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Featured Awning Ideas
Your Home Looks Like A Resort With Retractable Awnings
Bring a little St Tropez home
Why do you think window awnings are so popular in places such as Spain, the French Riviera and the Greek islands? Consider the harsh sunlight they experience in those regions and you'll have an idea. Here in many parts of the U.S., we're just as subject to the sun's damaging UV rays. We spend so much money furnishing the inside of our homes that to allow the sun to reach in and damage that is ludicrous. Rug and upholstery fading is a tragic result of inadequate protection on windows.
Retractable awnings allow you to let the sun in when you want to, and keep it out when you need to.
Your home can achieve a St Tropez look on an affordable budget with retractable awnings. The festive, summery appearance puts a smile on the exterior of the house, adds color, dimension and a bit of wow factor. You can go crazy with the choices of styles and colors. Take a look through decorator magazines and you'll see the dramatic changes in before and after pictures.
Why retractable?
Whether to choose retractable awnings over fixed ones depends upon your lifestyle. Fixed awnings certainly have their place. Some sides of the house need year round protection from the sun and it may even be an inconvenience to have the awnings in anything but the position in which they were installed. However, in other parts, it might be very handy to be able to decide on a daily basis, to bring in the sunshine, or keep it out. In winter, the awnings can be retracted most of the time, to allow for warmth to penetrate inside. Also, on any particular day, you may have any number of reasons for wanting more or less light, greater heating or cooling efficiency, or even on a whim, you may like to extend the awning purely for looks! Retractable awnings can be extended as much or as little as you like, offering excellent versatility.
Motorized versions
Many companies offer motorized versions of their products. Mostly these are recommended for larger retractable awnings that can be somewhat heavier to operate. With the push of a remote control button, you can adjust to your requirements. Check with your supplier to ensure yours comes with a manual over-ride button so that in the event of a power failure, you can still operate your awnings.
Frames
The framework that keeps your retractable awnings in place will also be co-ordinated with the look you'd like to achieve. Whether aluminum or powder coated in a particular color, you'll be able to suit your home easily.
Aim for quality
Ok so you enjoy a bargain, everyone does. When shopping around for retractable awnings, do your homework well. Some imported products are put together very basically and will not be as durable or safe as some locally produced ones. A bargain is never a bargain if it ends up lasting half as long as something that costs one third more.
Cheer up your home, save money, protect your furnishings and live outdoors a little more with retractable awnings. So many benefits, so many choices.
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Exceptionally Useful
Awnings Resouces
Awnings need attention
Like all exterior building features that are subjected to snow, rain, sunlight, wind, and pollution-awnings need regular attention. Covered even with modern materials, they still require maintenance, repair, and eventually replacement. Awnings are often the first feature to be altered when historic buildings change owners or uses. Due to the look and feel they give they often have a significant role in contributing to the historic character of a building. It is important that owners, architects, engineers, historians, and others consider this before planning work on a building.
Awnings Benefits
Awnings offer a number of benefits to owners of historic buildings. Awnings can make unnecessary a host of other alterations made to buildings in the name of energy efficiency. Awnings provide almost comparable glare reduction and reduced heat-gain as tinted windows or window films, yet are in keeping with the historic appearance of a building facade. They help protect historic windows and storefronts, and allow windows to remain open. This allows the cool air to circulate, even during inclement weather. In warmer climates, they reduce the need to replace existing windows with new units with insulating glass for the purpose of energy conservation.
Window Awnings
Window awnings are able to reduce solar heat gain during the summer by up to 65% on south-facing windows and up to 77% on west-facing windows. It is possible to use an awning to shade only one window or have an awning custom-made to shade the entire side of your house.
In the past, most awnings were made of metal or canvas, which needed to be re-covered every five to seven years. Luckily today, awnings are made from synthetic fabrics-such as acrylic and polyvinyl laminates. These are water-repellent and treated to resist mildew and fading. Whatever the fabric, you should choose one that is opaque and tightly woven. Keep in mind that a light-colored awning will definitely reflect more sunlight.
Awnings require ventilation to keep hot air from becoming trapped around the window. Grommets (eyelets) or other openings along the tops and sides of an awning can provide this ventilation. The awning may also open on the sides or top to vent the hot air.
A small, horizontal awning will completely shade a south-facing window during the summer. An east- or west-facing window needs an awning that extends down to cover a large percentage of the window. Sideless awnings, known as Venetian awnings, can be adjusted as the angle of the sun changes. Venetian awnings, however, are usually not effective at blocking direct sunlight on south-facing windows. Hood awnings with sides added to block out additional sun are more effective. Hip awnings project out and down to accommodate casement windows that open outward.
You can easily roll up adjustable or retractable awnings in the winter to let the sun warm the house. New hardware, such as lateral arms, makes the rolling up process quite easy.
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