Louvered Roof Save $200 or more

Louvered-roof pergolas use rotating slats instead of a fixed panel, so the roof can be opened for sun or closed for shade. The range covers the Sojag Hilo, whose louvers turn by hand crank, the Gazebo Penguin Vikos, including a wood-finish version, and the Corriveau Casilda and Glendale, in sizes from 10 x 10 ft to 10 x 20 ft.

Is a louvered roof watertight when it is closed?

Closed, the slats overlap to shed rain, and every range here builds gutters into the roof frame: the water runs into the gutters at the edge of the roof and drains away down the inside of the posts, instead of pouring off the sides onto the furniture. Corriveau calls it an integrated drainage system on the Casilda and the Glendale, Sojag an integrated gutter system on the Hilo, and the Vikos drains the same way. It is a rain roof rather than a sealed room: the sides stay open unless you add privacy panels, curtains or netting.

How do the slats open and close?

By hand. The Sojag Hilo and the Gazebo Penguin Vikos both turn their slats with a crank handle, and Corriveau describes the Casilda as opening manually. The roof is split into two sections on the Hilo, the Vikos and the Casilda, so you can shade half the pergola and leave the other half open to the sky; on the Glendale the blades run the full length of the roof instead. Corriveau puts assembly at about four hours for its two models, with the Casilda's blades clipping into the louvre frame as you build it.

What are the frame and the slats made of?

The frames are aluminum, so none of them rust: extruded and powder-coated on the Hilo, heavy-duty powder-coated on the Vikos, 4 in. square posts on the Casilda and 5 in. posts on the Glendale. The slats are aluminum on the Sojag and Corriveau pergolas; on the Gazebo Penguin Vikos they are 0.7 mm galvanized steel. All of them have pre-drilled anchor holes in the post bases for fixing the pergola down — four per post on the Corriveau models, and the anchoring hardware is not included — and privacy panels, curtains or mosquito netting are sold separately for closing in the sides.