Commercial patio umbrellas: canopy first, pole second, base last

Two o'clock, west-facing sidewalk, no shade. The tables sit empty until five while the sun bakes the tabletops. Put a canopy over them and the afternoon starts earning.

Commercial patio umbrellas come down to three choices made in order. Pick the canopy size for the table under it and the walkway beside it. Pick the pole, aluminum or wood. Then pick the base that holds that canopy. Do it in reverse and you end up with a base that cannot take the umbrella you wanted, or a canopy hanging over the curb.

Canopy size: measure the table, then the walkway

Our patio umbrellas come in three canopy sizes: 7 1/2 feet, 9 feet and 11 feet across.

Turn those into inches and lay them over a table. A 9-foot canopy spans 108 inches. Over a 36-inch square four-top it reaches 36 inches past the table edge on every side, enough to cover the chairs pulled back from it. A 7 1/2-foot canopy spans 90 inches; over a 30-inch two-top it reaches 30 inches past each edge. An 11-foot canopy spans 132 inches, which can shade two four-tops pushed side by side.

Now the walkway. That is where the size goes wrong.

Say your sidewalk seating strip is 6 feet deep, 72 inches from the building face to the edge of the clear path. Center an 11-foot canopy in that strip and it hangs 30 inches past the strip on each side: over the door on one side and over the people walking past on the other. A 9-foot canopy in the same strip overhangs by 18 inches. A 7 1/2-foot canopy by 9 inches. Check what your city allows over the walkway before you order, then choose the size that stays inside it.

Rule of thumb: the canopy should fit the space, not the table. On a roomy rooftop, size to the table group. On a tight sidewalk, size to the strip.

Aluminum or wood pole

Every aluminum umbrella we carry has a 1 1/2-inch aluminum pole with fiberglass ribs, and the pole comes in four finishes: bronze, matted white, silver anodized and stone black. The wood model has a 1 1/2-inch wood pole with wood ribs and comes in one size, 9 feet.

Weight is a wash at that size. The 9-foot aluminum umbrella and the 9-foot wood umbrella both weigh 20 pounds.

The real difference is headroom. Each umbrella lists its ground clearance, the height of the canopy edge:

• 7 1/2-foot aluminum: 96 inches overall, 82 inches clearance, push lift, 19 pounds.
• 9-foot aluminum: 103 inches overall, 83 3/4 inches clearance, push lift.
• 9-foot wood: 97 1/2 inches overall, 77 inches clearance, push lift.
• 11-foot aluminum: 107 inches overall, 85 inches clearance, pulley lift or push lift, 24 pounds.

Seventy-seven inches is 6 feet 5 inches. Under the wood canopy, a tall server with a tray held high walks close to the fabric edge. Under the 9-foot aluminum canopy the edge sits 6 3/4 inches higher. On a rail where staff pass under every umbrella all night, that gap matters more than the look of the pole.

Choose wood when the warmth of the pole suits the frontage and guests mostly sit under it. Choose aluminum when staff move under it, when you want the pole finish to match aluminum chairs, or when you need a size other than 9 feet. Our guide to aluminum outdoor patio furniture helps line up the finishes across the seating.

Fabric and color

All four umbrellas offer three canopy fabric lines, with 20, 17 and 42 colors to pick from. That is a lot of choice, and the fastest way through it is the building. Hold the shortlist against the awning, the signage and the chair frames, then pick two colors at most for the whole frontage.

One color per row reads clean from across the street. Alternating colors reads busy unless the frontage is long.

The lift is the last small choice. The 7 1/2 and 9-foot models open with a push lift. The 11-foot model can be ordered with a pulley lift instead, which is worth a look on a canopy 132 inches across that someone raises over a full table every morning before the doors open. Ask whoever runs setup which they would rather work, then order that.

The base that holds it

Here the canopy size you picked comes back. Each base we sell names the canopy sizes it takes, and our umbrellas all share the 1 1/2-inch pole, so the pairing runs on canopy size alone.

The two smaller sizes go with any of our four freestanding bases, from the 50-pound steel base to the 95-pound cast iron one. The 11-foot aluminum umbrella is pickier. Only two bases list it: the 95-pound cast iron umbrella base and the stainless steel base on casters. The lighter bases stop at 9 feet, and that mistake is easy to make in a cart.

Through-the-table works too. A table such as the 36-inch square aluminum patio table topped in synthetic teak lists an umbrella hole at a 30-inch dining height; browse more in patio tables with an umbrella hole. Its 1 3/4-inch hole takes a 1 1/2-inch pole.

For weights, casters and the full base comparison, see our guide to the standing umbrella base.

Pricing a shaded frontage

Worked example: a sidewalk frontage with six four-tops, one umbrella each.

Six 9-foot aluminum umbrellas from $254 each: $1,524. Six steel bases from $121 each: $726. Shade for six tables, from $2,250 of furniture, before freight. Choose the wood 9-foot umbrella from $227 instead and the umbrellas come to $1,362. Upgrade the bases to cast iron at $416 each and the bases alone come to $2,496.

Final prices follow the options you configure, canopy fabric included, and freight is quoted per delivery address after review. Our how to order page walks through that review.

Closing time under the canopy

Open the canopies after the tables are set, and close them before the chairs come in. Close them mid-service too, the moment the wind picks up, whatever the sky looks like. At the end of the night, every umbrella comes down and goes inside.

Then plan it on paper. Open an outdoor plan for the frontage, save each umbrella with its base on the same line, and note the canopy size against the strip depth you measured. Add the closing rule to the notes, word for word, so the manager on Saturday night reads it before the first gust does the teaching.