Two things to keep in mind when shopping for a retractable awning

Retractable awnings are very popular with homeowners who use their outdoor spaces a lot. If you've decided to purchase this useful accessory for your patio, here are some things you should keep in mind.

Whether you want to be able to unroll or retract it quickly

You may need to think about how quickly you'd like to be able to unroll or retract the awning. For example, if you live somewhere where it often abruptly starts raining and you want to be able to continue sitting on your patio when these downpours happen, then you'll probably need an awning that you can unroll very rapidly.

In this situation, you should get a spring-loaded awning, which bursts forth or springs back into a rolled position with the pull of a handle or push of a button This would mean that you could unroll it in an instant when it suddenly starts to rain, and thus avoid having to run inside or deal with your books, food or the other items on the patio table getting soaked. If you were to get an awning with a lever that you had to repeatedly turn for a minute or more to unroll, you would probably not be able to protect your patio from the rain on these days.

Being able to retract the awning very rapidly could also be useful on occasions when you spot birds or squirrels attempting to land or climb onto the awning, as you could retract it before they have a chance to reach the fabric and damage it.

Whether or not you want the awning to be manually or electrically operated

You should also think about whether you want a manually or electrically operated awning. The latter might be useful if you want to be able to operate without having to move from wherever you happen to be. For example, if whilst you're indoors, you spot your dog sleeping on the patio and notice that it looks overheated, you could just press the awning remote from inside the house and unroll it so that you can create some shade in this area for your pet without having to physically go outside.

Likewise, if you have a bad back and like to lie on a sun lounger on your patio, you will probably appreciate being able to open the awning with the remote, instead of having to pull yourself out of the lounger (which could cause back twinges), in order to manually change the awning's position.

In contrast, if you will only be unrolling or retracting the awning occasionally, then it might be sensible to opt for a manually-controlled awning, which will be less expensive.

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