I have an above ground pool and am wondering what kind of umbrella people have on their decks? I purchased a patio umbrella today and it kept blowing over. It wasn’t that windy. Took that back and bought a cantilever umbrella that requires 250 lbs of sand in the base. What does everyone else do? I feel like I’m making this a lot harder than it should be!
Patio umbrella
- Thread starter Lbboughton
- Start date
There are a few ways to use concrete in containers to create a heavy base without spending a fortune. Get creative.
rajung
Well-known member
Up until last fall when we built a steel roof pergola over deck I had 2 9ft market umbrella at each end of pool deck. For each umbrella I mounted a section of PVC pipe , slightly larger than the umbrella post, up against the deck railing on one of the 4 x 4 posts,, resting on deck floor and up to top rail.
Inserted umbrella and drilled a hole through the PVC and umbrella post, and put a hitch pin through both and locked in place, same clip you use on a trailer hitch ball to keep lock lever down.
Worked great and we get wind all the time. Depending on your railing, you may have to notch out the upper hand rail to conform fit to PVC and lets it sit straight and not at an angle. Not sure if its a metal poste umbrella as ours were wood. If I did not put a pin through the hole on windy days they would launch out of the tubes and be instant umbrella lawn darts. I usually slid them out and stored them before extreme high winds, such as over 40 mph as I was afraid they might snap over even closed and not to mention fade from sun, red will be pink in no time
Inserted umbrella and drilled a hole through the PVC and umbrella post, and put a hitch pin through both and locked in place, same clip you use on a trailer hitch ball to keep lock lever down.
Worked great and we get wind all the time. Depending on your railing, you may have to notch out the upper hand rail to conform fit to PVC and lets it sit straight and not at an angle. Not sure if its a metal poste umbrella as ours were wood. If I did not put a pin through the hole on windy days they would launch out of the tubes and be instant umbrella lawn darts. I usually slid them out and stored them before extreme high winds, such as over 40 mph as I was afraid they might snap over even closed and not to mention fade from sun, red will be pink in no time
For your cantilever on a deck you could always do what I did and mount it directly to the deck. Between the joist I have it heavily reinforced with 4x4 cross members that are lag screwed in secure. The actual base part of the umbrella that would normally bolt to the big metal X base is then bolted thru the wood reinforced cross members with long carriage bolts. Here's a pic.
It's been this way for many a years. This year I did replace some of the bracing that was dry rotting.
Only downside is it's not relocatable but this umbrella base has the built in swivel feature by pressing the foot pedal and spinning it so I don't care about move ability. And it just slides off the swivel base for storage.
It's been this way for many a years. This year I did replace some of the bracing that was dry rotting.
Only downside is it's not relocatable but this umbrella base has the built in swivel feature by pressing the foot pedal and spinning it so I don't care about move ability. And it just slides off the swivel base for storage.