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Awnings General Contractor
What are awnings?
Awnings are overhangs attached to the exterior walls of a building or a home. They are typically made of canvas, woven acrylic, cotton, polyester, or vinyl. They are stretched over a frame of wood, aluminum, iron, or steel. However, aluminum is often the preferred material for its lightness and ease of use and repair.
Awnings hang over doors and windows, and you’ll often find them stretched out on poles to cover entire decks or sections of a yard, similar to a tent or a full canopy.
The main purpose of awnings is to protect against sunlight, rain, snow, and heavy winds. You may have seen awnings at restaurant patios, protecting patrons from sun and rain, and allowing them to comfortably dine and enjoy each other’s company outside, no matter the weather situation.
There are a number of different types of awnings. The main kind is called a propulsion awning. This type, in comparison with a canopy, extends out over a window or door from the exterior wall of a building.
There are two kinds of propulsion awnings: manual and motorized.
With manual awnings, you have to turn a crank until the awning has extended from the wall to its full extent, covering the window or door, and shading the space beneath it.
With motorized awnings, you have only to press a button, and the awning extends outward, or retracts back to its resting place, as you intend. These motor-operated awnings use an electric motor that is often invisible, being hidden within the roller of the awning.
When considering the different types of awning materials available, you may want to look into solar shade screens. They are made of acrylic canvas or a mesh fabric that allows a greater degree of visibility through the fabric than the other, often more popular, materials.
Also available are “smart awnings.” These include solar and wind sensors. The motor automatically retracts the awning during periods of intense wind or stormy weather, and automatically extends awnings when the sun comes out.
When you get in touch with an awning contractor, ask if the company provides free estimates for the job. Many contractors often do. And be sure to go over all the different options for fabrics and frame materials with your awning contractor.
Who should install awnings?
Awnings help you cut back on your energy bills. When the sun is not shining directly into your home through windows and glass doors, your house does not heat up as fast and to as high a degree as it would without awnings installed. This subsequently frees you from having to run the air conditioner for long periods of time.
With an awning installed over your porch or patio, you can enjoy eating, resting, and entertaining outside on hot summer days.
Some people like to be outside during a rainstorm. But without shelter, you’d quickly get soaked! Having an awning allows you to enjoy a calming rain shower and remain dry and sheltered.
Additionally, many homeowners do not necessarily have a shed or a garage for possessions that would fare badly in extreme weather. You may want to keep items like grills, lawn mowers, bags of gardening soil, and woven lawn chairs sheltered from the elements. An awning or a canopy can protect these items. It’s an economical way to store useful yard items without building a shed or a garage.
What are the benefits and drawbacks to awnings?
Manually extending awnings are low-cost and easily adapted to many different kinds of decks and patios. But you have to crank them open and closed depending on the weather. This could be very inconvenient for a homeowner in a climate prone to swiftly changing weather patterns. One moment you may be cranking the awning open as the sun comes out, at another moment you’d have to return to crank the awning closed as winds pick up, the hail begins, and you move everything inside.
Motorized awnings, with their retractable lateral arms and electric motor, offer the most comfortable alternative to manual awnings. Of course, these may cost a bit more than their manual counterparts. And anything with a motor may call for future repairs to keep the awning system in shape. Think about the cost of the luxury as you make your decision. Remember: You can always talk with your awnings contractor about the pros and cons to the costs and mechanics of manual versus motorized awnings.
Winds greater than 25 miles per hour have the potential to damage your awnings. Though awnings offer protection from the sun and the rain, you have to keep in mind that they require your attention when it comes to winds. You’ll have to be there to bring the awnings back in toward the building’s wall so that they do not become damaged.
Ask your contractor, however, about awnings with wind sensors. These automatically retract when winds pick up.
When deciding what material to use, you may want to consider aluminum above all other materials. It is the most efficient at bringing down your home’s temperatures on a hot day, and aluminum awnings can be utilized for over 40 years.
Overall, awnings offer their highest reward as softeners of the sun’s rays and shelter from the rain.
They can be attractive, practical, and energy-efficient. They block more than 75% of the sun’s heat, reduce indoor temperatures 8% to 15%, reduce indoor heat more than 77%, and reduce air conditioning costs by up to 25%.
The Department of Energy says that exterior white canvas shades can cut energy costs by excluding 64% of the heat that passes through windows.
Keep in mind that awnings are not (usually) covered by insurance. And they necessitate periodic cleaning. Because awnings tend to easily build up in mildew, you’ll have to keep an eye on them. But a simple combination of soap, water, and a brush should take care of the job.
About the Author
Jon Ellowitz is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find a contractor or more home care articles at Yodle Consumer Guide. Awnings General Contractor
Retractable Awnings’ New Looks in a New Season
Retractable awnings are emerging as a design force for everything from gardens to homes to storefronts. There are exciting trends for commercial awnings, awning frames, and eco-friendly uses, but the big trend for retractable awnings is color.
