Why the owners wanted a retractable awning
The back of this Woodbridge home faces a large stone patio with a built-in outdoor kitchen and bar. The patio gets full sun through the afternoon, and the owners wanted shade over the cooking and seating area without building a permanent roof or adding posts in the middle of the patio.
A motorized retractable awning gave them that. The fabric extends out over the patio on folding arms when they want shade, and rolls back into a cassette against the wall when they do not. There are no posts, so the patio stays open.
What We Installed
| Product | Motorized retractable awning with folding arms |
|---|---|
| Fabric | Black |
| Operation | Motorized with a remote |
| Wind sensor | Mounted under the soffit; retracts the awning on its own in wind |
| Mounting | On the brick wall below the second-floor window |
| Covers | Patio and stone outdoor kitchen |
| Property | Two-storey brick home, Woodbridge, Vaughan |
How we installed it
The awning is mounted on the brick wall between the ground-floor windows and the arched second-floor window, high enough to clear the window trim and the people underneath. We fixed the brackets into the brick and ran power to the motor, so the owners use a remote rather than a crank.
The owners also asked for a wind sensor. We came back on a second visit once it arrived and mounted the sensor under the soffit, where it reads the wind. If the wind picks up while the awning is out, the sensor tells the motor to retract the awning by itself. That is the main reason to add one: the awning is protected even when nobody is home to close it.
The result
With the awning out, the patio and the outdoor kitchen are in shade, and the black fabric sits well with the black bar top and the dark furniture. With the awning retracted, the cassette is a slim black line on the brick under the window.
Open and close is a button on the remote. The wind sensor handles the rest, so the owners do not have to think about the awning when the wind comes up while they are away.
More about retractable awnings, or see our work in Vaughan.
