Outdoor awnings give you many advantages at your home, mobile home, motor home or commercial business and they will actually pay for themselves in a short time.
Should I Get Outdoor Awnings?
Outdoor awnings give your home or commercial space some extra style and extra area to be used outdoors, thereby creating more space for you to relax while avoiding the sun and rain at the same time.
What are Outdoor Awnings?
An outdoor awning is a type of roof or cover that is supplemental to your home or business to create outdoor space that is covered. It is usually made of waterproof fabric, heavy-duty steel, or metal. Awnings cut down on the energy costs of a home or business by decreasing the need for air conditioning in hot summer weather. Awnings allow you to relax outside in the shade on a sunny day or they may give you protection from rain during a storm. Awnings are functional but also quite decorative and they can be bold or scaled-down as you wish. Awnings may also be stationary or retractable and motorized or manually operated.
Outdoor awnings can also protect indoor furniture and textiles from fading in the sun’s UV rays. You can use remote control, a switch, or a touch of a button to open and close the retractable style that is motorized. Retractable awnings have internal wiring on a tubular motor that allows you to retract or extend an awning to your preference of positions.
What are the Different Types of Outdoor Awnings?
Outdoor awnings can be made differently and used for different applications as well. You might want awnings over windows or doors of any type of structure that gets a lot of extreme heat in the morning and then requires the air conditioning to operate almost all day long to keep your indoor spaces cool. On the other hand, you may want an outdoor awning to shade a patio or deck in the late afternoon areas for a dining and lounging area that is cool while you start the barbeque grill for an evening meal with friends and family.
The different types include stationary awnings that can be placed over doors and windows in many different styles and sizes to suit your needs. You can also have a stationary awning that is freestanding, giving you the freedom to place it anywhere you like without the need to attach it onto a building or home. Stationary awnings can be made of fabric or aluminum and metal.
Retractable vertical drop awnings are made from a flexible screen material that retracts and rolls upward into a cassette box. The box is attached to the outside or inside of a window or it can be around the windows on a French door or any other opening that is square or rectangular such as one or more sides of pergolas and gazebos. These are also called drop shades or screens and they block the sun, heat and UV rays from an area to make it more comfortable.
The retractable side arm/drop arm awning is one of the most common types of outdoor awnings. The cassette that holds the fabric awning is attached to your home, mobile home, motor home, or boniness. When you open the awning, the metal arms move outward to support the fabric and the awning projection is at a slant to shade porches, patios and decks, and windows and doors under them. This mounted style of awning doesn’t have legs as a support mechanism.
Freestanding retractable awnings are mounted onto a heavy metal frame. They can be placed anywhere you wish for a shady oasis out of the sun and heat. They have lateral arms to open and close horizontally underneath the fabric canopy and can be used on any level surface.
Adjustable patio covers, such as the Solara, have metal louvers on the roof that can be opened or closed as much as you like. They operate on the same system as window blinds do, where tilting the louvers will direct the light to different areas. You can block all of the hot sun or open it entirely.
You can also choose from several types of aluminum patio covers that are solid and stationary as well as lattice, flat pan and insulated roof panels. Freestanding and stationary outdoor awnings also include slide wire systems that can be attached to your pergola or lattice.
What are the Benefits of Getting Outdoor Awnings?
Outdoor awnings keep families and customers cooler in the hot summer heat and they also protect people from up to 98% of UV rays. This allows a reduction of the temperature under the awning of 20% and 15% inside your home or business if the awning is shading sliding glass doors and windows as well.
Blocking the UV rays from entering your home or commercial space will keep items from fading and wearing out prematurely from the sun. Your floors and indoor furniture as well as your outdoor furniture will last much longer to save you the cost of replacing them as soon.
You will see a reduction in your energy costs all year round with retractable outdoor awnings. They shade your windows all summer to use less cooling and if you close them in the winter, you can allow warm sunshine in your home or business to use less heating as well. Awnings can lower your entire energy cost by up to 25%, so they can pay for themselves quickly.
Awnings can add outdoor living spaces easily to a home or for a business. Retractable awnings are the ideal answer to expand your living space to the outside or to add extra areas for customers to dine or have coffee without costly and inconvenient renovations.
Tips in Picking the Right Outdoor Awning for My Property
Many things go into choosing the right outdoor awning for your home or business. The best idea is to choose from several options to narrow down your choices from a custom awning company that can fabricate your awning to the exact size and specifications you wish as well as install it professionally for you.
- Choose the area you want your awning to cover. Do you want the fixed door and window awnings or do you want to cover your patio, deck, or an area next to your pool at your home? For commercial use, decide how much area outside you want to cover and is it next to your building or farther away from it.
- You then need to decide the quality of your awning. You can choose from residential or commercial awnings for any application. Keep in mind that commercial versions will likely be built sturdier and last much longer than residential versions, even if it is for your home, motor home, or mobile home.
- Decide if your awning needs to handle a snow load. Residences and businesses in Northern California do get snow in the winter, although the southernmost part of the state will get little to none.
- If your awning will be attached to a structure, examine the building or freestanding structure to see what materials it is made from. There are many different mounting areas and mounting hardware is specific for each one.
- Choose the wind strength and the amount of rain that your awning will need to handle when it is fully extended.
- Choose your awing width of the area you want to cover and the projection or distance from a building that you want it to be. You should also decide on the extension or drop requirements that will serve your unique situation best.
- Choose a solid color or a neat and tidy stripe pattern for the fabric if you are looking at fabric awnings.
- Decide on the operation of your retractable outdoor awning. Do you want a manual crank system to open and close the awning or do you prefer a motorized version for convenience? Choosing a motorized version can also allow you to add wind sensors to your awning so that it will close automatically when the wind is above a certain speed. You can choose rain sensors to do the same by measuring the rain coming down.
- Choose a professional outdoor awning fabricator and installer for your job. An experienced company will offer you all of the extras you can think of to add to your shady area to make it as comfortable as inside your home or business. Some options include MP3 speakers, heaters, fans, and many types of lighting for outdoor use no matter the time of day or night.
When you choose a local awning company, they will know exactly what amounts of wind and rain your awning should handle so it can be made durable and of long-lasting materials. The best fabrics are also used by professionals including the Sunbrella brand, which is the most durable you can find on the market with many exciting colors and treatments so it won’t fade in the bright sunlight.
