TIL my cheap patio umbrella was a bigger hazard than I thought

Last Tuesday a gust of wind caught my 10 foot umbrella and bent the pole right in half. It crashed onto my glass table and shattered the top into a hundred pieces. Cost me about $300 to replace the table and I still need a new umbrella. Has anyone found a decent cantilever model that holds up in windy weather?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jake1mo ago

Tie it down with sandbags or cinder blocks. Cantilevers catch more wind.

rowan9691mo agoProlific Poster

Huh, that's a good point about the cantilevers catching more wind... I always figured the overhang would help shield the base. But you're saying that extra surface area makes it more of a sail in a storm?

ray_martinez821mo ago

the_jake is right about those cantilevers catching more wind (learned that one the hard way myself). Last summer my neighbor's cantilever umbrella took off like a kite across three yards during a sudden storm, ended up tangled in someone's fence and bent to hell. Sandbags work okay but I've had better luck with those spiral ground anchors you twist into the grass, cheap at the hardware store for like 8 bucks each. Wrapped a bungee cord around the pole to one of those and my current umbrella survived a 50 mph gust last month without even wobbling.