How to Install Patio Covers
Having a patio permits a great time outdoors while also staying close to the house. The patio doesn’t provide protection from the elements of weather. So if you want to keep yourself from nasty weather, you need to consider installing a patio cover.
Things you need to install patio covers:
- 3/8 inch bolts and nuts
- Concrete bracket or post hole digger and concrete mix
- Water for the concrete Mix
- Sheet metal fasteners
- Hacksaw
- Patio cover kit
- Step ladder
- Level
- Drill with a 5/16 inch bit
- Wood Screws
- Caulk
- Tape measure
- Figure out where you want the patio cover to be located. The cover has to have room to slope down an inch for every foot that is away from the house.
- Check if the kit comes with a header track that will connect the cover to the house. Put the track in the spot the cover will be. Get a level and make sure it is straight, make a mark and pre-drill the holes with a 5/16 inch bit. Put the track back into place and be sure it’s level. You will then attach it to the house using the wood screws. Apply caulk around the track.
- Measure the covering pieces. Check they are one to two feet longer than the patio.
- Figure the height of the outside posts, and keep in mind you will drop the end an inch for every foot. If the cover attaches to the house at eight feet and travels ten feet, the posts must be 7 feet, 2 inches tall.
- Make sure a tilt beam attaches on top of the posts. Put the posts on the ground and no more than eight feet apart. Put the tilt beam in the grooves at the top, now the posts should be square with the beam. You will then screw them together with 3/8 inch bolts.
- Stand the apparatus up once it is put together. If the beams are placed on concrete, you will need to mark them where they rest. Attach some 3/8 inch concrete brackets to the concrete and screw in the posts to the brackets, if they happen to go in the ground, dig two holes that are two feet deep using the post-hole digger. Put the posts in the holes and fill with concrete. Let the posts dry before going on.
- Attach the panels on either end of the patio when they are up. Be sure they are square with either end of the header track as well as with the tilt beam. You will then use sheet metal fasteners to join the cover panel to the tilt beam and header. Use a hacksaw to trim the panels to the proper length of the patio.
- Join the rest of the panels by attaching the edge of the panel to the one before it. You will do this for all the panels. Attach the panels to the house with some sheet metal fasteners.