How to Measure

Ten minutes with a tape measure and a phone camera is all this takes. Get these four numbers right and your awning fits the wall the first time.

What you need

• A tape measure that reaches your full wall width in one go — joining two measurements is where errors creep in
• A step ladder
• Your phone, for photos we will check against your numbers

1. Width of the opening

Measure the wall from obstruction to obstruction — downpipe to corner, window frame to pillar — at the height the awning will sit, not at ground level. Walls are rarely square.

Give us the total width you want covered, not the wall width. We add nothing and subtract nothing: the number you approve is the cassette length, end cap to end cap. Leave at least 100 mm clear at each end for the mounting brackets and hand clearance.

2. Projection — how far out

Measure from the wall out into the yard to where you want the shade to end.

Projection	What it covers
2.0 m	A doorway, a bistro table for two
2.5 m	A four-seat table, or a lounge against the wall
3.0 m	A six-seat dining table with room to walk behind the chairs
3.5–4.0 m	A full outdoor room, or deep afternoon shade on a west wall

Remember the awning slopes down as it extends — typically 14°. At 3 m projection the front bar sits about 700 mm lower than the cassette.

3. Mounting height

Measure from the ground (or deck) to where the top of the cassette will sit. Two rules:

• Minimum 2.4 m at the cassette, so the front bar still clears head height when extended.
• Mount above the door or window head, not beside it, and leave 150 mm clear above the cassette for the brackets.

If your eave is in the way, tell us — we supply roof-rafter and soffit brackets as well as wall brackets.

4. What the wall is made of

This determines the fixings, and it is the one thing we cannot see from a photo alone. Tell us which of these it is:

• Double brick or solid masonry — ideal, chemical anchors straight in.
• Brick veneer — the outer skin will not hold an awning. We fix through to the timber frame or steel lintel behind it, and we need to know the stud spacing.
• Concrete or besser block — ideal.
• Timber frame with cladding — fine, but we fix to studs, so send a photo of the wall with a stud finder marking on it.
• Rendered foam / lightweight cladding — needs a through-fixing to structure. Ask us before you order.

5. Send us photos

Three shots, taken from about five metres back: the whole wall square-on, one from each end along the wall, and a close-up of anything in the way — downpipes, meter boxes, air-conditioning units, light fittings, security cameras. Message them to us and we will mark up the bracket positions on the drawing before anything is cut.

Common mistakes

• Measuring at ground level instead of at mounting height. Render bands and window reveals change the width up high.
• Forgetting the downpipe. It is almost always exactly where you want the bracket.
• Ordering the widest thing that fits. If the fit is within 50 mm of an obstruction, go a size down — thermal movement and installation tolerance need somewhere to go.
• Rounding. We build to the centimetre. Give us 4.37 m, not "about four and a half".

Not sure?

Send us the photos and your rough numbers and we will do the measuring reasoning for you before you pay anything. That check is free and there is no obligation attached to it.