Tennessee summers are the reason outdoor shades exist. A covered porch can be 15–20 degrees hotter than the house at four o'clock in July, and a screened pergola without sun control is unusable from June through September. Outdoor shades, retractable screens, and motorized awnings turn that lost half of the house into the part you actually use. Here is the full catalogue and where each piece belongs.
The four outdoor categories
1. Exterior solar / sun shades
Wind-rated, weatherproof fabric shades that mount on the outside of a porch, pergola, or window. They block 80–95% of solar heat before it reaches the wall — far more efficient than any interior shade can manage. Most popular openness: 3% (cuts almost all glare, preserves view) and 5% (slightly more daylight, slightly less view).
Best for: covered porches, screened-in patios, west-facing walls of the house, pool houses, sunrooms.
2. Retractable screens (motorized)
Insect screens that disappear into a head cassette when not in use. Available for porches, pergolas, garage doors, and large picture windows. Phantom Screens and Sol-Lux are the lines we install most. When extended, they keep mosquitos and gnats out without blocking the breeze; when retracted, they're invisible.
Best for: any porch in Tennessee, period. Mosquito season is real.
3. Retractable awnings
Lateral-arm or pergola-mounted fabric awnings that extend outward to shade a patio. Available in fixed cassette or retractable. Most modern installs are motorized with sun and wind sensors — the awning auto-retracts when wind crosses a threshold.
Best for: brick or stucco walls over a patio, restaurants and outdoor dining areas, west-facing patios.
4. Motorized patio enclosures
Full vinyl-side curtain systems that turn a screened porch into a three-season room. Roll-down vinyl panels seal out wind and rain; motorized operation means one tap closes the entire porch. Sol-Lux Eclipse is the line we install most.
Best for: outdoor kitchens, hot tubs on the porch, families who want to use the porch in November.
Materials and finishes
- Sunbrella® fabric — UV-stable, mildew-resistant, 5-year colorfastness warranty. The premium standard.
- Phifer SheerWeave — the workhorse mesh for solar/insect screens. 10+ years of service life.
- Aluminum frames — powder-coated in matte black, bronze, or matched-to-house. No rust.
- Stainless hardware — every fastener, every track. Critical in humid southern climates.
Motorization is the default
Almost everything we install outdoors is motorized — manual cranks fail on weather exposure faster than the fabric. Somfy is the motor of choice. Sun sensors, wind sensors, and timed scenes (drop the west shades at 3 p.m.) make these systems set-and-forget.
A southern Tennessee porch with no shade is half a porch. A southern porch with motorized exterior shades and a retractable screen is twice the house.
The lines we install most
- Sol-Lux — boutique exterior systems with the best fabric range and motor reliability in the category. Our default premium spec.
- Phantom Screens — the gold standard for retractable insect screens. 10+ year track record.
- Hunter Douglas Designer Screen — exterior solar shades on the Hunter Douglas PowerView system. Best when the rest of the house is already PowerView.
- SunSetter — value-tier retractable awnings.
Our default 2026 outdoor spec
For a typical 14×30 ft. covered porch in Tennessee: Sol-Lux exterior solar shades (5% openness) on the south and west elevations, Phantom retractable screens on the front and east, all Somfy-motorized with sun and wind sensors. Adds about $6,000–$11,000 installed; turns the porch into a year-round room.
Wind ratings — the spec that matters
Tennessee gets thunderstorms with 40–60 mph gusts. An outdoor shade not rated for wind will tear. The lines we install are rated to a minimum of 40 mph (Beaufort scale 8). Premium Sol-Lux systems with side tracks are rated to 60+ mph. Always ask for the wind rating — it's the single most-skipped spec on cheap outdoor installs.
Where outdoor systems belong
- Covered porches. The natural home of every outdoor shade type.
- Pergolas. Either over-pergola (top) for shade, or pergola-side (vertical) for wind/insect.
- Pool houses and pool cabanas. Insect screens are non-negotiable.
- Garage doors. Retractable garage-door screens turn the garage into an open workshop.
- West-facing kitchen and great-room walls. An exterior shade outside the window beats any interior treatment for energy efficiency.
- Sunrooms. Exterior shades on the outside, paired with interior cellular for night insulation.
Cost
- Exterior solar shades, motorized: $1,800–$4,200 per opening
- Retractable insect screens (Phantom): $1,200–$2,800 per opening
- Retractable awnings, motorized: $3,500–$8,500 installed
- Motorized vinyl patio enclosures: $8,000–$22,000 per porch
For an in-home consultation — porch walked, sun studied, fabric sampled in your own light — call or text 629-298-8241 or book a free visit. We cover Gallatin, Nashville, Hendersonville, Franklin, Brentwood, Murfreesboro and the 90-mile radius around our showroom.
