Awnings Buying Guide: How to Choose the Right Awning for Your Home
This is the no-nonsense awnings buying guide we wish more people had read before they bought one. We’ll walk you through awning types, operating methods, fabric choices, sizing, and the smart features actually worth paying for — so you can choose an awning for your Coventry or Warwickshire home with proper confidence, rather than just hoping for the best.
Coventry Blinds has been supplying and fitting awnings across the region since 2007, from our workshop on Endemere Road. Everything in this guide comes from twenty-odd years of fitting awnings on real Coventry houses with real budgets — not from a manufacturer’s brochure.
Step 1: Choose Your Awning Type
The first decision is the type of awning that suits your outdoor space and how exposed it is.
- Cassette Awnings — fully enclosed in an aluminium housing when retracted. Maximum fabric protection, longest lifespan, neatest profile. The premium choice.
- Semi-Cassette Awnings — partial housing protects the fabric roll and upper arm. The sensible middle ground on price and protection.
- Open-frame Awnings — arms and fabric fully exposed when retracted. The most affordable option, but fabric ages faster.
- Pergola Awnings — horizontal overhead awnings that mount to a pergola or garden frame. The right answer for freestanding garden structures.
Step 2: Choose Your Operating Method
- Electric (motorised) — extends and retracts via remote, fixed wall switch or smart home system. Optional wind sensors auto-retract in gusts. The convenient choice if you’ll use the awning often.
- Manual (hand-crank) — smooth geared hand-crank, no power needed, lower price, less to go wrong. Ideal if you want simplicity and reliability.
Step 3: Choose Your Size and Projection
The width should match the area you want shaded — usually the width of your patio doors or terrace. The projection (how far the awning extends from the wall) determines how much of the patio falls in shade. As a guide, a 2.5-3m projection comfortably covers a standard 6-seater patio dining set. We’ll measure properly during your free home survey and recommend the right size for the actual space.
Step 4: Choose Your Fabric
All of our awning fabrics are solution-dyed acrylic — the industry standard for outdoor awnings. Solution-dyed fibres resist UV fade and mould growth far better than coated alternatives, which means the colour you choose today is the colour you’ll still have in ten years. We offer a wide choice of plain colours, stripes and contemporary patterns. Darker colours block more UV; lighter colours feel brighter and more open. Fabric samples come to your home during the survey so you can compare them in your actual garden light, not under fluorescent showroom strip.
Step 5: Consider Smart Features
For motorised awnings, the upgrades worth considering:
- Wind sensor — automatically retracts the awning if wind speed crosses a safe threshold. Genuinely useful when you’ve nipped out. Strongly recommended.
- Sun sensor — extends the awning automatically when sunlight reaches a set intensity. Pleasant rather than essential.
- Smart-home integration — compatible with Alexa, Google Home and similar systems for voice control and scheduling.
What to Expect from a Coventry Blinds Awning Survey
We visit your home at a time that suits you, anywhere across Coventry and Warwickshire. The surveyor assesses your wall structure (essential — awnings put significant force on fixings), measures your outdoor space, talks you through the type and size options, and shows you the full fabric range against your house. You then get a clear, itemised written quotation, with no obligation and no high-pressure follow-up.
Book Your Free Survey
Ready to choose your awning? Call us on 02476 661092 or book your free home survey online. We cover Coventry, Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Rugby, Nuneaton, Stratford-upon-Avon and all the surrounding Warwickshire villages, seven days a week.
Awnings Buying Guide — Common Questions
Which type of awning is best for me?
It depends on how much you’ll use the awning, your budget and what you want it to do. Cassette awnings give the longest lifespan and the cleanest look. Semi-cassette is the sensible mid-range choice. Manual awnings save money on the motor. Pergola awnings cover freestanding garden structures. We’ll talk it through honestly during your free survey.
Are electric awnings worth the extra cost?
If you’ll use the awning regularly (most weekends through summer, casual evenings outside), yes — one-touch operation means you actually use it. If you only deploy the awning a few times a year, the saving on a manual model is well worth taking.
How wide and deep does my awning need to be?
The width should cover the area you want to shade — usually the width of your patio doors or terrace. The projection (how far out it extends) determines how much patio falls in shade. A 2.5-3m projection comfortably covers a standard 6-seater patio dining set. We’ll measure properly during the survey.
What fabric should I choose?
All our awning fabrics are solution-dyed acrylic — the industry standard. Darker colours block more UV; lighter colours feel brighter underneath. We bring fabric samples to your home so you can compare them in your actual garden light, against your actual house.
Do you offer free awning surveys in Coventry?
Yes — the survey is free, the written quotation is free, and there’s no obligation to proceed. We cover Coventry, Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Rugby, Nuneaton, Stratford-upon-Avon and the surrounding Warwickshire villages, seven days a week.
Use this awnings buying guide alongside our complete Awnings collection — all made to measure and professionally fitted across Coventry and Warwickshire by our own family-run team since 2007.