Fabric awnings are important elements for providing shaded exterior living spaces for houses, businesses, and RVs, among others. It serves to protect those beneath from harsh weather elements such as extreme heat, rain, strong winds up to 23 mph, and snow and often makes the area healthy and dry.
The sunshade fabric also acts against the sun’s UVA and UVB, but rather, its qualitative embodiments protect people and the environment from invisible rays. The fabric also helps cool down the occupied area to a certain extent so that the heat accumulation is minimized, and thus if air-conditioning is used, the cost is lower.
When your awning’s fabric has undergone a long time of rough weather or environment, you might need to do an awning fabric replacement. Let’s see how you can do it in the best possible way with some additional tips!
Awning fabric is the fabric used as an outdoor shade for houses, stores, restaurants, RVs, campers, etc. The main purpose of an awning fabric is to create a safe, shielded, and weather-protected outdoor living area. Let’s look into the other key roles of an awning to help you understand why you should get one.
Protection Against Bad Weather
An awning protects against extreme heat, torrential rain, heavy wind (up to 23 mph), and snow. Therefore, you get a usable and dry outdoor space even during an unpleasant weather condition. A good quality awning fabric not only saves you from heat but also blocks harmful UVA and UVB rays to protect your skin and surroundings.
Maintains Neutral Temperature
With the awning fabric, your outdoor space remains cooler and more comfortable. Even the nearby rooms of an awning fabric get saved from heat build-up.
Also, awning fabric shades windows and walls and stops the heat from going inside your house, restaurant, or store. Consequently, air-conditioning costs are reduced to some extent.
Turns Out To Be An Aesthetic Consideration
Awning fabric comes in a wide range of designs, colors, textures, and patterns. This is where you get the chance to be creative and use the awning to decorate your outdoor space while complementing your current furnishings.
Awning fabric can also be used as a new architectural touch to your building. So, you get an extra beautiful space to spend some quality time with your friends and family.
Provides Privacy
It goes without saying that awning fabrics enhance the level of privacy by blocking the view from the outside. You can use the secured and shaded place for various purposes.
Saves Your Area From Getting Damaged
A high-quality awning fabric can resist mildew, fading, and rain damage. Thus, the durability of the awning fabric works to extend the lifespan of your house or camper.
Is Awning Fabric Replacement Possible?
Yes, the awning fabric is replaceable. You can do it on your own or call a professional. If you have a bit of DIY skills and the right tools, try replacement awning fabric by watching some YouTube videos. However, let us give an overview of the project simply:
Start with taking down the old fabric. Be super careful while detaching it from the frame using a replacement awning fabric kit. While you remove the screws and bolts from the frame, make sure you hold the fabric steady. It’ll be easier if you have someone who can help.
Now, take a measuring tape to take the dimensions of the awning frame and purchase the replacement fabric accordingly. Make sure the measurements are accurate. You can get the fabric from nearby improvement stores or order it online.
For replacing awning fabric, align it with the frame while securing it in place with the screws and bolts you detached at the very beginning. The screwing method would vary depending on the design of your awning. It should come with a manual; read it for instructions. You can look for tutorials on YouTube to be more accurate.
Lastly, check and adjust the awning and make sure it’s tight and is functioning appropriately.
Benefits Of Replacing Your Awning Fabric
Replacing the awning fabric certainly brings forth a pack of advantages. Along with enhancing the functionality and safety of outdoor space, let’s see the other key benefits of replacing awning fabric:
A Whole New Look: Replacing awning fabric on RV brings an opportunity to try out new designs, colors, styles, and decors on your awning.
Extended Durability: The awning fabric often fades and wears out due to weather conditions or debris over time. If you replace it with a high-quality, extra durable one, the new one will play its role better while providing superior protection against weather and other issues.
Better Protection Against Sun: Brands are constantly working on enhancing the sun-blocking features of the awning fabric. Hence, the new fabric will have an increased UV protection capacity.
Smarter Functionality: The newly installed fabric will definitely be easier to roll up and down than the old one. Thus, you will have an effortless functionality.
Reduced Hassle: The new awning fabric will be much easier to clean, manage, and maintain. You’ll save so much of your time this way.
Boosted Energy Efficiency: Today’s awning fabrics come with smarter insulation elements, ensuring the regulation of temperature under the shade and in nearby rooms. Thus, you save air-conditioning costs by motorhome awning fabric replacement.
Increased Comfort: With a new fabric, you’ll get unbeatable protection from all sorts of elements or debris. You can expand the area for more comfort, relaxation, and fun outdoor tasks by selecting a larger replacement fabric as well.
