Are Aluminum Patios Environmentally Friendly? Here are 5 Reasons Why the Answer is Yes!
Patios, gazebos and other shade structures expand your family’s living space and enjoyment of the great outdoors. They boost your home’s architecture and visual appeal, adding to its livability and resale value. Our engineers and manufactures aluminum patio covers, pergolas, sunrooms, gazebos, and other outdoor structures that have distinct design and durability advantages over wood, steel, and vinyl products.
Here’s why you should choose aluminum outdoor structures:
1. Aluminum is environmentally friendly
From soda cans to skyscrapers, aluminum is one of the world’s most recyclable products. Like many other construction and manufacturing processes, we use as much as 50 percent recycled material in our extruded aluminum structures. Recycling not only limits invasive aluminum mining but also requires only 5 percent of the energy needed to make the original product.
When your structure finally wears out – after 25 or 30 years on average – you can rest easy in the knowledge that the aluminum most certainly will be used to make new products. You’ll not only be doing your part to preserve the planet. And, because aluminum retains a high salvage value, recycling your structure generates a partial “refund” on your investment.
2. Aluminum is easy to work with
Its high strength-to-weight ratio makes aluminum a favorite material among contractors and homeowners. Its lightweight makes it easy to handle, load, and transport, cutting labor, fuel, freight, and staging costs.
Our patio’s insistence on high-end extruded aluminum and precise engineering standards makes our products a bit more costly than wood, but this investment in quality is offset by the ease of construction. Professional, local installers can build your shade structure in a fraction of the time it would take to erect foundations and place heavy wood columns, beams, and bracings.
Structurally sound aluminum is the perfect option for gazebos, garden trellises, and other standalone outdoor living spaces as well as traditional patio covers and roofs that attach to your home.
3. Aluminum is durable
Unlike wood, our aluminum shade structures won’t rot or invite termites to a buffet. And unlike vinyl, our products won’t crack or emit a cheap, “plastic-y” vibe.
Aluminum can withstand whatever Mother Nature can throw at it, making it the best option for any climate. It is strong enough to bear the heavy, wet snow that comes from New England’s nor’easters. Its natural patina eliminates rust, making it impervious to the Pacific Northwest’s perpetual rains. It resists corrosion even in Florida’s salty air. It doesn’t warp, even in the relentless heat of Phoenix or Las Vegas.
4. Aluminum is virtually maintenance-free
Because aluminum is non-porous, dirt and contaminants cannot gain a foothold to dirty the surface. Renaissance finishes each component’s visible surfaces with a baked-on powder coating that is as tough as it is beautiful.
If you take reasonable care not to bang the posts with grills and patio furniture or chip the paint with errant knuckleballs and ill-advised slapshots, the glossy façade will last for decades with no need to sand, prime, and repaint. Aluminum construction lets you spend more time enjoying your pergola or patio cover than taking care of it. Simply with soap and water to keep it looking like new.
5. Aluminum saves energy costs
BHI uses insulated aluminum patio roofing panels in our roofing lines that not only cool your patio but also can lower energy costs inside your home. Adding one of our attached shade structures cools the air outside before it can soak into your home where it must be mechanically – and expensively – conditioned.
Reducing the electricity spend on air conditioning offers a significant benefit, but your aluminum shade structure also will prevent a significant amount of sunlight from beaming through previously exposed windows and patio doors. Aluminum is highly reflective, deflecting the sun’s direct glare while admitting more mellow afternoon rays for healthy, natural lighting.
The most abundant metal on earth and infinitely recyclable, aluminum supplies are readily accessible. Despite continually increasing demand as a building material, thanks to its strength, weight, appearance, and adaptability, aluminum remains an economical choice for patio covers and other outdoor living spaces.
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