Home is where your heart feels home, and to give your heart that special treatment, you need to ensure everything about your house feels right. Starting from your furniture to your garden, things need to be flawless. While there is no such thing as perfection, there might just be a perfect house for you, and you need to ensure your place is flawless or at least the way you want your home to be.
So, when looking for something as specific yet as normal as window awnings, you need to know how to do it right.
Your awning serves multiple purposes – it becomes your extended roof, and it can protect your outdoor furniture at times of rain or snow. Providing an extra shade for your doors and windows, this subtle roof can save your panels from heating up, while also being stylish. No wonder you need the right outdoor window awnings.
However, depending upon what type of awning you have your eyes on, these are the 5 points you need to check to get the right one for yourself:
1) The Angle of Installation
You may overlook this bit when you look for the right awning, but you really shouldn’t.
The direction your house faces has to be the first criterion for you to select the right awnings. Let’s say, if you are looking for a door awning, for a building that faces to the south, you should look for awnings with a drop angle of 50-65% to optimize the shade from the dome above. Similarly, if you were to look for awnings for your windows, which face to the east or the west, then go for a drop angle of not more than 75% to maximize the functionality.
Steeper or stingier angles during installation may lead to no light or too much light making its way in, plus they will either look too big or reduce the surface area of protection that you needed for your glass. Thus, you want to ensure your awnings hit the right angle with your windows.
2) Extra Accessories
While awnings have various uses, they may not be so wholesome as standalone products. Don’t get us wrong here, awnings really give your doors some personality. They do your windows a favour as well. However, they can still be made a lot better. They could get some help from side panels. They become essential when you get retractable awnings on board.
Just in case, your awning doesn’t cover enough area, but you don’t want to leave the design, you can still buy the awning, despite the size. Just get side panels to help you with amplifying the shade. Side panels, blinds, shutters, and more such accessories will help you get the most from your awnings, which is why you could find their rampant use in modern constructions.
3) The material
Most awnings are either aluminium or fabric-based. While you will get more protection and durability with aluminium, you will not get so many designs there. Fabric awnings have edgy prints to offer. So, if you are someone who likes their exterior to be at par with their interior, you know you will have more customizability freedom with the latter, but since, it’s just a piece of clothing, you’ll need higher maintenance too.
4) Stationary or Retractable
Nowadays, people go for retractable ones since they can be flexible and versatile as per your comfort. When you need the sunlight in, you can just retract them, but during snow or thunderstorm, they will be there to save the day.
5) The impression you are going for
Do not be just another dull boring door on the street, when you can get an exterior worth a tweet.
If you think of glamorous Parisian restores, you most certainly picture eateries with flamboyant awnings. That’s how iconic they are! So, depending on where you need the awning and for what, you have various options to choose from. A garage would find aluminium awnings painted in black very suitable, but that may not do anything for a fashion boutique. Nowadays, you could get your logo printed on the awning for your door, and that’s a way to really make something your own!