Exterior Shades
Exterior shades that make a Texas patio usable in August
Outdoor roller shades for patios, pergolas, porches, and west-facing windows — solar screen that cuts heat and glare without boxing you in.
A pergola without shade in Frisco is a sculpture until October. West sun on a patio, porch, or bank of windows cooks the slab, fades furniture, and drives cooling bills through the glass. Exterior roller shades stop that heat before it hits the opening — which is why they outperform interior blinds on the same wall.
Genes Construction specifies and installs outdoor roller shades as part of the house, not as a catalog add-on. Fabric openness, hardware, zipper tracks, and motors are chosen for the span, the wind, and whether you want a view, insect control, or both. We hang them on existing structures and on pergolas and patios we just built.
What we handle
Patio and pergola shades
Retractable solar screens on decks, porches, balconies, and outdoor kitchens. Drop them for dinner, roll them up when you want the sky. Sized to the beam, not a stock width from a big-box aisle.
Exterior window sun screens
Shades mounted outside the glass so summer heat never reaches the room. The most effective way to tame a west elevation without replacing windows.
Motorized operation
Quiet motors with wall switches or remote control so a wide opening is not a daily wrestling match. Manual spring and crank systems when the span is small or power is not worth running.
Insect-screen systems
Finer mesh with zipper side tracks and sealed headers and sills when you want the patio closed against mosquitoes without a permanent porch cage.
How a job actually runs
01
Measure the opening
Width, drop, mounting surface, wind exposure, and how you actually use the space. A west patio and a north porch do not get the same fabric.
02
Specify fabric and hardware
Openness factor, color, zipper or standard guides, cassette, and motor or manual. You see samples on the house, not only on a laptop.
03
Install and hand off
Tracks plumb, fabric tracking square, motors set. We show you the limits and leave the remote paired — not in a bag on the counter.
Questions we hear first
How are outdoor roller shades different from an awning?
Awnings project out and shade from above. Roller shades drop in a plane — from a pergola beam, porch beam, or the face of the house — and can close a side that the sun or wind actually uses. Many patios want both; we will say which opening needs which.
Will they survive North Texas wind?
The system matters more than the fabric. Guided or zipper-track shades, sized to the opening, hold in weather that will destroy a cheap side-arm screen. We will not hang an unguided sail on a 20-foot west span and call it done. Some systems are rated into severe wind; we match the hardware to the exposure.
Do solar screens still let me see the yard?
Yes. Solar fabrics are woven to cut glare, UV, and heat while keeping a view. Tighter weaves and darker colors cut more heat and give more daytime privacy; more open weaves keep a clearer outlook. Insect mesh is a different product — better at bugs, denser on the view.
Can you motorize shades on an existing pergola?
Usually. We check the beam for a hidden cassette or face mount, then run low-voltage or plug-in power. If the structure cannot take the load or the span is wrong, we say so before you order fabric.
Do you install exterior shades with a new patio?
Yes. Shades, pergola, and patio on one schedule means the beams are sized for the tracks and you are not paying a second trip to fish wire. See general contracting for the structure itself.
Related work
Need a straight answer on the roof?
Call the office or send the estimate form. We inspect in person — no satellite-only quotes.