Improving Your Outdoor Space With A Garden Awning

With autumn just around the corner, lots of homeowners are looking for a cover solution that enables them to continue using their garden even as the weather starts to turn. A garden awning really is the perfect product in this regard and there are lots of different ways that you can create a usable outdoor space in your garden come rain or shine. 

The garden awning options have greatly increased in recent years and there is a brilliant variety of stylish yet practical solutions to choose from, whether you’re looking for something that is attached to your home or free-standing. Most of the popular awning options fall into one of two categories; patio awnings and pergola awnings, and to help you choose which of these types of awnings would be best for your home, below we have looked into them in more detail.

Garden patio awning 

This is the most commonly seen type of awning and it is often what people picture when they think of garden awnings. Patio awnings are wall-mounted and they are designed to provide your patio area with shade or shelter when required. More often than not, garden patio awnings are installed over exterior doors, whether this is a traditional French door or a modern bi-fold door. 

There is a brilliant selection of garden patio awnings to choose from but, generally speaking, they are at least two metres wide and the fabric canopy can extend to a depth of around four meters. Your width will be wider than your projection if you are looking for a fully encased awning. There are specialist awnings that project further than the width but these are not fully encased in a cassette as the arm needs to fold under each other when retracted. If you are looking for a garden awning that is bigger than this, you’d probably be better off opting for an awning with legs to help prevent any damage in windy weather. We have installed numerous Winchester awnings - so just ask our customer service team and we can send you some images.

When installing a garden patio awning, you can decide what colour you’d like the canopy to be and there are a number of options available in this regard. There are also lots of added extras that you can include in the design, from LED spotlights to infra-red heaters. If you’d like to have increased privacy, some awning designs even come with a vertical blind at the front of the canopy, so there really is a solution for every garden and every homeowner’s needs.  

Garden pergola awning

You may hear this type of awning referred to as outdoor living pods and garden pergola awnings provide you with an outdoor living space that can be attached or be separate from your property. This awning has its own fixed frame that stays in place whether the awning is being used or not and due to the stability of this type of awning, it can be made in bigger sizes than a patio awning. 

More often than not, when installing a garden pergola awning, you can choose between either a louvered aluminium roof or a fabric-covered roof and both of these options can usually be fully retracted. When opting for a louvred roof, you also have the ability to tilt the louvres, enabling you to decide how much sun, shade and shelter you get when sitting under the awning. 

Again, there are a number of added extras that are available for this type of awning, including; a motorised side screen with a panoramic window, LED or strip lighting and infra-red heaters. You even have the option to install rain and wind sensors, and these will ensure that your roof retracts and deploys as and when required. You will need to have a suitable surface to install a garden awning onto though and decking, tiles or other hard surfaces tend to be best. 

Choosing which type of garden awning to install 

Hopefully, now that you know a little bit more about these garden covers, you will find it easier to choose which will be best for your home. There is no right or wrong answer in this regard and both of these electric awnings are beneficial to install, you just need to decide which will be most suitable for your outdoor space and best able to meet your individual needs. 

If you’re interested in installing a garden awning in Hampshire, don’t hesitate to contact us here at The Smart Blind Co. today. We work in partnership with some of the world’s leading awning manufacturers, enabling us to provide our customers with the highest quality products at the best possible prices. No matter which type of garden awning you’re interested in, we can work with you to customise the perfect solution for your home. What’s more all of the awnings we supply are installed by our own team of experienced fitters for your added peace of mind too.