We need an umbrella that will not become a projectile

April 21, 2021 9:47 PM

So if our deck is off of the upper floor and we live in a windy area and we don't want our umbrella to become a terrifying missile that sails off from our house and goes careening into the neighborhood, what do we do?

Notes:
-Yep, we have a very heavy base/stand. Didn't help.
-Yep, we've tried anchoring to that base within a table. The wind yanked the umbrella and the wrought iron table into the air and threw them into our yard.
-Yep, we have common sense and crank the umbrella down when we know bad weather is coming. But wind is often sudden and doesn't come with a warning.

So what do we do? Are vented umbrellas enough? What is a good one? What else can we do? This sucks. One umbrella flew so far away, we literally never found it. I just hope it didn't end up through someone's living room window.

posted by DirtyOldTown to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Is the umbrella for shade? If so, you could create a planted alternative, such as a small-ish tree in a pot or some climbing plants on an overhead trellis.
posted by Faff at 11:14 PM on April 21, 2021

if our deck is off of the upper floor and we live in a windy area and we don't want our umbrella to become a terrifying missile that sails off from our house and goes careening into the neighborhood, what do we do?

You look at the surface area of your umbrella, and then you look at the surface area of kites designed to lift human beings into the air at the beach, and you notice that the umbrella is bigger than any of them, and you stop expecting any weight that you could possibly lift to be enough to hold the thing down.

Best thing would be to replace it with a shade sail anchored at the corners, rather than the middle, so that when (not if) the wind hits your huge area of fabric in a way that turns it into a sail, it's working against an anchor that isn't placed in such a way as to keep the entire face of that sail squarely facing the wind.

Umbrellas are just the wrong design for windy conditions, especially when set at heights that give the wind plenty of access from underneath.
posted by flabdablet at 11:44 PM on April 21, 2021 [19 favorites]

We have wired the base to our railing (you obviously lose a lot of flexibility in umbrella-placement) AND we remove the umbrella from the base and put it inside when not in use. The base does stay out even in 50+ mph winds, though. It’s inconvenient but also better than braining the neighbors with a wayward umbrella.
posted by charmedimsure at 11:47 PM on April 21, 2021 [2 favorites]

I've anchored a few large umbrella's by using carabiners attached to the ribs of the shade with paracord running through them to some large eye bolts I've screwed into the nearest post.
When the umbrella is closed, you just unhook the rope or the carabiner, takes just a few seconds to rehook it all up when opening again.

One of the umbrellas I'd ordered didn't have exposed ribs, but since I wasn't too concerend with appearance, I just cut some small holes (big enough for the carabiner arm to go through) in from the corners of the fabric closest to where I had the eyebolts. If I wanted to get fancy I probably could've grommeted it.
posted by newpotato at 3:09 AM on April 22, 2021

Would an awning work instead?
posted by london explorer girl at 3:30 AM on April 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

This seems so simple that I feel I must be overlooking something, but -- take it down when you're done using it?
posted by dbx at 4:09 AM on April 22, 2021 [11 favorites]

This seems so simple that I feel I must be overlooking something, but -- take it down when you're done using it?

This.

We have to regularly take down our umbrella in the event of serious winds. It's just part of the ownership deal. Our umbrella pole is a two-piece affair, so it conveniently comes apart at a moment's notice.

When not in use, we bind our closed umbrella with a bungie cord tightly wrapped around it. This makes it less susceptible to random high winds, as the fabric isn't loose and flapping and apt to catch a sudden gust.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:17 AM on April 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: This seems so simple that I feel I must be overlooking something, but -- take it down when you're done using it?

If it was not clear in the post, we already lower and/or store the umbrella regularly. Sudden bursts of wind during use are the problem.

A shade sail sounds interesting. Or maybe something mesh?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:09 AM on April 22, 2021

A shade cloth *is* a type of mesh.
posted by MonsieurBon at 7:56 AM on April 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

If you go the shade sail route, get a four cornered one. Three cornered shade sails are completely useless at providing actual shade unless they're way way larger than the area you're trying to shade with them.
posted by flabdablet at 8:09 AM on April 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Kind of with flabdablet that you can't stop an umbrella from blowing. But you can tether it like a surfboard so it can't go far. I'd attach a strong lanyard to a solid object, and the other end to the topside center of the umbrella. Then if a sudden gust lifted your umbrella then at least it would orient so the wind tends to be on top shutting it rather than underneath.

Not a completely satisfactory solution though, since the umbrella on a string might whack you if you're out there.
posted by ctmf at 7:37 PM on April 22, 2021

We have a cantilevered umbrella that’s weighed down with lots of sand in the base and it moves around in the wind but I don’t think it would take off.

(We found it at an estate sale and did not pay full price, but I can absolutely tell the difference between this higher end umbrella and cheaper ones.)
posted by girlalex at 9:12 AM on April 23, 2021