Home / Solara Adjustable Patio Covers
Solara Adjustable Patio Covers
Licensed General Contractor · Bonded & Insured · CSLB #1033958
The roof
Adjustable
Aluminum louvers that rotate open or closed
Shade
Set it yourself
By the hour, and by the season
Permits
City by city
We check the rule for your address
Framing classification
C-5 licensed
Lic. #1033958 — family-owned since 2017
Solara adjustable patio covers in San Diego County
Shade you can change your mind about
Every fixed patio cover asks you to make one decision about shade and then live with it. A solid roof shades the patio properly and also makes the room behind it darker. An open or lattice roof keeps the daylight and gives you less shade than you wanted at four in the afternoon. Both are reasonable structures. Both are permanent answers to a question that does not have a permanent answer.
Solara’s roof is made of aluminum louvers that rotate. Opened, sun and air come through and the patio reads as an open structure. Closed, the louvers angle together and you get shade. So the amount of shade over your patio becomes something you set for the afternoon, or for the season, rather than something settled on the day it was built.
GC Framing is a licensed California framing and rough carpentry contractor (CA Lic. #1033958, B and C-5), family-owned in Chula Vista since 2017. A louvered roof is still a structure carrying real load on real footings, attached to your house — and that part is ordinary structural carpentry, which is the part we are here for.
What adjusting actually gets you
The same patio wants different things
Not a sales point so much as an observation. Stand on your patio at nine in the morning and again at five, or in July and again in December, and you are standing in two different places.
Through the day
Midday — part closed, breaking the overhead sun without shutting the sky out
Late afternoon — closed against a low western sun, which is when most San Diego patios become unusable
Evening — open again, for the sky and whatever breeze there is
Hot still afternoons — opening the louvers lets built-up hot air rise and clear instead of sitting under a solid roof
Through the year
Winter — open, so low sun reaches the patio and the windows behind it
The dark-room problem — a solid cover takes daylight out of your kitchen or living room permanently. This does not
Entertaining — set it for the time of day you are actually using it
Plants — anything growing under the cover can be given light or shade as it needs it
Layouts & options
Where it goes, and what goes in it
The options are worth settling before the structure goes up — lighting and fans need to be planned into the beams rather than added to them.
Configurations we build
Freestanding — out in the yard on its own footings, over a seating area or a dining table
Combined with a solid-roof section — solid over part of the patio, adjustable over the rest
Over a spa or pool area — open for sun while you are in the water, closed for shade when you are out of it
The combination layout is worth asking about. A permanently shaded area plus an adjustable one usually costs less than making the whole cover adjustable, and most people find they want both.
Options we add
Ceiling fans — blocked and roughed in while the structure is open, so the fan is properly supported
Gutters & downspouts — taking water away from the posts and away from the house
Electrical is roughed in by us and wired by a licensed electrician. Colour and finish options are on the manufacturer’s site, linked below, and we go through them with you at the estimate.
How it goes in
Five steps, starting with a demo
Almost nobody has stood under an adjustable roof before, so we show you how it works before you decide anything.
Walk it & see it work
We look at the patio, the sun through the day, attachment points, clearances and post positions — and we walk you through the system on video so you can see the louvers moving.
Design & written quote
Size, layout, whether any of it should be solid, colour and finish, lighting, fans and gutters. Itemized in writing, so you can see what each option costs.
Permit, if needed
We check the current requirement for your address and HOA first, then draw and submit plans and carry the job through plan review and inspections where one is required.
Footings & attachment
Footings poured, metal post bases holding the posts up off the concrete, and the ledger bolted and flashed into sound framing. Anything rotten found in that wall gets repaired here.
Assemble, wire & demo again
Beams, louvers, trim and gutters; lighting and fans wired by a licensed electrician. Then we show you how to operate and look after it before the final invoice.
In every cover we install
The structure under the louvers
✓Current permit rule checked for your address
✓Footings and post bases done properly
✓Ledger bolted and flashed at the house
✓Wall damage repaired, not covered over
✓Lighting and fans planned into the beams
✓Written, itemized quote
✓Shown how to operate it before we leave
See it before you buy it
This is a product you have to watch move
A still photograph of a louvered roof tells you almost nothing — the whole point is the change between open and closed, and how quickly you can go between them. So at the estimate we walk you through the system on video: the louvers opening and closing, what the light looks like at each position, the operating options, and how it is put together. Then we talk about your patio. It takes a few minutes and it is the difference between choosing a roof from a description and choosing one you have actually seen work.
Aluminum construction
Attached & freestanding
Combination with solid roof
Spa & pool areas
Integrated LED beam lighting
Ceiling fans
Gutters & downspouts
Engineered spans
Permits handled
From the manufacturer
Colours, finishes, profiles and the full specification for the system are on Solara’s own site. Worth a look before the walkthrough so you arrive with questions.
Common questions
What people ask before they call
How do the louvers move?
There are different operating options, and this is genuinely easier to understand by watching than reading. We go through the system on video at the estimate so you can see it work and pick the operation that suits you.
What about rain?
Fair question, and one we would rather answer properly than loosely on a web page. Ask us at the estimate and we will go through what the system is specified to do — and the manufacturer’s site has the technical detail.
Why not just build a solid roof?
You can, and plenty of people should — it costs less and it is simpler. The reason to choose louvers is that a solid roof is one permanent decision about shade, and it takes daylight out of the room behind it for good.
Can part of it be solid?
Yes, and it is often the best use of the money. Solid over the dining end, adjustable over the rest. You get one permanently shaded area and one you can change, usually for less than making all of it adjustable.
Do I need a permit?
It depends on your city more than on the cover — San Diego applies a size exemption, while Chula Vista and Coronado require one at any size, and an HOA may want its own approval. We check the current rule for your address, then handle it.
What will it cost?
More than a fixed cover of the same size, and how much more depends on the area, the layout, the spans, lighting and whether part of it is solid. The walkthrough and written itemized quote are free, and the quote shows what each option adds.
Where we work
The whole county, plus the mountain
Based in Chula Vista and installing adjustable covers across San Diego County — South Bay and Eastlake, the city, East County, and North County coastal and inland — plus Big Bear, where snow load changes the spans and the footings. Being local matters here: the permit rules genuinely differ between the cities on this list, and we work in all of them.
South Bay
Chula Vista · Eastlake · Bonita · National City · Imperial Beach · San Ysidro · Otay Mesa
City of San Diego
San Diego · Clairemont · Mira Mesa · Miramar
East County
La Mesa · Lemon Grove · El Cajon · Santee · Alpine · Poway
North County
Del Mar · Rancho Santa Fe · Encinitas · Cardiff by the Sea · Carlsbad · Oceanside · Vista · San Marcos · Escondido
Get a free estimate & a demo
Come and see it work
Tell us roughly how big the area is, which direction it faces, and whether it is attached to the house or out in the yard. We walk the patio, check the sun through the day and the permit position for your address, show you the system working, and put the design and the price in writing at no cost.
Comparing this against a fixed cover? Say so and we will quote both, including a combination layout — that is often the one people pick once they see the numbers side by side.
(619) 882-9309
Fastest way to get a walkthrough booked
A demo comes with the estimate
We show you the louvers working before you decide anything.
2We call to set a time
3You get it in writing