I've done: 1) the temporary metal pole/tarp version (from Costco) - worked well, but taught me the need to anchor it (recall the wizard of oz movie with the house spinning around in the tornado? Well my neighbor almost played the wicked witch) 2) Permanent version, car port style. Way more costly, looks better, and more, well, permanent. I'm not sure it serves any better function. (sold the house) 3) New house, and back to a temp version. Went temp version because cost and it's out of the way so what it looks like really doesn't come into play. Also took the learnings from the first one and put just a little bit more time into the anchoring. Coming up on 3 years and the tarp needs to be replaced. Somebody gave me the one I have, but it seemed to be a notch down from the costco one I previously had. I employed the following anchoring method to eliminate the wizard of oz syndrome: At the base of each pole, I dug a hole sized for a bag of fence post concrete. Took 2 pieces of approx 3' rebar and pounded them into the sides of the hole such that the ends of each piece met near the center of the hole, but below the surface. Poured in a bag of concrete and set one foundation j-bolt in the concrete. When the concrete set, I bolted a chunk of 4x6 PT wood to the single foundation bolt sticking up from each concrete pad. The canopy things come with bases that attach to the bottom of each pole. I then bolted each pole base to the 4x6 PT wood chunk. I fully expect the canopy structure to give way well before it can generate enough lift to pull out the rebar/concrete concoction.
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