Terraces, where the heads of the screws can be seen from the top are the most resilient. The planks are held in their full strength by screws in the substructure.
If the planks are hardwood such as Bangkira, Cumaru, Ipé, teak or the like, you need not worry abaout the load; providing you keep to the recommended size limits of Ø 4.0 m for centre pole parasols and Ø 3.5 m for contilever parasols. Local woods such as larch, Douglas fir, oak, and Thermo ash are almost equally resilient.
The method of attachment is more important than the material of the planks: often a hidden fastening system without visible screws is desired. Standard with this fastening system is composite material such as WPC. There are many different systems, but they have one thing in common: they do not provide the pull-out strength.
In our experience, even centre pole parasols up to Ø 2.5 m can be set up with our system on decks with hidden fastening systems. It is best to choose a parasol with an aluminum pole and our parasol base with cross base: this combination is elastic and does not pass on the full wind load to your deck.
If you like things uncomplicated, go for a light parasol anyway. Our system is at its best with light parasols:
It is child´s play to move such parasols to another place. With a quarter turn unlock the anchor, take the parasol out of the gap – without closing it -, check from the position of the sun`s shadow where you want to put the parasol and let the anchor slide into the next gap. Another quarter turn and the parasol is certain not to topple over-
Even parasols Ø 2.5 m provide enough shade for a table with four people. It is a fallacy that large parasol are the best shade. This only applies at lunchtime when the sun is high in the sky. In the mornings and afternoons flexible parasols make more sense. For long tables, two smaller parasols are often the better choice.
Last but not least: Small parasols have fewer much problems with gusts of wind.
Always an alternative
However, if you already have a large or a cantilever parasol, or you like such parasols, but are not sure how resilient your planks are, our parasol base for special cases can possibly help you. It has four anchors not just one. This distributes the load over several planks.
But you can simply order your parasol base to test ist. Where better than yours where it will be in the long run? If you do not like it, send it back to us. The purchase price and shipping costs will be refunded immediately.