Motorized Patio Enclosures
Close a full patio in under a minute, without pulling a single server off the floor. Keder-track retention, powder-coated aluminum, and the largest clear window in the industry.
Why the Edges Are the Whole Game
A motorized curtain is only as strong as whatever holds its edges. Ours ride in a keder track: the panel edge is welded around a continuous cord that slides inside a powder-coated aluminum channel, so the fabric is held for its full height on both sides. That is what a 65 mph rating hangs on.
The shortcut is a cable edge — a wire the curtain merely wraps around — or a zipper track that was never meant to carry wind load. Both let the panel pop free exactly when it matters, and both are why competitors publish ratings of 30–45 mph and fail below them.
The details a sail loft skips
Grommets, snaps, and sail-cover fasteners concentrate wind load at single points and tear through fabric. Full-width welting, zippers, and keder tracks spread that same load across every inch of the edge — which is why our ratings hold at commercial sizes.
Motorized: Video Guides
How the motorized system works, our full installation walkthrough, and an overview of both systems side by side.
Overview of our Motorized Screens and Enclosures
How the motorized system works: a roller tube driven by a tubular motor, with keder track retention holding the fabric through wind loading.
How to Install Motorized Patio Enclosures
Our full installation walkthrough for motorized patio enclosures, covering track alignment, motor wiring, and fabric retention.
Overview of Southern Patio Enclosures Products
A short tour of both systems we build -- manual rope-and-pulley roll enclosures and motorized screens -- and how each one suits a different patio.
Push a Button. Change the Season.
A motorized system — an automated patio cover, if you like — lets one person close a full patio in under a minute. No ropes, no ladders, no pulling servers off the floor when a storm cell shows up on radar.
The curtain rides in a keder track — a rope welt sewn into the panel edge slides into an aluminum channel the way a mainsail slides into a mast track. It cannot pull out under load the way a zippered or cable-hung system can. Above it sits a reinforced roll tube; below it, the heaviest bottom bar in the industry. That combination is what lets us build openings wider and taller than competing systems can carry.
Every motorized system is delivered and installed by us — never shipped. The risk of transit damage on a motorized assembly is too high to accept.
At a glance
- Wind rating: warrantied to 65 mph deployed and secured; Nano 97/99 shade units tested to 110 mph within size limits
- Keder retention: near-100% stay-put assurance in all conditions
- Frame: powder-coated aluminum, no wearing parts in the track insert
- Opening size: up to 25' wide or 16' high; 23' by 15' with clear vinyl
- MaxView glazing: clear panels to 23' wide and 9' high
- Operation: remote or hardwired switch, top-down
- Fire rating: NFPA 701 flame retardant
- Installed nationwide, consistent across multi-site brands
Depending on who you ask, this system gets called an electric patio curtain, an automatic outdoor curtain, an automated patio cover, a retractable patio enclosure, or a motorized vinyl patio enclosure. They all describe the same thing: a powered clear vinyl panel that rolls down out of a hood and locks into a track on both sides.
The Largest Clear Window Available on a Motorized System
Taking in a sunset, a skyline, or a courtyard is the entire reason your guests asked to sit outside. Most enclosures interrupt that view: ordinary vinyl needs opaque vertical seams and a wide horizontal band across the top just to hold its shape.
MaxView replaces those with a clear-to-clear weld that all but disappears. Clear panels run up to 23 feet wide and 9 feet high. Where a typical competing window tops out near 4 feet, yours runs the length of the opening.
The mechanism is simple. Pre-shrunk clear vinyl comes in 108" × 54" sheets, run horizontally. A standard window is one sheet tall — so the clear band is 54", no matter how wide the opening is. Openings wider than 10' just get a second sheet beside the first, still 54" tall.
MaxView stacks two sheets per 10' instead, welded clear-to-clear. Same frame, same opening — double the glass.
one sheet
two sheets welded
Ask your salesperson about openings that fall outside these dimensions — there is usually a way to get there.
Built for Wind, Not Just Weather
Every motorized unit carries a 65 mph warranty deployed and secured; clear vinyl is the limiting factor. As a Nano 97/99 sun shade within our size limits it has been wind tested to 110 mph — the configuration we specify for coastal exposure and for insurers with strong opinions.
Underneath the rating is material, not marketing. Clear vinyl runs double thickness to absorb the stresses ordinary and extraordinary weather put on it. Solid vinyl is architectural grade: three times the strength of standard fiberglass, and it loses roughly 1% of its original strength after seven years of weathering.
Ripstop construction means a cut in a colored border or shade panel stops where it started. It will not run the length of the panel and it will not fray — which is the difference between a scuff and a replacement.
