Custom Motorized Patio Shades in Augusta, GA

Shade Doctor installs custom shades for Augusta, GA homes and businesses that want to spend more of the day outside. Our crews put in motorized patio shades, porch screens, retractable screens, motorized awnings and pergolas, and every one of them is built to the exact measurements of your opening. That way each one fits the space it hangs in from the very first day. All of our work is outdoor living: covered patios, porches, pool decks and outdoor kitchens, the places where you really spend your summer evenings. A back patio that's too hot to sit on by mid-afternoon, or a porch that fills with mosquitoes the minute the sun goes down, is exactly what outdoor shades in Augusta, GA are made to fix. This page walks through what we install, how it holds up in Augusta weather and how a project goes from the first visit to a finished space you'll actually use, so take your time with it.

Why Augusta Patios Need Motorized Shades

Augusta now averages 86 days a year above 90 degrees, a few more than the 82 the old 30-year average showed, and nearly six days a year go past 100. Anyone who has stood on a concrete patio here at four in the afternoon in July knows what that feels like. The humidity hangs around into the evening, too, so the air doesn't cool off much even after the sun starts to drop.

The roof over your patio helps less than you'd expect. Augusta's afternoon sun swings around to the west and comes in low, sliding right under the overhang and onto your chairs, your table and you. That's the time of day most families want to be outside, and it's the time the patio is hardest to use.

Summer storms bring their own trouble. They build fast on a hot afternoon, and the wind can push rain sideways across a covered porch in a few minutes. The mosquitoes come out at dusk, just as things settle down.

Patio shades in Augusta, GA handle all of that one side at a time. A shade lowered on the west side blocks the low sun while the other sides stay open for the breeze. Drop the rest when evening comes, and the patio turns back into a comfortable room right through dinner and well after.

Outdoor Shade Systems We Install in Augusta

The right system depends on which way your space faces and how you use it, so a project can use one of these or a mix of a few.

Motorized Patio Shades and Porch Screens

These are the heart of what we do. Each shade is a fabric or solar mesh screen wound on a roller inside a housing at the top of the opening, and at the touch of a button it rolls down into tracks on both sides. Solar mesh keeps your view and lets air move through, which is what most people have in mind when they ask about motorized screens in Augusta, GA. Higher opacity fabrics give you full privacy instead, and both run on the same side-track motorized shade system.

Retractable Screens

Retractable screens let you change your mind from one hour to the next. They stay rolled up and out of sight when you want the breeze and the view, then come down quickly when the sun, the bugs or wind-blown leaves show up. They're among the most requested outdoor shade systems we install across Georgia, and they suit porches and outdoor dining areas where you'd like protection and an open feel at the same time.

Motorized Awnings

Our retractable awnings in Augusta, GA put broad shade over a deck, an open patio or the back of the house, then tuck away when you'd rather have the sun. Each one comes with a wireless remote and a manual override, and our awnings have dimmable LED lights built right into the arms. You can adjust the pitch with a crank from the ground, no ladder needed.

Pergolas and Modular Pergolas

A pergola gives your outdoor space a finished structure overhead, with louvers that tilt up to 90 degrees to let the sun in or close for shade. Our manually louvered modular pergolas need no power at all and come in 10 by 10 and 12 by 12 sections that combine for bigger spaces. The louvers on our motorized pergolas move by remote, wall switch or smart home control, and they interlock into a watertight roof when closed. Both pair nicely with shades or screens along the sides.

Built for Augusta Sun, Rain and Wind

Side tracks are what keep our shades steady in Augusta weather. The fabric rolls down into a track on each side, and a weighted bottom bar holds it taut, so a gust meets a tight panel that stays in its tracks. You can leave the shades down through a gusty afternoon, which is usually when you want them most. Our hardware is guaranteed up to 105 mph. Storms that strong are rare here, though they do happen: in March 2018, a thunderstorm pushed straight-line winds estimated at 95 to 105 mph through an industrial area just north of Bush Field.

Rain is part of every Augusta summer, with close to five inches falling in each of June, July and August. How much rain a shade keeps out depends on the fabric you choose, and your designer will go over the options with you at the consultation.

Sun does its damage more slowly. Solar mesh blocks up to 90 percent of UV rays while you still see the yard through it, which helps keep cushions, outdoor rugs and painted finishes from fading summer after summer.

