Palram-Canopia Aquila 1500 5x3 Door Awning for Door Entrance, High-End Polycarbonate Window Awning with Clear Panels, UV Protection, Modern Metal Frame, Weather Resistant Overhang, DIY Exterior

Overall, this awning is very nice. I installed one to help keep my patio entrance a little drier during rain storms and to reduce the amount of water getting into the doorway. My house is stucco and I had to drill into it for the installation. The supplied hardware works well for mounting into thicker substrate like concrete or wood, but if you happen to miss a stud, you will want toggle bolts for a more secure hold. I missed the stud on one side and the included bolt anchor just couldn’t get a strong enough grip into the stucco and it just spun when I tried to tighten up the support arm bolt. As a result, that side drooped because it wasn’t as tight up against the stucco. I ended up fixing it by reinstalling it with a toggle bolt, some industrial adhesive, and added a supporting wire above. Not necessarily any fault of the company’s for not being able to accommodate all and every possible installation. More like a homeowner’s responsibility to know what they are drilling into and how to accommodate for it.I would highly recommend caulking the hardware to the wall during the installation. The weatherstripping is good, but it still leaked when up against a very rough surface like stucco. I used Sashco Mor-Flexx grey stucco caulking and it blended in perfectly with my stucco and sealed everything up nicely.

Top quality item, they didn’t cut any corners making this product! Easy instructions and everything included. Really really really well made. Very glad that I didn’t but one of the cheap plastic competitors!!

The Palram Aquila 1500 is a high quality product (I ordered the gray bracket color with a solar gray panel), as soon as I opened the package I could tell. The support brackets are thick solid steel, powder paint coated and seems to be a very dependable, long lasting product. Other awnings I have researched at lesser cost have bracket arms that are made of plastic which, in my opinion, are not as good structurally subject to the weather conditions (wind and snow load) we have here in Chicago. UV and age effect all plastic in terms of strength and longevity over time and if one goes through all of the work necessary to install this product, one needs to install the best possible. I did install this product by myself, two people would have been much easier though.As I said, I purchased the brackets in a powder coated gray colored paint however, I wanted the awning to match my trim, storm door, light fixtures and house address numbers colors. I ordered a custom color paint and repainted all of the metal items (even the aluminum pieces) with this color (2 coats). Caution, if one decides to do this, take care of the type of paint you use because powder coated surfaces are difficult to re-paint. A strong primer will be needed to assure proper adhesion. I had to use a primer.I purchased this awning for installation in a recessed soffit (5 foot wide X 2 foot deep) over the front entrance of my house. The soffit construction consisted of cedar siding over plywood sheathing on 2 X 4 wood studs. The soffit its self was 3/8" rough sawn cedar plywood. The instructions (not many words, just a series of graphics explaining how to install the awning) that came with the awning did NOT address this type of construction at all. The fasteners provided addressed installation in basically masonry walls. The lag bolts (5/16" X 3-1/2" long) provided would work in wood framed walls IF the bracket holes aligned with the wood studs in the wall (they did not).Being an Architect, knowing the importance of a very positive, strong connection between a cantilevered awning and the house exterior wall, I needed to verify the actual construction I had in the soffit. Hoping that I had a double 2 X 8 or 2 X 10 double header of sufficient length across the opining and thickness of the headers for the use of the provided lag bolts, I removed the soffit plywood soffit to find out for sure. Just my luck, I did not, soffits generally do not need headers becaust they are not normally bearing walls. Therefore, I had more work to do. I had to construct additional wood attachment for the bracket hole fasteners as well as additional wall bracing to the soffit wall to transfer any excessive loads back to my house walls. I sketched a very crude detail for this additional wood framing, see below (might help you). I used new 5/16" X 5" bolts (washers and nuts), not lag screws, as well as ALL wood screws (#9 X 3-1/2" long) to construct this detail to insure a very strong, braced connection for the awning.Tip, if you install long wood screws and lag bolts, always drill the right diameter pilot hole first, coat the fastener threads with bee's wax or any wax first. Lag bolts can break off if they are over stressed. If they do, you now really have a problem dealing with getting the broken piece out of the hole.So, even though my installation was not as typical as I originally thought, when completed, I was very satisfied with the end result. Sorry this is so long but, I thought the info provided may help others.

