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Alumawood Patio Cover Contractors in Los Angeles
We’ve all seen the old aluminum patio covers with the thin corrugated metal roofs and scroll posts right? Well, things have changed drastically for aluminum patio covers from those days of old. Alumawood Patio Covers are an all-aluminum engineered patio cover system free of traditional maintenance, which looks and feels just like real wood. Alumawood components are ordered more or less as a handy “kit” and is a perfect solution for anyone looking to have a patio cover installed within just a few days of delivery and for a fraction of the cost of real wood.
Do it yourself patio cover kit
Ordered as a Do it yourself patio cover kit, those who are handy can build their very own cover with the help of our videos and instructions. Don’t worry these kits comes complete with engineering and if you make any mistakes, we have replacement parts and components readily available for you to keep going forward with your do it yourself project.
Gaining popularity in Los Angeles and surrounding communities, aluminum patio covers make up more than eighty percent of our total volume as patio cover contractors. As a matter of fact, it’s not us who are pushing this material but rather, it’s you the consumer who’s rapidly moving toward this material. Aluminum is easier to maintain and will not rot, deteriorate or otherwise turn to dust in 20 years. Kind of a “no brainer” huh?
Alumawoods History
Alumawood is quite a bit larger than just manufacturing an extruded aluminum patio covers. Amerimax exterior home products inc., manufactures and distributes the Alumawood name brand patio cover product. The alumawood product has been around for over 39 years. As a matter of fact, we do a great deal of aluminum patio cover repairs throughout Los Angeles and I have to tell you… every time I see an Alumawood cover that’s 15+ years old I’m still amazed at how great it looks and how the colors are still so close.
We only build patio covers and decks and our guys are some of the best craftsmen in this business, hands-down.patiocovered
About Us
We, patiocovered.com specialize in you. Sure we build patio covers and decks all throughout Los Angeles and beyond, but what we really enjoy is making something from nothing that people use. It’s a pretty cool feeling knowing that we can add a little something to your house that will help your family enjoy more of your home throughout all of the seasons, not just the one (summer). Yea, sure it’s a business and yes we do make money, but money isn’t always everything.
Ask any one of our guys what they enjoy most about their job and they’ll tell you, the owners of patiocovered are super cool. Haha no, although they might… they’ll tell you that “it’s hanging out with our clients while working in a laid back, no-pressure working environment“. As a business owner, I’d like to keep it this way. If my guys are happy, I’m happy and ultimately… you’re happy.
Aluminum Patio Covers vs Wood Patio Covers
Aluminum or wood? There are tons of choices right there, just with those two materials alone. Our company offers only two material choices at the moment, but within these two choices, there is a multitude of styles and designs that are possible. A simple search of Pinterest and you can see all the different patio cover design possibilities with these two materials.
ALUMINUM
Although the Alumawood cover system is more or less a kit of sorts, still, we manage to do some pretty custom and spectacular patio cover structures from it. Aluminum patio covers are not the covers of old. Far from it actually. Granted, in the beginning, I was totally apprehensive about picking up the line of Alumawood because all I could picture in my mind was my grandmother’s carport.
Consequently, when I was first introduced to the aluminum covered patio systems I was amazed at how much it really does looks like wood. From a far, I had a hard time noticing the difference, not because I need glasses (although possible), but because of the deep rich-wood grain effect the material is embossed with, just looks like wood. The alumawood parts on the ends of the pieces which gave it away however, they are plastic. All in all, if you’re looking for affordable and functional, you cannot go wrong with Alumawood.
WOOD
What can you say about wood that hasn’t been said a thousand times over, but that it’s consistently beautiful. Wood is a timeless material. Indeed, you can never go wrong designing your new patio cover out of wood. Covered wood patios, wood pergola patio covers, and wood lattice shade bar patio covers are nice to have, except when it’s time to paint or otherwise maintain the cover. Sure everything seems to wear with time, but it just seems that people are moving away from having to spend so much money for wood and then there’s your time you have to spend performing the maintenance.
Contrast this with Alumawood which requires almost zero maintenance. Just a quick wash now and again just like your car… providing you actually wash your car. 🙂
Alumawood Colors
Amerimax doesn’t suggest painting the aluminum product they sell that is Alumawood, and we concur. The Amerimax covers are painted with a silicone polyester and cured in a paint line oven for a durable finish. Repainting the alumawood product will void the warranty.
As you can see from this infographic there are 7 colors in total. Although we hear that they are working on even more color choices, at the moment this is all we have. With that said, let’s see the color choices for the alumawood product, shall we?
