ADVANING DA4731-PWS1N PN Series, Crystal Polycarbonate Door/Window Awning Ideal for Rain, Snow and UV Protection, 47"W x 31"D, Clear/White Brackets

My husband and I own a handyman company, we bought this for a customer who wanted a clear awning for her backdoor. She absolutely loved it! It was super easy to install, it's clear so don't expect much shade as expected but it's sturdy, protects you from the rain. The price was actually very good and the quality I couldn't be happier with. Not to much plastic and it fit great. I would highly recommend this product. I hope that helps!

Used two of the ADVANING PA Series awning kits to cover the full width of French doors for protection from SW weather and sun exposure (in NM high desert). The product installation instructions warned me about need for TWO people (& 2 ladders), and I should have taken that warning more literately to mean that this is NOT a simple DIY project for just one person, especially if the outside wall is a stucco type wall, and you have to be concerned about gusty (heavy at times) wind and some winter snow loads on this awning. A stucco wall will not provide a sufficiently hard surface and strength to fasten the two (or four) aluminum brackets, when using only the hardware provided in the kit. The instructions suggest to assemble the whole awning unit on the ground and then lift it up to the wall...presumably with the help of two people and two ladders,... (and maybe a third person to mark the wall for placement holes/anchors to be per-installed?) My installation plan had to be extensively adapted to make it possible to install with only one person (myself), and that evolved into also requiring that only one bracket at a time would be installed, and after being installed I wanted to be able to lift only the plastic cover up the ladder and just drop it onto the pre-installed brackets. The two bolts at the back of the plastic awning cover were changed to be longer and pre-fastened so that it could function as a way to drop-n-lock into the bracket, without having to hold the 40"x30" plastic at the same time as trying to fasten it in place. See the two photos of my added brackets that I fabricated to pre-install on the wall and provide bolts pointing outwards to the frame of the awnings. A lot of extra work involved in all this, but it was satisfying and worth it.

This is a well-designed and solidly constructed product. What drew us to this one is the way that the awning is connected to its supporting brackets. On many others (typically less expensive ones), the brackets are on the edges of the awning, which is held in place by the inward compression exerted by the brackets. On this one, however, the brackets sit under the awning and are attached to it by 6 bolts. There is thus no danger of the awning falling, slipping, being blown out of the brackets. The assembly was simple and straightforward (with one exception, to be mentioned below), if time-consuming. The installation of the assembled awning-and-bracket combination was another matter. Part of our difficulty, I admit, was due to us: I am 82, my wife is 71, so we are not the ideal pair to be doing this sort of work. Another part was due to some peculiar features of our project: there is a greenhouse on one side of the door, and a large Wisteria bush on the other, so there was no way to offset the ladders to the outside of the doorway. And, yes, two ladders (and two installers) are required for this project, as the instructions make perfectly clear. Since we were mounting the awning into the siding directly above our door, and were not confident that there were structural members behind the siding where the brackets would be screwed in, we decided to mount a pair of 2x4s above the lintel. We screwed the 2x4s into the studs, and then attached the brackets to the 2x4s. (Naturally, the mounting holes for the brackets did not themselves align with the studs.) To keep the mounting brackets perpendicular to the ground, we attached reversed pieces of siding first, before screwing in the 2x4s. You can see all of this very clearly in one of the attached photos. There are some odd lapses in the Owner's Manual. Although for the most part the assembly instructions are very clear, they do not stress that one must be very careful about the orientation of the awning bar relative to the awning sheet. There are two ways it can be done, and only one of the is correct. If you do it wrong, it is exceedingly difficult to separate the bar (with its rubber strip) from the sheet. (They are obviously not meant to be pried apart once connected). When it comes to the installation, you are told to "make sure to use the appropriate sized drill bit for the mounting screws," but you are not told what that size is. Fortunately, a call to Advaning yielded the answer: 15/64". (Thanks to Jesse, at Advaning, who was very helpful.) Another peculiarity is the odd mix of metric and SAE hardware provided. The lag screws that attach the brackets to the wall are metric (13mm), but the bolts that secure the awning to the brackets are SAE (1/2"). Not a serious problem, since the well-equipped DIYer will surely have both kinds of tools. Or, you might even do the whole job with an adjustable wrench. (Interesting sidelight: the installation video, when displaying the tools you'll need, shows a Crescent wrench, but then the installers in the video are shown using a socket wrench (with an extension). I definitely recommend the socket wrench -- it takes many, many, turns of the wrench to drive the lag screws all the way in -- and you'll need the extension for the upper lag screws in order to clear the acorn nut that secures the awning to the bracket. So, putting this in was quite a workout, but we think the results were worth it. This is an unobtrusive but attractive awning, and it appears that it will last a good long time.

Excellent awning which looks great. The kit was safely delivered before time.

Good product

We love it because it protects from the rain while I wait outside for the cab would have been better brown to protect from the bright sun

Need two people to assemble and install. Looks great and functions well.

Om time