Pergolas in Crestview Hills, KY

Crestview Hills (ZIP 41017) has well-kept properties where a covered structure is often the whole point of the project. Households here want a roof over the table, not a grid. There is one thing about a closed roof that surprises people about a year in, and we build it out at the start.

A covered pergola gives you a room with a dry floor under it. The table stays set through a shower, the cushions stay out, and the space works in April and October as well as in July. With a solid top the light drops and the heat goes with it. The back of the house stays cooler on the days that matter most.

Here is the part that surprises people. On a clear night a thin roof loses heat to the sky and gets colder than the air under it. Moisture in that air then settles on the underside, the same way it settles on a cold window. Come the morning it runs to the low point and falls on the table. It has nothing to do with rain and nothing to do with a leak.

Two things stop it and we pick between them at the drawing. A twin-wall or multi-wall sheet has still air trapped inside it, which keeps the face you see near the air temperature. An insulated panel roof does the same more thoroughly. Where a single sheet is the right look, we leave the edges open so air keeps moving under it. Over a hot tub, where the air is already wet, we add a fan as well. All of it is easy now and awkward later, so we ask what the space is for before choosing the top.