How To Choose The Right Replacement Fabric?
When you plan on retractable awning replacement fabric, your very first concern should be choosing the right fabric. Well, you can always turn to an expert, but let us make it easier for you. Here are some factors you need to consider while choosing the new awning fabric.
Material Considerations
Choosing the right fabric material is crucial when choosing the awning fabric. Among plenty of options, acrylic fabric is the best option considering durability, style, protection against extreme weather conditions, fading, mildew resistance, and more.
On the other hand, if we talk about other trendy materials, each of them is popular for different characteristics. Unfortunately, they ultimately fail to strike a balance between all the features.
For instance, polyester would be a durable pick, olefin is budget-friendly, and cotton canvas resists mold and mildew. However, acrylic awning fabric combines all these features to offer you a very satisfying service.
Color And Design
You can pick any color or design according to your preferences. But the smarter way is picking dark colors for summer and light colors for winter. Dark colors absorb more heat.
On a different note, picking colors like white, light blues, greens, and yellows would be better than choosing a bright color like red. Owning to the fact that lighter shades are less likely to get dull over time.
Climate Considerations
The type of awning fabric you’re picking should come according to the weather conditions in the area you plan to live in. For instance, if your area is hot and sunny all the time, pick an awning fabric that primarily centralizes UV and fade resistance.
On the other hand, if you live in a cold area with frequent snow, get an awning fabric that can tolerate tough winter conditions. Acrylic fabric would be the right choice in this case. You won’t need to retract the acrylic awning even when it’s snowing heavily.
The Quality
You should never compromise the quality of the awning fabric. A high-quality one can meet all the other requirements, including UV resistance, weather protection, smooth functionality, durability, etc. Choose a good brand with high ratings.
Functionality
Before choosing an awning fabric, make sure it functions smoothly. Check if it’s easy to extend and also retract. Along with flexibility, you need portability especially if you’re getting the awning fabric for your camper.
Durability
Your awning fabric should last around 8-12 years. So, look for a guarantee from the company ensuring durability. However, aluminum awning fabric is known to be the best for longevity.
Budget
Awning fabrics range from $200-$1200. If you want a heavy-duty yet budget-friendly fabric, you might have to spend around $700. The size and materials of the fabric would determine the price.
DIY Vs. Professional Awning Installation
If you’ve decided to go for an awning fabric replacement, you might be wondering whether to tackle the project on your own or call a professional. Learning the consequences of both actions can help you conclude.
Factor
Professional
DIY
Cost
Quite expensive, including the payment of service providers and materials
Comparatively lower, only for the material and tools
Process Quality
Better craftsmanship with high-quality materials and right tools
It would depend on your skills and expertise in replacement method
Time Consumption
Fast and efficient
Slower, your schedule will play the role
Tools
Service providers will bring all the professional standard necessary tools
Mostly basic tools
Results
Professional grade, top-notch results
Would vary depending on individual expertise
Cost
Calling a professional for your awning fabric replacement project would definitely be a costly option. Even so, the outcome will certainly be worth the price.
However, if you can handle it on your own, it’s better to use the money wisely. Owning the basic tools will only lead to spending on some specialized beginner-friendly tools and the material.
If you do it on your own, you would spend around $700, including the price of the kit, fabric, and tools. Conversely, a professional service along with the material would cost you around $1200-$1500.
Process Quality
Professionals obviously own advanced tools, efficient craftsmanship, and most significantly, better customization ideas. The tips and tricks they follow and the suggestions they give to you for a better experience with the awning fabric are priceless. For all these, calling a professional seems more practical.
Time Consumption
If you call professionals, they’ll, without any doubt, be super fast in the whole project. They know what minimizes the hassle of the process. On the contrary, DIY replacement would completely depend on your schedule and work speed.
Tools
DIY fabric replacement would require a bunch of tools, mostly basic ones. But if you’re a beginner, you will need some specialized ones. On the contrary, calling a professional lets you release the tension of buying any tool or material completely.
Results
If you’re good at using the basic tools, watch some YouTube tutorials, and follow the instructions from the fabric brand’s manual, you’ll be good to go with the project. You need to be super careful with the screwing method. Inversely, professionals will leave you with a smooth finish and the best possible outcome.
Maintenance Tips For Awning Fabric Longevity
A well-cared awning fabric will undoubtedly serve longer. Still, there are some maintenance tricks you need to follow deliberately to keep your awning fabric long-lasting and resist mold, mildew, and fading. Here you go:
Dry The Fabric Properly
Drying the fabric is super important to keep the color intact and fight against fading, mold, and mildew growth. This step will also terminate the possibility of rot and rust on nearby walls or surfaces of your house or camper.
