It’s all well and good to say that you should spend more time in your Geelong outdoor living area, but there are only so many layers of clothing, scarves and beanies you can put on before you start feeling like the Michelin man or woman. Yes, winter is chilly on the south coast of Victoria but there are ways that you can add warmth and get outside more often.
The solution, of course, is to make your Geelong outdoor living area warmer, although, as you’ll discover in these tips, it’s not just about investing in a patio heater or fire pit.
Six ways to warm up your Geelong outdoor living area
- Perhaps the common way to add heat to your Geelong outdoor living area, and one of the cheapest in terms of set-up, is the gas patio heater. While you can still purchase the common gas patio heater, with the gas bottle connecting to a shaft with the burner and cover at the top, these days there are a range of sizes and styles to choose from. The biggest drawback of these systems is that, if you use your heater regularly, you’ll need to regularly exchange gas bottles.
- Which leads nicely to our next option, which is the gas patio heater that is integrated into your home’s natural gas (providing you have access to natural gas). The big advantage, of course, is that you’ll eliminate the need to exchange gas bottles. As well as initial set-up costs, the only real disadvantage of these systems is they aren’t portable like their gas bottle cousins.
- Next option for heating your Geelong outdoor living area is the electric heater. Like the gas heaters, these can be freestanding and portable, or ceiling or wall-mounted. They’re convenient and stylish, particularly the ceiling or wall-mounted options and, apart from power outages, will always be ready to heat at the flick of a switch or button.
- While gas and electric patio heaters will do a great job of keeping your outdoor living area warm, they will do little to create ambience. If you’re the type of person who loves open fires, wood and other combustible outdoor heating options are well worth considering. There are fire pits, chimineas and even wood-fired stoves and heaters available. The disadvantage to these heaters is that you’ll need to have a ready-supply of wood or coal and be prepared to clean your heater regularly.
- If budget is less of a concern and you’re looking for extra heat, the next option is a free-standing or integrated gas heater, which is similar to the gas heater you may have inside your home. These days you’ll have a hard time telling it’s not a wood or coal heater, given the real look manufacturers are achieving.
- The last option, which is not heating at all, is to provide screening or cover for your outdoor living area. While ambient temperature will make your Geelong outdoor living area cold in winter or hot in summer, the wind and other elements also play a big part, so if you can ‘seal’ your outdoor living area from the elements you’ll go a long way to warming the area. Plus, you will keep any heat you generate inside your structure where you need it. You can consider hedging and screening for the job but the most convenient and versatile way is to install outdoor blinds. These will do a great job of keeping warmth inside your patio, verandah or pergola and will give you the versatility of being able to raise your outdoor blinds when the conditions suit.
The outdoor living experts
These tips on how to keep your Geelong outdoor living area warm have been brought to your by Outside Concepts in Geelong. If you’d like to get a quote on a patio, pergola, verandah, deck, carport or outdoor blinds, give Outside Concepts a call on 1800 601 674 and we’ll organise Geelong branch manager Jaan McKenzie to visit you to discuss your project.
Find out about Outside Concepts’ 10-year structural warranty. Call us on 1800 601 674.
