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a2gemini_gw

Retractible awning

a2gemini
9 years ago

Hi all
I am a regular on kitchens and appliances but new to this forum
We have a 40 x 12 foot deck - it is not rectangular but 2 offset rectangles (center is 40 feet long-so one deck if that makes sense)
It faces west.
I looked into sun sails- but don't think we can make them work - not enough attachment points on our 4 foot elevated deck.
I was initially going to go with umbrellas- but large ones and offset -cantilever style- are pretty expensive.
We had a local awning company come out today to give a quote.
We are looking at a motorized version.
We would put the awning just on one side- but it will be relatively large -19x10 roof mount. Our house is 2 story but this section is one story vaulted.
He did not recommend the wind sensor as you lose the manual crank over ride.
The awning will cost more than the umbrellas but hopefully better coverage.
I found some old threads but nothing recent.
Is this a good idea?
Other ideas?
Thanks
A2gemini

Comments (3)

  • a2gemini
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Typo - Retractable awnings - sorry

  • formerlyflorantha
    9 years ago

    I'm in the same quandry. I have to decide today if I'm going to special order an offset umbrella at a local furniture store on sale. It's a "Treasure Garden" cantilevered version that has a curved arm holding the 11 foot umbrella in place. Custom order--I can choose among many fabrics and fabric qualities and also choices for finish on the framework.

    This looks to be a good product--we've looked at them at the store for a couple years.

    We have a large deck with some sun and some shade in each portion of the deck as the day changes. We've recently remodeled the room adjacent to the deck to crease our view of a lake. We've also taken down a mature tree in order to improve view from the house but losing the tree means losing important shade on the deck. We use the deck in all parts of the day--morning coffee & birdwatching, lunch & snacks, newspaper reading, evening meals, parties, before-bed wind-down beverage with skywatching, and all spring-summer-fall it's the place to chat with others.

    I've been pricing the permanent retractable shades and 'm very sad that I didn't plan for it in the original remodeling plan--we now have almost no wall space under our soffits (because there is already a hard-won new set of outdoor lights along that space) and that would rule out a wall-mount. I'd have to do a roof-mounted awning, although that would have the advantage of raising the canvas another foot or two, which I assume would place the canvas high into the top of the picture window view instead of in the upper third of the view when extended fully. I also like the idea of having a motorized extension with a wall-mounted switch. (I am basing most of my remodel plans on the opinions of a theoretical 80-year-old woman--me in future.) It looks like this kind of product would cost me $2000 to $3000 but I'm not sure how much the installation cost affects this--might be much more. I could have any fabric I wanted. The thing would totally retract, which would be a storage benefit in winter or when we're gone or when autumn leaves are falling, but on the other hand, a northern winter is hard on roof-mounted items I suspect. I haven't priced these products locally, just noodled them on the net.

    As I said above, I'm also looking at cantilevered umbrellas. The URL below is part of the customization process shown on the company's website. I'm looking at their higher-end fabrics but a cheaper fabric would cut the price. It's on sale here for about $1200 if I make my decision today. The mechanical parts are guaranteed a year and the fabric I've chosen is 5 year guaranteed (Sunbrella).

    I'm also considering a product sold by this company that is a combination light and radio that mounts inside the umbrella. Gotta decide today.

    --F

    Here is a link that might be useful: Treasure Garden cantilevered 11 foot umbrella

  • a2gemini
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    Etayer

    Sorry that I missed your excellent post. I stopped looking after no responses after 2 weeks.

    We ended up with an awning. We love it!

    It allows us to enjoy our deck and works great! It lowers the deck temperature by 10 degrees or more.

    We used a local company that makes their own version with a 10 year warranty on the motor.

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