Shades for Augusta Homes, Historic and New

Single-family houses make up about six in ten of Augusta's homes, so for most people here the project is a patio or porch on their own place. A lot of those houses have some age on them. Close to half of Augusta's homes were built before 1980, and more than 6,000 go back to 1939 or earlier. That means older brick, deep porches and openings in every shape in Summerville and the neighborhoods around downtown. Mid-century ranch homes often have a patio that was added years after the house went up. And the newer builds in south and west Augusta each have a layout of their own.

Our shades are made to fit all of them. We can hang shades over arched openings, cut the fabric to the bias of a sloped concrete patio, and build a shade system that ties in with a door. We also add beam buildouts for open gables, cedar-post angled wall buildouts and coping wherever the structure needs a solid, square place for the shade to mount. Shades go as large as 30 feet wide and 20 feet tall.

Insect Protection for Augusta Evenings

Georgia is home to 63 kinds of mosquitoes, and the state's peak stretch for West Nile virus has historically run from mid-August to mid-September. That's right when Augusta evenings start to feel nice enough to sit outside. A loose-hanging shade or a poorly fitted screen leaves gaps along the sides and at the floor, and those gaps are where insects get through. Our side tracks close off the edges, and the weighted bottom bar closes the gap at the floor, so the whole opening is sealed. Retractable screens in Augusta, GA built this way keep flies and mosquitoes off the porch at dusk, the hour you most want to be out there, and they still roll away when you'd like the open air back.

Smart Controls and Power Options

Your shades run from a remote, an app or your smart home system, whichever suits you. You can set them on a schedule, too, so the west side closes on its own when the afternoon sun hits and the patio is already shaded by the time you get home. The motors are smooth and quiet, so you'll barely hear them. Power comes one of three ways: a battery, a plug-in transformer or hardwiring, depending on the installation. A hardwired motor is new electrical work, and Augusta-Richmond County requires a permit for all new electrical installation work. The motors do need power to run, and the shades stay where they are during an outage until it comes back.

How Your Augusta Shade Project Works

Our process comes down to four easy steps. It starts with a consultation at your home or business, where we walk the space with you and listen to how you'd like to use it. The visit is free, and we'd ask that everyone who has a say in the decision be there if they can.

Next, our team puts together a custom design proposal for your openings. The site measurement happens at the estimate stage, so your free estimate comes back as a firm number. Any beam buildout, angled wall buildout or coping your patio needs is priced as part of the same project.

Once you approve the design, the shades go into production, and the lead time depends on the size and fabric you pick. Most installations wrap up within a day or two once the shades arrive. The last step is the best one: enjoying your new backyard space.

Warranty and Why Augusta Homeowners Choose Shade Doctor

Our warranty covers hardware for life and fabric and mesh for up to 15 years, and our shades are guaranteed against wind up to 105 mph. Warranty terms are the clearest sign of what a shade is built to, and those are the numbers our materials are chosen to meet.

Shade Doctor holds a 4.7 star average across more than 380 Google reviews and is BBB A+ accredited. The things customers mention most in those reviews are the installers, how quickly the job got done and how the finished space looks. We're also the nation's top motorized shade installer by volume, with more than 50 years of combined experience behind every installation and more than 4,500 happy customers.

All of that gives you something solid to compare. Set the warranty terms, the wind rating and the review record side by side with the price when you're weighing quotes from Augusta companies. Our estimate is a firm number after an on-site measure, which makes that side-by-side comparison a lot simpler.

Commercial Patios and Outdoor Dining in Augusta

Restaurant patios, office courtyards and hotel pool decks in Augusta face the same afternoon sun and the same evening bugs as any backyard, only with guests in the seats. Commercial outdoor shades in Augusta, GA give those seating hours back, adding comfortable outdoor seats for diners and a shaded break area for staff. Our shade systems for restaurants, hospitality venues and offices include motorized shades, motorized awnings with optional motion sensors that retract them in wind, and commercial-grade pergolas with motorized louvered roofs. Shades reach 30 feet wide, and awnings come in custom widths and projections for long storefronts and wide courtyards.

Every Augusta project starts with a free consultation at your home or business, and the estimate that follows is a firm number you can plan around. Tell us about the patio, porch or outdoor dining area you'd like to use more, and our team will help you land on the right mix of shades, screens, awnings or pergolas for it. Just schedule your free consultation whenever you're ready, and we'll set up a time that works for you.