Lay My Hat

Hi

For years I have been using bamboo to cover our pergolas in Italy during the summer. The problem is that the Bamboo really doesn't last and looks pretty tatty by the end of the year. Maybe I am using the wrong type of bamboo and there is another type? I buy it from Carrefour or Leroy Merlin.

Can anyone advise on another type bamboo or cover for pergolas?

Thanks for reading.

We were the same, it only lasted 1 summer. We then switched to white camouflage material. They started selling it here by the metre. That lasts quite a while.
Our neighbour uses the toldo's you can buy easily now from most stores and basically nails it over the top. It does fine and is a reasonable price.

Mousie
x

We started with bamboo but although it lasted longer than 1 year, it got a bit tatty. We have now put on dark green synthetic woven stuff, available in various widths and bought by the metre, and it works pretty well.

Thanks all. I thought it was me that spent mid season tidying up the scraps and end of season pulling it all off ... what was left of it. I think I will need to follow the crowd and move to a fabric cover.

Shame as bamboo looks lovely but just doesn't last.

Here in Cyprus we also use the 'bamboo' style (I don't think it is real bamboo more like a reed or rush) covering. Ours last a bit longer than a year but only just - maybe yours is similar to our bamboo/reed material?

This is because we are cheapskates and won't pay for the better quality stuff that is twice the price. I suspect this is the real bamboo and will last much longer.

From my gardening days I seem to recall a bamboo stick lasting years and that is with it in contact with the soil so I would think that a real bamboo screen that is just getting wet then drying off would last equally long, if not longer.

Just a thought....if you have a 'torrent' near by then harvest your own bamboo. We do that for the garden and does last well.....but as our pergola is on the roof terrace 3 floors up neither me nor Mr M fancied trying to put it on the top with a stapler gun

Mouse
x

This is really helpful. We used bamboo over our 4 by 4m pergolas and they lasted less than one season. High winds ripped larger holes through two of the three pergolas. The third one was ok as it was thicker bamboo and had strong wire running through the middle of each cane. Sadly we haven't seen the same quality.

For the two damaged pergolas, in desperation, we spent a lot of money on proper perforated sail cloth from a sail making company. We tied it loosely so that it could lift up in high winds and vent the wind. Looking closely at it after winter it's showing signs of wear and some holes.

If we go down the same route and replace at least one of them I think we'll have to take them off during winter, which is a pain as they took several hours to put up.

We have used the brush willow type stuff and the cheaper type bamboo stuff and both types only lasted a year or 2. Last time, probably 4 years ago we bought the brown imitation reed like stuff on a roll and that is still going strong apart from the edge bit that has come undone in the last storm and now needs replacing. We've just bought another couple of rolls of the same stuff from Bricomarche for €35 a roll so not too expensive and it's now one of the jobs waiting near the top of the list. It looks ok when it's up there too!

[quote="SW31"... we spent a lot of money on proper perforated sail cloth from a sail making company. We tied it loosely so that it could lift up in high winds and vent the wind. Looking closely at it after winter it's showing signs of wear and some holes [/quote]
We got a sail/shade made to measure by a specialist company. They installed it too and because our valley can be breezy (windy!), they fitted it snugly, no flapping. The wind goes through the weave. They put extra binding around the edges to cope with any abrasive action and umpteen years later, it's still going strong. We do take it down at the beginning of winter and re-install it at the beginning of summer -we do this because we want the winter sun but not the scorching summer sun.

Maybe your damage is due to it being too loose.