Trends in Colors and Fabrics
The first thing you see with a retractable awning is the fabric. Historically, US retractable awnings have tacked toward conservative colors. Marco Parravicini, owner of European fabric company Parà, noted that their US awning fabric sales tended to somber colors like grays and blacks. American fabric companies have experienced a similar reserve, with the most popular color choices for Sattler AG and Sunbrella being forest green (and stripes with blends of forest green).
Steven Weiss of Sattler AG sees that changing.
“The awning industry has always been very cut and dried,” Weiss says, “but it’s opening up.”
There are a number of factors that are driving that change and creating a new, colorful future for retractable awnings. Partly, the increasing use of retractable awnings means people are able to find more options. More important, people are approaching design objects (furniture, paints, landscaping) as changeable features rather than permanent fixtures, so they’re willing to take risks to reflect their current mood or season, says the spring 2008 design trends report from Kasmir Fabrics, a Dallas-based fabric wholesaler.
Colors are used to create psychological responses, and these responses are especially evocative when tied to the native, natural environment. Kasmir’s trend report refers to food-influenced colors; Infomat (a fashion design analysis site) focuses on natural settings, such as tropicals and sunsets. For Sattler AG, which specializes in awning fabrics, they worked on cataloging the specific natural environment and creating a line of fabrics centered around it.
Sattler divided the world into six regions and, through local photographers and designers, created a localized color palette based on the landscape, trees, plants, fruit, animals, rocks, sky, and water. The more prominent colors resonate with the people there. “The mood of a color changes things,” Weiss explains, “it triggers things; it tells a story. People relate to those colors; colors affect us psychologically.”
Retractable awning fabric color cycles traditionally run two to four years, the basis for Sattler’s new “Elements Collection.” For the next four years, the colors are going to be taken from different aspects of nature:
• Bright, clear colors which reflect optimism and change.
• Soothing neutrals – especially a one-two combination and black and white – which create a very clean, calming, and chic effect.
• Turquoises, blues, and aquas, which mimic tropical waters.
• True reds, especially combined with yellow, which create a light effect.
• Greens and browns; the most prominent colors in the American landscape (as well as Australia and New Zealand) create the most harmonious environment.
• Stripes in blends of colors; over 70% of residential retractable awnings have striped fabric, and although alternatives (like florals) are emerging, it’s still the most popular pattern.
Even when looking at a common color, consider trying something a little brighter, reflecting the new options coming out this season. Historically, people have been afraid to experiment with dark colors like burgundy or bright ones like yellow. New treatments for UV inhibitors and fungicides make solution-dyed acrylic (an incredibly long-lasting woven fabric) wear beautifully. “People love alternatives,” Weiss says. “If they want to buy blue, they want options for that blue. They want the blue they see in the Pacific. Take European flair and mix it in American taste,” he encourages. “It does play an effect with fabrics. It’s habit forming.”
Commercial Prospects
Retail Traffic Magazine reveals that retail businesses are moving to a much simpler, more clean-lined style. The goal is to make the overall shopping experience seem uncluttered and low-key, while having a contemporary feel. Businesses are also trying to improve their buildings’ function by lowering costs and becoming more energy efficient. On top of all that, any changes have to the building facade have to make bold visual appeal, be easy to implement, and utilize bright colors.
An important part of the exterior design changes is using retractable awnings, which are energy efficient, provide UV and glare control, are inexpensive, immediately change the exterior appearance, have a variety of styles that suit any architectural design, and offer a variety of colors.
Another reason moving to retractable awnings meets businesses’ design goals is that it’s becoming popular again to use exterior awnings for signage, as both a visually arresting and a cost-efficient, dual-use solution. According to SignIndustry.com, the trend has begun shifting from unprinted awnings and lighted signs to printed awnings, sometimes combined with back- and front-lighting. Retractable awnings are becoming more desirable for signage because of recent improvements in awning printing methods which allow higher-quality and longer-lasting text and logos.
An Eye to the Future
Like other goods, retractable awnings are trending green. Retractable awnings are eco-friendly:
• Reduce air conditioning use 25% and lower indoor temperatures by 8-15 degrees
• Energy efficiency with relatively low cost and no maintenance
• Focusing on more sustainable manufacturing and materials, like groundwater-safe dyes and chemicals
• Widespread compliance with international safety and environmental codes
Retractable awnings are a low-cost solution for energy efficiency, something that is increasingly important to both homeowners and businesses. With only 2% market saturation in the US, the future for retractable awnings is in providing the green benefits (and style) that consumers need – cost-effectively.
About the Author
Retractable Awnings offers quality awnings and patio covers, which are both reliable and easy to use .http://www.retractableawnings.com
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