Day: July 3, 2026

Is what I did today. The manufacturer of my ‘store-banne’, my new awning, said that installing it is a two-man job. However, I’m always up for a challenge and I reckoned that I could do it using my shutters as supports and a bit of ingenuity. And so it proved today. Today’s awning was a 3m x 2m one, so a bit lighter than the 4m x 3m one that I’ll be installing over my terrace, but it was good experience to work out how to deal with the larger one.

Today’s job was to fit it over the south side living room window which receives direct sunlight for much of the day and is the source of a lot of heat, especially during the current heatwave, that permeates throughout the house. The plan was to lift the awning onto the shutters, lift it higher into its exact position that I’d carefully measured beforehand propped up each end by two 4m lengths of timber, mark the fixing holes and then drop the awning back onto the shutters while the fixing holes were drilled.

Once the anchors were securely attached in the fixing holes it would then simply be a matter of attaching each end in turn one fixing at a time and tightening the awning onto the wall. Easy enough, what could possibly go wrong? As it happens, nothing, aside from one of the anchor inners turning with its securing nut after it had been hammered (gently) into the wall so it couldn’t be tightened. Annoying, but the sort of thing you expect with this kind of job.

I’m not the first person in the world to put up one of these awnings but I took a series of photographs just in case someone who hasn’t can see what’s involved. The first few shots below show the initial steps in getting the awning mounted up on the wall above the living room doors. Remember, the doors open inwards but the shutters swing outwards so the awning has to be mounted high enough to clear them. I chose to mount it at eaves height as that’s the height the awning on the terrace will be at. And the mounting height also has to allow for a 14 degree angle of droop of the awning so has to be mounted even slightly higher than you might think.

For me that unfortunately meant losing the exterior light over the living room door. I haven’t checked yet but I may be able to get away with lowering it a bit, although I doubt it. However, I think I might be able to fit an LED lamp of slimmer design, but that’s for later.

But that wasn’t the end of the job. The awning that I chose comes with two roller curtains as will the larger one that I’ve bought for the terrace. The manufacturer’s instructions are for these to be fitted during initial assembly but I left them off as well as a front trim strip because of how I planned to support the awning on my shutters, which I thought would probably damage them. If I’d had a helper I’d have followed the manufacturer’s instructions but I had to fit them standing on steps after the awning was up, which took me longer than getting it up in the first place.

The final shots show the finished awning with its roller curtains in place.

So what is my final opinion? I’m very pleased with the results. Once the awning was in place I was working with it extended and it made an enormous difference. I think it will be a great help keeping the house cooler during the hot months. Although the curtains will be a big advantage on the terrace I don’t think they were really necessary on this awning in this position and in fact without them I might have been able to keep my existing light, albeit moved down a bit.

The whole awning seems to be of very good quality. The fabric is heavy grade Dacron and the metal fittings are all of good quality. My only concern is that in this position, on an end wall, it’s very open and exposed. This won’t apply for the larger one on the terrace as it will be mounted tight up under the eaves, or for the extra 3m x 2m one that I’m also going to order to go over the double doors on the front of the house as I’m so impressed by this one. I think I’ll make an aluminium enclosure for it, not difficult but just more time.

And what did this little beauty cost? Just 179€ including tax plus delivery, bringing it to a few cents over 200€. I think that’s pretty good, and the larger 4m x 3m one with curtains was just 20€ more. Both were from an on line supplier called ID Market, with whom I have no connection or affiliation, and are well worth the time and effort of assembling and fitting them I reckon 🙂