Why it holds
- Keder welt captured in an aluminum C-channel, not a zipper or cable
- Hurricane-rated extruded aluminum side tracks
- Reinforced roll tube across the top
- Heaviest bottom weight bar in the industry, plus a double bar on smaller shades
- 1½″ bottom bar brush seals to the deck
- Reinforced fabric flag corners at the highest-stress points
- No tie-downs required, unlike manual systems
It Disappears When You Are Not Using It
Rolled up, the system retreats into its hood — or recesses fully into a wall or overhead structure, leaving the architecture exactly as it was drawn. Nothing hangs, nothing sags, nothing announces itself.
Deployed, the panels track straight and level, and keep doing it through years of daily cycling. A hood and housing brush clears debris as the curtain travels, so the system cleans itself a little every time you use it. Three housing sizes cover shades from 3 to 25 feet wide, and the hood powder-coats to match whatever the rest of the patio is wearing.
Sloping patios are not a problem. Neither are columns, beams, or an opening that is three inches out of square — we field-verify every dimension before fabrication.
Three Fabrics, One Opening
Clear vinyl keeps the view. Solid vinyl removes it — useful against a service alley, a dumpster corral, a neighboring building, or anything you would rather your guests not study over dinner. Nano shade mesh sits between the two: guests see out, passersby cannot see in, air still moves through, and up to 97% of the sun stops at the fabric instead of at your tables.
Most patios use more than one. We will help you decide where each belongs based on orientation, sightlines, and what the sun actually does to that specific patio at six o'clock in August — not on a rule of thumb.
Solid vinyl comes in fifteen colors, and Nano 97 shade fabric in thirteen more. Aluminum housing and tracks powder-coat in nine standard colors. Every fabric we sell is flame retardant, so it can go on any commercial patio.
Choosing the mix
- Clear: protect the view you sell — water, skyline, courtyard
- Solid: block what you would rather guests not see, permanently
- Nano shade: one-way daytime privacy, airflow, up to 97% sun blocked
- Combine all three in a single opening
- Color-matched to your brand palette, not ours
- Welded seams throughout — bar welder or sonic weld, never stitched
Installed by the People Who Build Them
We install with our own crews, based in Austin and San Antonio, and our Texas crew travels anywhere in the country. On multi-site programs that matters more than it sounds: location forty-one gets installed to the same standard as location one, because it is the same standard and often the same people.
We stopped subcontracting installation and service years ago. Every install and every service call is handled by SPE employees, which is the only way we found to keep quality consistent across markets. Where a general contractor is running the wider project, we coordinate directly with them on scheduling, site access, and sequencing.
Motorized systems are delivered by us rather than freighted. Manual systems ship where that makes sense, but a motorized assembly rides on our truck.
Where Motorized Makes the Most Sense
Motorized earns its premium on patios that get closed and opened often, patios that are too large to hand-roll, and patios where staff time during a weather change is genuinely expensive. Typically that means:
- Restaurants and cafés expanding seating into shoulder seasons
- Hotels, resorts, and rooftop bars where the patio is a booked, revenue-generating room
- Event venues, clubs, and breweries that reconfigure the space week to week
- Country clubs and golf course patios facing high wind exposure
- Multi-site restaurant groups standardizing one specification across markets
On smaller patios, or where the enclosure comes down twice a season rather than twice a week, a manual roll-down system often delivers the same weather protection for a materially lower investment. We will tell you which one your patio actually needs.
Motorized Systems Are Not All the Same
The differences that matter show up on a windy Friday, not in a brochure.
| Southern Patio Enclosures | Typical competing system | |
|---|---|---|
| Wind rating | Warrantied to 65 mph on every motorized unit; Nano 97/99 shade units tested to 110 mph within size limits | Often fail below 30–45 mph |
| Retention | Keder system — curtain edge held in track, near-100% stay-putAllows a higher wind rating | Zipper track or cable — curtains more likely to pop outCable systems gap at the sides, letting in wind, rain, and debris |
| Frame | Powder-coated aluminum — long-lasting, secure in wind | Plastic or thin-gauge metal — more susceptible to wind damage |
| Opening size | Up to 25' wide or 16' high (23' by 15' with clear)Reinforced tube allows wider and taller curtains | Roughly 12' wide and 12' highUnreinforced tube limits both dimensions |
| Clear window | MaxView to 23' wide and 9' high — largest in the industry | Around 4' high — more seams, less view |
| Fabric | Vinyl — handles weather and friction | Cloth — even premium canvas typically lasts about 5 years |
| Seams | Welded vinyl-to-vinyl, see-through clear-to-clearBar welder or sonic weld, reinforced at stress points | Stitched or lower-quality weldStitch perforations tear in slight winds; rolling heat sealers cloud the seam |
| Service | Nationwide, after the sale — multi-site brands standardize across locations | Regional only — cannot standardize across markets |
Talk to your salesperson about options for openings taller or wider than the sizes listed above.
