The canonical home-based awning is made up of a metallic frame which serves to hold the fabric that shades guests or home occupants underneath. Such a frame can be made to open and close if its retractable, or simply fixed in configuration. One usually hangs the frame over a window or door, covering the immediate area with shade and perhaps extending a bit over a patio or porch. Newer awnings may have remote electronics for opening and closing.
Despite the conveniences offered, many homeowners are reluctant to install traditional awnings due to the costs. The structure itself is quite expensive, and the installation even more so given the complexity and size of the product. A very modest home awning can cost thousands of dollars. Worse still, the shade fabric will require regular cleaning as it’s a repository for microorganisms and dirt. This is complicated by the inaccessibility of the top of the fabric.
Another problem is the dilemma faced by a homeowner when he or she needs to entertain children or guests somewhere further from the immediate vicinity of a wall, for example at the barbeque grill, near the pool, or in the middle of the lawn. The fixed outdoor shades can’t be moved around in any way.
Such problems are solved with the help of the simple yet highly effective freestanding awning. It’s also composed of a frame that holds the outdoor shade fabric, but instead of being stationary, it rests on a set of wheels which allows it to be pushed around. When it’s not needed, the shade frame may be pivoted and folded so it can be stored in the least amount of space.
Among all the outdoor shades, the freestanding awning may be the easiest to clean. This is due to it dual configuration construction. In one configuration, the shade is overhead doing its jobs shading some area from the sun. In the other configuration, the shade is be turned and pivoted so the fabric is vertical, much like how portable blackboards have a swinging center board that can be flipped. The type of cleaning agents used are the same for normal shade fabrics.
Such freestanding outdoor shades are also very cheap for two reasons. For one, no special expertise is required to set it up for use. For other outdoor shades, drilling into the wall of the house or connecting it to a 220V power source complicates the installation. For another, the freestanding awning has a very simple construction so it’s cheaper to produce. The greatest advantage of such shades is that they can be easily moved around to where they are most required.
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