Cleaning Practices
Regular cleaning practices will prevent dirt, pollutants, and debris build-up. Therefore, there will be no bad smells, mosquitoes, or bacteria around your favorite outdoor space.
Immediate Stain Cleaning
Never postpone stain cleaning and let the water flow down. However, avoid planting vines or shrubbery anywhere near the awning.
Brush Off Dust
To resist mud buildup after rain, you must brush off the loose dirt on your awning fabric regularly. Use a soft broom for doing so.
Air Dry
Never go for heat drying the fabric; only air drying is safe enough to keep the fabric in its best condition. Otherwise, it might start fading way before its expiry.
Routine Inspection
Schedule a regular inspection for your awning fabric. Look closely to detect signs of fading, mildew, or potential damage right away. You can even sign up for professional maintenance and inspection as well.
Conditions To Avoid
To reduce the cleaning hassle, avoid parking your camper under trees to protect it from falling leaves. If your awning fabric is installed in your house, consider retracting it during extreme weather conditions, especially in case of heavy wind (above 23 mph).
Signs Your Awning Fabric Needs To Be Replaced
Although awning fabric succeeds in enduring elements while looking fresh for a long time, it will need to be replaced after a certain period. But the question is, how would you know when to go for awning fabric replacement? Well, simmer down since we’re about to hint at the signs for the replacement.
Fading Colors
No matter how great the awning fabric you get, sunlight and UV rays will eventually take over the colored surface of the fabric, showing no exception. Constant sun exposure will cause the fabric to lose its vibrancy. The moment you notice a significant loss of color, you must consider the replacement as the fabric will no longer provide UV protection.
Tears, Rips, And Holes
The most obvious sign is having tears and holes in the fabric. These tears will keep getting worse while losing the fabric’s effectiveness, and you won’t get the outdoor protection as before. Also, fraying edges can work as a sign.
Mold Or Mildew
If not cleaned regularly, mildew can effectively damage the fabric and decrease its lifespan. So, if you notice any dark spot on the fabric, replace it as soon as possible unless you want the mold to spread out in your home or camper.
Saggy Awning
If your awning fabric is sagging, it’s a good sign that your fabric is old enough to be replaced. Not changing the saggy fabric will cause it to collect water and cause many other problems.
How Do You Repair Fabric Awnings?
Repairing awning fabric is a manageable task, but the extent of damage plays a crucial role. However, let’s give you a brief about the process with step-by-step guidance.
Cleaning The Fabric
The very first step of repairing the fabric is cleaning it properly. Start with brushing off the dust and dirt using a soft broom. Now clean it using a bit of soap and water. Avoid using a brush for this; sponges should be enough.
Make sure the soap you’re using doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals. After washing, let the fabric dry completely in only air.
Preparations
Once you’re done cleaning, inspect the fabric to trace the damage. Carefully cut loose threads around the affected portion.
Repairs
You can use patch kits to fix small holes. But in case of larger tears and rips, use a sewing machine. Try applying zigzag stitches. Another pro tip is placing a patch underneath the rip for durability and strength.
Aftercare
After sewing, it’s very effective to spray waterproofing liquid to keep the fabric’s water resistance intact. You’ll find the spray in any nearby fabric store.
If the damage, rips, or tears are too extreme for you to handle with DIY knowledge, consider calling a professional. They’ll be able to provide an appropriate, long-lasting repair.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can you just replace the fabric on an awning?
Yes, replacing awning fabric is quite an easy and inexpensive process. It enables you to overhaul your home by putting in new designs. For instance, one can use the many colors offered by their Sunbrella range. This simple update can improve the look and utility of the awning in question.
What fabrics are best for awnings?
Canvas, vinyl, and acrylic fabrics are said to be sturdy and stretchable, whereas canvas or acrylic fabrics offer strength and protection from the sun rays. People’s choice of acrylic comes from its durability, design and protection from extreme weather. What fabric is ideal will depend on what you want it for, and how much stress you want exerted onto the material, be it aesthetic stress or stress concerning robustness.
How do you waterproof a fabric awning?
An awning fabric waterproofing spray is a liquid with petroleum that will render the awning waterproof. Ensure the product is compatible with your specific fabric. However, the fabric that has been applied makes various brands modifiable to certain products, taking into consideration that certain fabrics have their limits as to water pockets and resonance.
Bottom Line
The procedure of awning fabric replacement is inexpensive yet quite effective in improving the outer appearance of the house and that of the awning itself. Thus, if the whole procedure is quite complicated for you to grasp, call out for professional help!
