Rocky's family in Leander wanted shade over their existing concrete patio — but they didn't want to give up the daylight or the airflow. We built a hip-roof patio cover in Western red cedar with a tongue-and-groove ceiling, sized to overhang the existing slab by 18 inches on every side so summer rain runs off the cover, not the slab.
An integrated ceiling fan handles July afternoons. Four recessed LED downlights handle the evenings — wired on a single dimmer with a sundown astro timer that auto-engages with the landscape lighting on the property. Posts are anchored into the slab with hurricane straps and stamped engineering — the structure is rated for 90 mph wind loads typical of Hill Country thunderstorms.
Cedar selection mattered: we used kiln-dried clear-grade lumber finished with a UV-stabilized natural sealer. The structure will weather to a soft silver over the next two summers unless the family chooses to re-seal annually. We left them a maintenance binder either way.