white awning, beige/brown stripy fabric

Solid valance, stripy fabric. Nice combination

My biggest awning on a house to date...

The 'Fitz's' had a beautiful house, in a beautiful street, with tastes and class that I could only dream of having. The task here was not only to deliver on practicality but with a serious measure of creativity thrown in. To make matters slightly more difficult, the awning was to be a whopping 8m long!

The building was a timber clad structure with an internal felt damp-proof course that we simply couldn't puncture. This rendered using the solid frame out of the question. We hit upon the reasoning that, although the outside may well be too weak individually, collectively they held up the house. We decided to install the awning on to a strong 2" timber board and attached the board in as many places as possible along the building with short strong screws. It's not really as simple as it sounds and we had to provide additional strength, but I'm not giving away all my secrets to the masses! Let's just say that there's an art to screwing and I'm not being crude.

There are special brackets and SPECIAL brackets

Mr J is a lovely chap, he's an ex-engineer though and through experience working with engineers can be a trifle difficult. Not because they're an unpleasant bunch, far from it in this case, but because they know exactly what they want. Almost, but not quite, as demanding as architects.

Having said that, without the knowledge of his property that Mr J possessed, we would almost certainly have encountered problems. The property was a stunning early 1900s place and yet the sun lounge that we were installing to was an extension. Mr J advised that we were not to install the awning on to the building and that he had calculated how the awning could be fitted 'free standing'. We were to excavate a patio again (not for the first time!) and install two 60mm x 60mm stainless steel posts with an 18" x 18" steel plate on the bottom. The plate would be sunk in to the ground and would have a yard of concrete laid over it to secure. It worked, and the awning looked great. The most satisfying thing was that Mr J didn't realise the brackets were in place after we'd filled the patio back in, they blended so well with the wall.

Beautiful traditionals

white awning, Lime green cover

white awning, blue stripy cover

white awning, red/cream fabric

white awning, blue/white stripe cover

Portland Awnings - from July 2006

One problem with the awning's industry is that it's a bit incestuous, although, if you have as many years experience as I do, this can be an advantage.

There's many people with the ability to sell awnings, there aren't as many prepared to install them. John Tyler, AKA Portland Awnings, found me through my old days as a the UK's Weinor awning supplier - NickellsWeinor Sunblinds, where I served 20+ years. Luckily I had the chance to hold on to our contact numbers and John called me one hot sunny afternoon (2006 was a scorcher) while I was installing pub awnings for another company, a rather old and well known company from Chiswick. We'd been working for 10 hours in 90+ heat and I'd had about enough as I could take for one day when John called in a flap. It wasn't that the job was going badly, on the contrary it had been as smooth as could be imagined, it was just an awfully tough task to get it done in a day - even with 4 experienced installer on site.

Back to John. He'd 'invested' in a load of exhibition equipment, with a view to hitting the UK awning market, but couldn't get it installed or working. He asked for assistance and, as is my nature, I was happy to talk them through it on the phone for half an hour while they got it sorted. John and I hit it off and I went on to install all Portlands awnings through to 2008. Sadly, John became ill and the credit crunch zapped all enthusiasm they had for selling high end products. John's bounced back since though, and those that know him are hardly surprised - least of all me.

white awning, beige stripy cover

St Clement Danes Sheltered Housing - June 2006

What can I say about this location? With inspirational views over South East London in to Kent, and a sunny installation day in the 70s and some of the most beautifully kept gardens I've ever seen. On days like this I love my job and wouldn't change it for the world!

Working on the end of Brighton Pier

Another day, another contract installation. I'm in demand at the moment, not that I'm complaining. It's nice to work, it's even nicer not to have the worries associated with jobs, and going home at the end of a job safe in the knowledge that you've done well and that's the end of your association with it is a nice feeling. In hindsight, the previous sentence is a little bit long.

If only the sun had shone while we were working, can't have everything though. At least it came out for the photo shoot at the end! Thank you to Alan and Wally, of Beard's Blinds, who are a pleasure to work for at all times and proper 'old school' chaps. When you're in the groove, nothing can hold you back. Well, nothing except a load of bolted down tables and chairs that is...

Large Dutch blinds