When making any home improvement decision, there’s inevitably where you ask, “Is this really going to be worth the money?” With things like a new roof or a sturdy entry door, you don’t have much of a choice. You have to have it, and it costs what it costs. But with something like a retractable awning over your deck or patio, there may be a little more to consider.
A retractable awning is by no means the most expensive investment you can make in your home, but for most homeowners every penny counts. It’s only natural to want to be sure you’re going to get your dollars’ worth before you make anything final. Here are a few ways that a new retractable patio awning might make it worth your money:
- Expanding the size of your home. While this might sound a little far-fetched, consider the summer months. If you have a deck or patio, it’s basically unlivable as long as the brutal summer sun is beating down on it. Walking barefoot burns, and being relegated to the ever-shifting space beneath an umbrella is more like imprisonment than anything else. And, of course, no need to mention the downsides to spending time on a patio during a rain storm. A retractable awning will kill both birds with one stone, covering the entire area of your patio and protecting you from both the sun and the rain. You’ll basically have a second, open-air living room at that point, and more livable, usable space in your home.
- Lowering your home energy bills. When the summer months roll around, the number energy expense in most homes is air conditioning. What heats your home up in the summer? It’s the same thing that heats everything up – the sun. By providing shade and restricting the amount of natural sunlight that gets into your home, a retractable awning naturally cools the home and makes your central air or air conditioning unit use less energy to do its job.
Of course, there may be times when you actually want the sun to warm your home a bit. In winter time, for instance. Once the colder season comes, your awning can retract, letting the sunshine in and making your home heating costs a little lighter in the process.
Between energy savings, long lifespan, and the benefits to quality of life that retractable awnings can confer, it seems safe to say that they’re worth every penny. Of course value is ultimately subjective, but if you like saving money and having a nice time in the summer, it seems like an awning would justify its cost no problem.
If you’re in Connecticut, get your retractable awning from Aladdin Inc. in Hamden. They sell and install awnings from the biggest names in the industry, like SunSetter, Sunesta, NUImage, an more. They’ve been Connecticut’s top awning seller since 1949. If you’re in Connecticut, they’re the place to go, period.
