Awning questions, answered

Fabric and metal awnings for homes and businesses. For homes: SummerSpace retractable awnings, motorized screens, patio enclosures, patio and deck awnings, patio covers and canopies, and window and door awnings.

For businesses: storefront and restaurant awnings, awning graphics and aluminum and steel awnings. When an awning’s fabric wears out, we recover it with a new cover.

Yes. The first consultation costs nothing. Most projects start with a few photos and rough measurements, which are usually enough for a ballpark. If you want to go ahead, we come out to measure and then send a written quote.

Phone photos are fine. Take one wide shot of the wall or space and one closer view of where the awning would mount. Add the rough width, how far out you want shade, which way it faces, and how you’ll use the space.

For a storefront, include a straight-on shot of the façade. You can add photos right in the estimate form.

Yes. We install across the Portland metro, including Vancouver, Lake Oswego, Tigard, West Linn, Happy Valley, Clackamas, Beaverton and Salem. In Central Oregon, our Bend team handles Bend and Redmond.

Farther out? Put the address in your request and we’ll confirm before anything is scheduled. See the service area.

Yes. Fixed fabric awnings are made to measure: we build the frame to fit the opening and sew the cover in our shop, in the solid or stripe you choose. Retractable awnings are sized to your wall and covered in Sunbrella or Tempotest fabric.

Business names and logos can go on the valance or the slope; see awning graphics.

For nearly every awning, solution-dyed acrylic. People still say “canvas,” but cotton canvas is now mostly a heritage or specialty choice. In acrylics like Sunbrella, the color goes into the fiber before it’s spun, so it holds its color, and Sunbrella rates it to resist mold, mildew and water through a wet Portland winter.

The full comparison is in Canvas vs. acrylic awning fabric.

Yes, and it helps. The showroom at 2728 NW Nela St keeps fabric samples you can hold up against a photo of your house or storefront. Drop in Monday to Thursday, 7:00 am to 5:30 pm, or call to book a Friday or Saturday visit.

Most of it, yes. Covers are cut and sewn in our Northwest Portland shop, aluminum frames are welded there, and lettering goes on with our own graphics equipment. Retractable awnings and screens come from SummerSpace and Futureguard; we size, install and service them.

The shop has been on NW Nela St since 1954. More in about the shop.