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Providing shade for your backyard or front porch is one of the most important things during summer heats and there are several ways to do so. Planting a tree is the most cost-effective, some would even say the most elegant solution, however, it could take 15 to 20 years for a tree to fully matures and even then, it will cause a no small amount of additional maintenance on your property. As an alternative, some people decide to go with expensive wooden constructions or simple, cheap and inefficient method of using parasols. As a compromise, more and more people are turning towards the idea of awnings. Still, making a choice of the right awning for your home is not an easy one to make.

The location of the awning:

The first thing you need to consider when getting an awning is the location that it is about to take. Two most notable spots for an awning are just above the window or over your patio. The benefits of the awning in the first location are the fact that it protects the room from the direct sunlight, therefore resulting in a significant heat reduction.

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During the summer, this helps reduce the amount of energy spent by your AC unit in order to cool down the room. On the other hand, during the winter, you might want to get as much daylight as possible, which is why the above-window awning should, almost always, be a retractable one.

As for the awning above the patio, in a situation where you have a wooden outdoor furniture, having this protection from direct sun ray exposure may protect it in the long run. In the above-discussed winter scenario, however, it is always advised to move your outdoor furniture somewhere else.

The choice of the material:

The next major choice you will have in front of you is the one of material. Apart from determining the appearance of your awning, this choice also determines the maintenance and durability of the awning in question. When it comes to the appearance, this is not a choice that can be made standalone. You need to take into consideration the layout of your home, the façade on its exterior as well as the patio it hangs above.

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As far as the popular choices go, cotton, canvas, mesh and acrylic are the most popular choices. One last thing that the choice of the material determines is the price of the awning, while those determined can always get an appropriate solution from their local budget awnings Sydney retailers.

The shape and style:

While awnings are getting more and more popular solution for providing shade and covers in households, traditionally, they are most commonly used in front of stores or boutiques. This diversification of use for private households and businesses of various kinds has led to the situation where there are so many different shapes and styles of awnings. Rounded entrance canopy or gabled entrance canopy are most commonly used in hotels, traditional valances and quarter rounds is commonly used in front of stores. As for households, lateral arm or concave are styles that are used in most situations.

To retract or not to retract:

In the first section of this piece, we already went to length to address the advantages of retractable awnings, however, a lot of people prefer to go with fixed designs. Most common reasons for this are the fact that they are easier to install and much less likely to malfunction.

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No matter how quality the installation process was, a retractable awning still functions with a help of a specific mechanism. Now, this mechanism consists of numerous moving parts, each of which might malfunction at one point. In this situation, you probably won’t be able to immediately fix a problem but would have to look for a professional aid. In other words, while retractable awning is clearly superior in many aspects, the ease of maintenance is clearly not one of them.

Situational variables:

Finally, in some situations, it may not be so easy to make the right choice seeing as how there may be a number of situational variables one needs to take into consideration. For instance, you may, or may not, need some side panels or an awning that stands at a certain unorthodox angle. Furthermore, there may be a series of obstacles like tree branches you might need to either prune or work around. In any case, each of these variations will make the price of the installation a tad more expensive.

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At the end of the day, making the choice of the right awning for your home can be incredibly difficult, yet, there is one thing you must always take into consideration – it isn’t something you’re supposed to again for quite a long time. You see, this is one of those choices that will stick with you for years and decades afterward, which is why you need to be extra cautious while making it.