit outright.
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 takes the summer sun and leaves most of the winter sun, which is the behaviour worth paying for.
Horizontal fins above the opening improves things by 5 points without solving any single limit outright.
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 Poured concrete patio 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 Poured concrete patio 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.
A paler paving does not move this in any way worth the effort.
Replace Poured concrete patio 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.