How to cover an open porch or deck to keep rain out
Rainwater pools on open porches and ruins outdoor furniture, but full drainage systems are often too expensive. Installing affordable materials like corrugated plastic panels or waterproof tarps underneath the beams provides a simple way to keep the area dry without major construction.
Core Friction Pattern
Analysis of 3 peer accounts across online developer and community forums reveals that “How to cover an open porch or deck to keep rain out” repeatedly surfaces due to edge-case mismatches between standard defaults and real-world environments. Standard troubleshooting frequently falls short, compelling practitioners to develop custom workarounds.
+3 alternative community-tested workarounds cataloged below.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to cover an open porch or deck to keep rain out
- 1Looking for polycarbonate sheetsDid this help you?
- 2Considering vinyl tarpDid this help you?
- 3Hanging a large waterproof tarp under the deck using hooks or bungee cords at an angleDid this help you?
- 4Mounting inexpensive corrugated plastic panels under the floor joistsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Anytime it rains, my front porch atrium gets covered in puddles of water.”source ↗
“I would like to come up with a solution to cover the area. Something I can put underneath the beams. I want something flat.”source ↗
“I was looking at polycarbonate sheets but I haven’t been able to find anything at my local home depot for sheet.”source ↗
“I have a fairly tall deck in the back of my house and I would love to put furniture under it for cozy hangouts in my backyard. The problem is, the rain will ruin the furniture... is there a simple way to fix this?”source ↗
“I know i could install a whole expensive drainage system under the boards of the deck but I sont have the resources to do that at the moment.”source ↗
“you could just get one of those big waterproof tarps and hang it under the deck with some hooks or bungee cords, not the most beautiful thing but works fine and cost almost nothing.”source ↗
“if you want something bit nicer you can get corrugated plastic panels from hardware store and mount them under the joists, still cheaper than full drainage system and it actually looks decent from below”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3How to keep spiders off your porch without killing them
- 36How to stop water pooling against the house from sinking concrete
- 3How to keep bugs out of windows without screens
- 5Are outdoor TVs worth it or can you use a regular TV?
- 30How to keep heavy rain from washing away new grass seed
- 16How to stop roof water from overflowing and rotting the window sill