- Spanish Brown
- Sonora Beige
- Adobe
- Latte
- Mojave Tan
- Desert Sand
- White
Aluminum Lattice Shade Bar Covers
Lattice patio cover. Shade bar patio cover. Pergola patio cover. With only subtle nuances between pergolas and lattice patio covers, these covers are really all the same. As a matter of fact, shade bars and lattice patio covers are identical… sort-of like tomato and tomoto.
Nevertheless, these patio cover types are open. Meaning, these covers are not roofed but rather, have smaller pieces in full width of the cover parallel to the beam, but ruining perpendicular to the rafters.
For the most part, these “shade bars” allow light to pass through the top of the cover because there are spaces within the top, between the lattice or shade bars. The building code in Santa Clarita dictates, for example, the minimum allowable space between the shade bars.
The shade bars of the patio cover shall be at least 50% open with a minimum of 1-1/2″ spacing between the
shade bars (self-spacing).Santa Clarita Building Code
Pergola Free Standing Patio Covers
Wikipedia defines a detached lattice patio cover as a “pergola”. Like an arbor, sort of. Here It’s defined as; “A pergola is an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained”.
Solid Roof Alumawood Covered Patios
Insulated Aluminum Patio Covers
Fortunately for those of us who are looking for shade with insulation, we have the Alumawood insulated patio cover. With an “R” rating of 13.95, it’s significantly higher than a roof that is say, made of tile. Contrast the insulated covers R rating to that of concrete tile (R1.5-R2.3) and you can see for yourself the difference. We feel it prudent to note that the only colors these insulated panels are available in are white and desert sand.
Just look at this comparison we did on an insulated cover and a typical concrete tile roofed patio cover in the middle of June. It’s no wonder why the insulated cover keeps you much cooler. Just look at the difference in the ambient temperatures between the two, almost 20 degrees!
Non-Insulated Aluminum Patio Covers
Alumawood offers another roofing material different from the insulated type referred to as a non-insulated pan. As you can see in the image below, the pan is flat has no insulating properties. Because the pan has no insulating property there’s going to be a warmer ambient temperature when sitting under the cover. Non-insulated Alumawood cover panels are available in multiple different colors contrary to the insulated cover.
The Differences between the two covers
Although the insulated panel covers are for the most part, the top-of-the-line for all Alumawood products (excluding the Equinox). The insulated covers just happen to be the more expensive of all covered products (excluding the Equinox). On the other hand, the non-insulated cover is the most reasonably priced roofed cover Alumawood manufacturers. Nevertheless, non-insulated covers offer a great refuge from the sun equal to the insulated cover. We offer a pricing calculator that is free for you to use to better determine the cost of your patio cover.
Permits and Engineering
In Los Angeles, patio cover installations require building permits. Engineering is required, depending on the type of patio cover you choose. For example, in the city of Santa Clarita, building permits, as well as engineering, is required for both Alumawood and wood patio covers. With that in mind, it’s nice that certain jurisdictions provide an over-the-counter handout for wood covers that follow specific guidelines. These handouts are acceptable to use when building a wood patio cover within the jurisdiction you receive the handout. Most cities have these documents.
Alumawood on the other hand, has their own engineering standards. All jurisdictions throughout Los Angeles accept the Amerimax building standard plans. With every building permit obtained, we use the provided engineering details.
Alumawoods Limited Lifetime Warranty
Amerimax Exterior Home Products, Norcross, Georgia (hereinafter referred to as “Amerimax”). They warranty their lattice, patio covers, carports and awnings installed at the location listed on the warranty certificate you register. The Amerimax products are warrantied not to split and the finish will not ever chip, peel, flake or blister under typical conditions. Their warranty is also transferrable when you go to sell your house for up to 10 years. See the entire warranty here.
Alumawood Replacement Parts Repairs and Service
Aluminum
We offer Alumawood patio cover repairs and service. Furthermore, we offer replacement parts and components for the Alumawood patio covers. On the other hand, if you are in need of service, adjustments or just need to have some parts replaced, give us a call, we perform Alumawood aluminum patio cover service and repairs.
Wood
There will be a day when your wood patio cover rots before your very eyes and turns to dust. That is of course if it doesn’t get eaten by termites first. Rot and termite infestation are the two most common causes for wood patio covers to be damaged so severely that wholesale replacement is often needed. Granted, we do perform wood patio cover service and repair throughout Los Angeles. But most of the time by the time we get there, the cover is usually past its useful life.