Saturday, June 27, 2009

Choosing An Appropriate Patio Umbrella Base

By Jessica Martin

If you choose the wrong base for your patio umbrella, you may be facing disaster. The next strong wind may topple your umbrella right over, or even carry it away! Finding the right base is absolutely necessary to the success of the umbrella in terms of keeping it secure and in place.

There are a few key things to keep in mind when looking around for your patio umbrella base. If you choose wrong on any of these you run the risk of having a stand which is unsuitable for your specific patio umbrella. In general what's important is size and weight.

The weight of the base is the most crucial aspect of it because holding the patio umbrella down and in place is the entire job of the stand. A couple of factors affect what weight is appropriate for your stand, including the size and placement of the umbrella.

The larger the patio umbrella, the heavier the stand needs to be. Most manufacturer's determine what weight is required based off of the diameter of the umbrella's canopy. Sometimes this statistic is listed on the product itself. If not, just apply a tape measure and you'll be set.

The placement is important because you won't need as much weight if the stand has support from something else. For instance, if the stand is placed inside a table on your patio, it won't be able to topple over as easily, meaning less weight is required.

In general, you can shift the necessary weight of the umbrella base down one category if you put the patio umbrella inside a table. So if a base needs to be fifty pounds for a free standing umbrella of a particular size, it would only need to be thirty five pounds in a table.

You also want to make absolutely sure that the base's neck diameter is the right size for the patio umbrella. If the umbrella's shaft is too wide for the stand, you won't be able to assemble the umbrella at all. This is definitely frustrating.

If you keep these critical umbrella base aspects in mind when looking for one, you're sure to get the right base for your needs. After you have found one that meets the practical requirements, don't forget to choose one that will look great too.

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