Backyard Discovery Evanston 12 x 10 ft. Galvanized Steel Wall-Mounted Louvered Pergola with PowerPort

The roof on this one moves. That is the whole argument for it over a timber frame: you turn the wand and the blades rotate from wide open to shut, so the same patio is full sun at eleven and covered at three without anybody dragging a parasol around. Shut them and rain runs off into the gutters built into the frame, down through the posts, and out at the base rather than off the edge onto your table.

It is not wood. The frame is galvanized steel finished in black powder coat, which is why the maintenance story is washing it rather than restaining it, and why rust and corrosion are the failure modes it is engineered against. Two of the four posts do the work of standing free; the opposite edge bolts to the house wall, so a solid wall to fix into is a prerequisite, not a detail.

Assembled it measures 140.55 in across the face, 120.15 in out from the wall and 101.53 in to the top of the frame. In round numbers that is 11 ft 9 in by 10 ft, or 3.57 m by 3.05 m, covering about 117 sq ft, near enough 10.9 sq m. Overall height works out at 8 ft 5 in. The 12 x 10 in the name is the nominal size the manufacturer sells it under, and the measured face is a few inches under twelve feet, which matters if you are fitting it between two fixed points.

Backyard Discovery tests the structure to 100 mph winds and to 2,100 lb of snow on the roof, which they equate to 12 in lying on it. A post carries the PowerPort: three mains sockets and three USB ports, close enough to the seating that a lamp or a laptop does not need a lead run back to the house.

What fits under 117 sq ft: a sofa, two armchairs and a low table, which is roughly what the room it extends already holds. A six-seat dining set fits if you skip the sofa.

The pieces arrive pre-fabricated, pre-drilled and already coated, and the build is guided through the BILT app rather than a printed booklet. Backyard Discovery does not state a tool list, a crew size, a build time or the post dimensions, so none of those appear here as numbers. Practically, louvre assemblies are fiddly rather than heavy and the wall fixing has to be right, so this is not a solo Saturday.

Freight, not parcel. The kit runs 492.52 lb over four cartons weighing 93.7, 141.76, 128.53 and 128.53 lb. We hold it at our own address in Camp Verde, Arizona and pack it ourselves, so it leaves within 1 business day and usually lands 3–7 business days after that, at no shipping cost to you. Expect a phone call from the freight company to fix a window, and expect to be present for it. Check all four cartons off against the driver’s paperwork and get a photograph of any damage while the lorry is still there. That is the evidence a claim rests on, and the packaging needs keeping too if a return inside the 90-day window is a possibility.

Backyard Discovery’s warranty, in their words: 5-Year Limited Warranty.

Post dimensions, the tools required, how many people it takes and how many hours it runs are all missing from the maker’s published data, so no claim is made about any of them here.

Absent from the box: the seating, the wall fixings appropriate to your particular wall construction, any lighting, and the cable feeding the PowerPort.

Highlights

• 140.55 in x 120.15 in x 101.53 in assembled: nominal 12 x 10 ft, measured 11 ft 9 in x 10 ft (3.57 x 3.05 m), about 117 sq ft
• Wall-mounted on one edge, so a sound wall to bolt into is required
• Galvanized steel, black powder coat; washed rather than restained
• Louvres rotate open to closed by hand wand; concealed drainage through frame and posts
• Maker’s test figures: 100 mph winds, plus 2,100 lb of snow, which they equate to 12 in lying on it
• Sockets on the post, three of them, alongside three USB charging points
• Arrives pre-fabricated and pre-drilled, with the BILT app standing in for a manual
• 492.52 lb over four cartons, moving as freight, carriage free, 3–7 business days on the road
• Nothing published on post dimensions, on tools, on how many people, or on how long
• 5-Year Limited Warranty, as worded by Backyard Discovery