Motorized Enclosure Details
- Price rangeAbout $4,500 to $7,500 per unit for materials and fabrication. Installation is quoted by location; projects start at $10,000 installed. Most motorized clear patios run about $30,000 to $60,000 installed.
- Lead time8 weeks from deposit for motorized systems, as of August 2026. Doors do not add to that.
- Wind ratingWarrantied to 65 mph on every motorized unit. Nano 97/99 shade units are tested to 110 mph within size limits; clear vinyl carries the 65 mph rating.
- Maximum opening25' wide or 16' high; 23' by 15' with clear vinyl
- Clear windowStandard is one 108"×54" pre-shrunk sheet — a 54" clear band. MaxView stacks two sheets, to 23' wide and 9' high.
- Flame retardancyNFPA 701 certified
- OperationMotorized, top-down, remote control or hardwired switch
- MaterialsClear vinyl, solid vinyl, or Nano shade mesh — or any combination
- Frame finishPowder-coated aluminum in nine colors: White, Black, Bronze, Slate Gray, Sky Grey, Sandstone, Almond, Sierra Tan, and Taupe
- Warranty3-year workmanship, 5-year motor
- DeliveryDelivered and installed by our crews. Motorized systems are never shipped.
Pricing varies with opening size, fabric mix, door type, site access, and travel. A design consultation produces a fixed number.
What Operators Tell Us
I purchased the enclosure system from Southern Patio five years ago and it is as great today as it was 5 years ago. The sales and service department are professional, efficient, and will ensure you have the necessary information and materials to install the system that you purchased.Customer review
Have used SPE for several projects now. Service, support, and care are a priority for these people. Cant say enough about Jay, Ashley, Mark, Floridon, Brian and team. Excited to work with them again!!Customer review
It's ridiculous how professional, competent, and considerate every person in the company was… I am blown away that the quality of the product also matches the quality of the people and operations of the company.Customer review
The Detail List
- Keder retention track — the strongest on the market
- All-aluminum track insert, no wearing parts
- Nano 97/99 shade units tested to 110 mph within size limits; every motorized unit warrantied to 65 mph
- Flexible inner track for proper deployment
- Heavy-duty weight bar, double bar on smaller shades
- 1½″ bottom bar brush
- Reinforced fabric flag corner for additional strength
- Three housing sizes, shades from 3' to 25' wide
- Hood and housing brush for self-cleaning
- Nine standard powder-coat colors
- Hood styling to match the surrounding decor
- Handles sloping patios
Motorized Enclosure Questions
How do you get a proper seal to hold heat or air conditioning?
Three things work together: hurricane-rated side tracks that capture the curtain edge, a brush along the bottom of the weight bar that seals to the deck, and a protective hood at the top. The result is a genuine envelope rather than a windbreak, which is what makes patio heating and cooling economically sane.
How do the panels stay put in high wind?
The side tracks are extruded, hurricane-rated aluminum with a C-channel. The curtain edge carries a keder welt that seats inside that channel and cannot pull free the way a zipper or cable can. A heavy rigid bottom bar and a reinforced top tube handle the rest. Every motorized unit is warrantied to 65 mph; Nano 97/99 shade units within our size limits are tested to 110 mph. No tie-downs required.
How long does a motorized system last?
Ten years or more with routine maintenance. The hood shields the panels whenever they are rolled up, and because there are no tie-downs there is far less handling wear than a manual system sees. We offer maintenance packages for operators who would rather not think about it.
What is the largest opening you can cover?
Up to 25 feet wide or 16 feet high — not both at once — or 23 by 15 feet with clear vinyl. MaxView clear glazing runs to 23 feet wide and 9 feet high. Larger or unusually shaped openings are usually solvable by splitting the run into multiple units; send us photos and dimensions and we will tell you honestly what is possible.
Can we install it ourselves?
No. Motorized systems are delivered and installed by our crews. A motorized assembly is heavy, the track alignment is unforgiving, and the failure modes are expensive — so we do not ship them or hand them off. We do not subcontract installation at all — it is our own crews on every job. Where a general contractor is running the project, we coordinate with them on schedule and site access.
What happens if a panel is damaged?
Ripstop construction stops a cut from spreading, so most damage stays cosmetic and local. Individual panels can be replaced without touching the housing or motor. Service requests route through one channel nationwide, and many issues resolve over the phone.
Ready to price a motorized enclosure for your patio?
Send us the opening dimensions and a few photos. We will tell you what the system costs, what it will hold, and how quickly we can have it installed.