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A Buyers Guide for Awnings

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A Buyers Guide for Awnings

What are Awnings? 

Awnings are designed to offer luxurious shading for your outside space, with a durable fabric that protects your furniture against the bright, summer sun. Whether you’re looking to host a garden party or reduce sun glare coming into your home, Awnings can be retracted or extended for versatile shading, any time of day.

What are the Benefits of Awnings

  • Beautiful style for your garden – Awnings are a great way of adding a beautiful statement to the outside of your home, with a sleek, contemporary design.
  • Precise light control – Awnings can easily be extended out to block sunlight coming into your home while helping to provide UV protection if you’re sitting outside.
  • Different shades available – We offer both a light and dark style that allows you to pair your retractable Awning with your garden décor for the perfect finishing touch.
  • Improved privacy – For overlooked gardens, they help to protect your privacy both in your garden and even inside if you have uPVC doors. If looking for additional privacy for your BiFold, Patio or French Doors, here are our top recommendations for your next set of blinds.

Lisbon Natural Awning

Lisbon Natural Awning

What Size Awning Do I Need?

The size of Awning you need will depend on how large your outdoor space is. We offer ready made Awnings in both 2×1.5m and 3x2m sizes, so you can find the perfect look for your garden.

What are Awnings Made From?

Our ready made Awnings are made from high grade polyester fabric that helps protect you against the elements, from light rain to UV protection. The robust fabric is also easy to wipe clean, allowing you to keep their pristine look while retracted.

Are Awnings Waterproof?

While Awnings aren’t waterproof, they’re water-resistant and can handle light rain. In more adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain, wind or snow, we recommend keeping your awning fully retracted to protect the fabric and fixings. We also recommend that during the winter months the fabric valance on the front is removed and stored somewhere dry, to help preserve its appearance. It’s important to properly care for your awning with a few simple steps so that it’s always maintained and ready for the warmer months.

How to Clean Awnings

To wipe off light marks and stains from your Awning, first fully extend it by using the crank mechanism. Next, use a mixture of warm water and mild soap or detergent as well as a microfibre cloth to wipe the surface clean. Allow the fabric to dry completely before retracting it in, and you’re good to go!

Outdoor retractable awning

Lisbon Natural Awning

How to Measure for an Awning

Here’s some easy to follow steps to help you measure for your Awning:

  1. Make sure that there are no obstructions where you’ll be looking to place it, such as outside lights and security cameras or structural problems such as cracks in the wall.
  2. Take a step ladder and a tape measure, then measure up 450mm from the top of your window or door where you’ll be fitting your Awning.
  3. Mark the row of bricks above this measurement, and check that you also have enough rows of bricks above this to ensure you have enough structural weight to hold the Awning. (there needs to be a minimum of 6 rows between the space above your marked row and the second-story windowsill or roofline.)
  4. Measure the width of the outdoor space you want to cover, then choose the right size patio Awning for your garden.

How to Install an Awning

Due to their size and weight, we advise that at least two people are required for installing Awnings, with three people being recommended. Here’s how:

Marking the Fitting Location

  1. Mark your fitting location by measuring 250mm above your window, then use a spirit level and chalk to mark out a straight line across the brickwork.
  2. Using the full width of the Awning, deduct 75mm from each side and draw two vertical lines going up from the 250mm mark. This will be the width between the screw holes of the two outer brackets
  3. Hold a bracket over the vertical mark (try to line it so each screw hole is as far away from the mortar gaps as possible), ensuring that the lower screw hole is marked on the bricks on or above the 250mm line.

Slate awning

Lisbon Slate Awning

Installing the brackets

  1. Use a 14mm masonry drill bit to drill each screw hole mark (these should be roughly 85mm deep).
  2. Take the wall anchors and screw on their nuts and washers without over-tightening them. Hammer your anchors into your screw holes until the washers are touching the wall, remove the nuts and washers, slot your brackets over the bolts, then screw the nuts and washers back on to lock the bracket in place.

Fitting the Awning

  1. Lift the Awning into place and check the brackets sit in the correct position. Once you’re happy with the bracket positioning, remove the Awning and fully tighten the anchor nuts to secure them in place.
  2. Fix the Awning’s square back bar into the brackets again. Finally, use the provided retaining bolts to secure the bar in the brackets.

Operating Your Awning

Our Awnings are manually operated with a crank mechanism inside the headrail that allows you to extend and retract the Awning with a simple twist of a control rod. The control rod can also be taken out of the headrail and put to one side, so if you’re looking to keep your Awning extended for a long period of time, you can keep it inside until you’re ready to retract it in.

Sign up to our Mailing List to Learn More

If you would like to find out more about our retractable Awnings, check out our coming soon page and sign up to our mailing list to receive updates straight to your inbox!

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