Awnings, types and practical applications

Mini buyers guide

Are you thinking of buying an awning for your home and are not clear about which type to choose?

If you need some suggestions, then you are in the right place.

Awnings are a great way to protect the home from excessive heat caused by the sun, in addition to keeping the home cool, they help protect doors and windows from degradation caused by UV rays, and are also an excellent way to enhance outdoor spaces, offering both style and functionality, whether you want to add a touch of elegance to your garden or if you want to create a shaded area for relaxation. Awnings, in their various types and color options, always offer a versatile and elegant solution for refreshing and decorating the places where we spend part of our time.

This mini guide will enable you to acquire the basic information so that you can weigh well the type of awning to buy to shade your home or your workplace.

Having a basic understanding of the various types of awnings on the market and their technical characteristics and use is very useful both when we turn to a professional seller, and when we proceed independently with the online purchase of an awning, although in this second option, we must take into account that for the DIY installation of an awning, in addition to the necessary tools, it is good to know and follow all the safety procedures so as to carry out a professional installation and well stable over time, and that is why it is always better to rely on professional installers, so as to avoid any problems due to inexperience or carelessness in the assembly.

In this mini-guide on awnings, four of the most popular types of awnings for outdoor use on the market will be showcased, and they will be presented starting with the cheapest and simplest and then moving on to more complex and even more expensive models.

We hope this mini guide on awnings will be helpful for your next awning purchase.

- Drop awning
-- The drop awning is a fairly simple awning and turns out to be composed by a galvanized pipe on which a canvas will be rolled, two fixing brackets, suitable for both wall and ceiling installation, a canvas, which can be made of acrylic fiber, PVC or grid, which is a special technical fabric with lots of micro holes, which is very suitable for privacy and air ventilation, then we find a winch to turn the pipe on which the canvas is inserted, a winding handle to operate the winch, a front bar on which the other side of fabric and two eyelets made of plastic material are applicated, and two hooks for floor or railing mounting, also made of plastic material.
This is the minimum configuration for a drop awning.
The operation is quite intuitable, that is, through the operation of the winding handle, one acts on the winch installed in line on the pipe, in this way the canvas is rolled up or unrolled, which once arrived at the point where the two eyelets meet the two hooks, these are manually connected together and at this point it is enough to wind the canvas and put it under tension, so that it is well stretched on impact with the wind. Drop awnings find application to protect windows, doors and on balconies, with wall or ceiling installation, including under porches, as well as side closures on pergolas and gazebos.

--- Variant with cassette
The cassette allows the canvas to be sheltered and protected from the weather when the awning is rolled up, as well as giving the awning a better aesthetic appearance.
--- Variant with side rails
Vertical side rails can guide the canvas along its path, avoiding the oscillations that can arise from wind push, as well as allow the canvas to be positioned at different heights as needed.
--- Variant with wall hooks or railing arms
Wall hooks or railing arms are used in the version without side rails, so that the canvas can be unwound and the front bar can be hooked to special hooks fixed on railing so as to keep the canvas under tension in a sloping position.
--- Variant with electric motor, operated either by remote control or wall switch.
The electric motor allows the canvas to be unwound and rewound by acting on a remote control or a wall switch, facilitating the use of the awning, an accessory that is also useful for awnings with guides installed on windows without balconies, i.e., where a winding handle cannot be used.

- Basket awning and dome shaped awning
-- The basket awning has a frame made up of movable elements that move by rotating, bound laterally on pivots; bands of canvas, either acrylic fiber or PVC, are installed on said movable elements. The characteristic feature is that when opened it looks like a section of cylinder or dome, creating a pleasant rounded effect. The dome shaped awning, which is very beautiful to look at, is often installed on facades of period properties to shade windows and doors, even in historic centers. On basket awning and dome shaped awning, there is neither a pipe, winch nor a winding handle. The opening and closing of the basket awning and dome shaped awning is done by pulling and releasing ropes.

- Folding arm awning
-- The folding arm awning is a fairly important awning, given the number of components and higher cost than the drop awning. In fact, on this type of awning, in addition to the presence of a number of components on par with the drop awning, such as a galvanized pipe on which a canvas will be rolled, two fixing brackets, suitable for both wall and ceiling installation, a canvas, which can be made of acrylic fiber or PVC, a winch to turn the pipe, a winding handle to operate the winch, and a front bar, on which the canvas and the folding arms are also connected, we also find installed two or more arms, with steel cable or chain, which allow the canvas to be opened and supported at a predetermined angle to the mounting vertical. Given the increased weight of the structure, further additional installation systems can make the assembly of this type of awning more secure and stable over time.

--- Variant with half cassette or full cassette
The half cassette allows the canvas to be sheltered and protected from the weather when the awning is rolled up, as well as giving the awning a better aesthetic appearance. Some models are available with a full cassette in which the arms can also be housed, encompassing and protecting all the components of the awning itself.
--- Variant with square bar mounting
This variant consists of a steel bar to be fixed to the wall or ceiling by means of special brackets in numbers of two or three, and to which the folding arm awning can be attached. This system provides a stronger fixing and allows the folding arm awning to be removed from the square bar without acting on the wall or ceiling fixing bolts. This is a system that is very practical in the case of the need to disassemble the awning for maintenance or for painting the property. The folding arm awning is very practical for creating overhanging areas of shade, even on terraces. It should be kept in mind that this type of awning, given its cantilevered design, can be damaged by strong gusts of wind, situations in which it is a good idea to close the awning half or entirely to avoid damage to the arms.
--- Variant with electric motor, operated either by remote control or wall switch.
The electric motor allows the canvas to be unwound and rewound by acting on a remote control or a wall switch, facilitating the use of the awning.

- Penthouse awning
-- The penthouse awning has an upper support structure and vertical support posts, usually all made of aluminum. On said upper structure, used as rails, horizontal tubes are installed at an appropriate distance on which the canvas, slides and rests. The penthouse awning shares components with both drop awnings and folding arm awnings, in fact, in addition to the supporting structure just described, there is a galvanized pipe on which a canvas will be rolled, two fixing brackets, suitable for both wall and ceiling installation, a canvas, which can be made of acrylic fiber or PVC, a winch to turn the pipe, a winding handle to operate the winch, and a front bar, on which the other side of canvas is connected. The front bar, on which the canvas is connected, slides in the rails formed by the upper structure by means of special rollers, keeping the canvas adhered to the upper structure itself. The distinguishing feature of penthouse awnings is their ability to withstand fairly strong wind stresses, without the need for partial or complete closure as is recommended with folding arm awnings, so they are suitable in the creation of outdoor shaded areas, even in fairly windy environments.
--- Variant with cassette
The cassette allows the canvas to be sheltered and protected from the weather when the awning is rolled up, as well as giving the awning a better aesthetic appearance.

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- Awning manufacturing and canvas replacing