Awning went up no problem and looks great

As noted by other reviewers, packaging took a beating in transit but product was in perfect condition and all parts arrived. Installation was not easy breezy in my case but not by fault of the product which is heavy and appears to be of great quality.My install was above a patio door that was only half covered by a deep eave, the other half of which got direct exposure from rain every storm needed to be covered without obscuring my view with a canvas option. This seemed like the perfect solution and I am happy to say it is...now that it is installed which took some wrangling.The existing eave presented a problem when it came time to install the awning due to limiting the clearance (photo attached). The install of the solid material of the awning requires that the solid piece flex up and then be put into the front edge during assembly and after the brackets are mounted. The instructions show the clearance required so my bad for not noticing it prior to mounting the brackets because it would not fit without a work around.We were able to get it done by removing from wall, assembling the whole awning first, including the solid plastic piece, and THEN attaching to the wall, with very little clearance above the partial existing deep eave. Not as easy as the assembly they call for but necessary work around in this case due to minimal clearance. Hope this helps someone else.Overall, great product so far. It rained the next day and looks like it will doing a great job of protecting the wood door for the future without obscuring a view and staying true to the modern look of my home. Would recommend this product.

I purchased this months ago but my children were not able to come and install it until the end of September. Since being installed over my front north facing door it is holding up great. The winds where I live blow very hard at times, 40-50+ mph with sustained winds at 30-35 mph. I haven’t noticed any loosening which was my biggest fear. There has been some snow and ice here however it hasn’t been heavy yet so am not sure about how it will hold up once winter really begins. As I only watched it being installed I can’t really comment on the ease of installation. I would like one for the back door of my house however there isn’t enough space to mount it.

Ordered this because I didn't want one of those cheap all plastic affairs, have to say it's well engineered, if I'm honest, as an engineer myself, it's a little over engineered, the supporting arms cut from 5mm plate, so this thing isn't going to fall down any time soon, it's well made, everything is nicely powder coated, fixings are stainless, and the bolts for the support arms overkill just like the arms, I think I could hang off the end of this door cover with out any issues, weather strip seals are provided for the wall plate and the roof, the instructions are clear and simple, although the order they tell you to put the item up isn't the best, put the wall plate up first and fixing it to the wall, leave the roof weather strips out and fit them last, its much easier to fiat the weather strips to the roof than it is to screw the wall plate back to the wall when you are working over the top of the cover, the instructions also say to mount the cover 12" above the door, which is ok but a little too high, 8" would have been plenty for an exposed door and the dropped end of the cover would still be 4" above the top of the door frame, also I put this up in a couple of hours by myself, it's a bit tricky but can be done if you have a decent set of steps to work from and a ladder to fit the roof weather strips last, finally if you are fitting this on a side door don't fit it perfectly level, as water will run off both sided of the gutters, either angle the wall plate slightly or as I have done pack the top of the support arm that is furthest away from the side you approach from, out slightly to make the water run off the other end of the cover, one final, final thought now it's raining, fit the wall plate so the weather strip runs along the motor line, not across the brick as I have done or it might not seal properly and required some help from builders silicone sealant, as mine did. All in all a good quality metal constructed door cover, bomb proof and good loooking, having learned lessons from fitting this, it would been perfect first go if I had just thought about it a little bit more when I was putting it up. PS. Use plenty of soap and water to get the wall plate weather seal in or even so light oil, I used soap otherwise it's a real struggle, with soap it's easy, if a bit messy, but it washes off in seconds with a hosepipe

Product is very sturdy. Quite hard to fit, but partly down to my configuration as I have a light over the door: hence I had to fit the perspex sheet from the side as I could not bend it back from the front edge as suggested, because it wouldn't bend under the light.That said, I cannot for the life of me get the horizontal strip screws all the way in with only my stepladder for access from the side. With a ladder leaned against the front, longer arms and a heftier screwdriver it might be possible.My main observation though is the the front edge dips down to the right as seen from outside. Now, I made sure that the horizontal strip (and hence the top of the brackets) was dead level, both with reference to a spirit level and the mortar line. As I look at the canopy it appears that front edge dips relative to the rear horizontal strip, so I'm sure it's not my fitting. I wonder if this is a design feature so that water tips off one end and that the right hand bracket has a slightly different curve for this reason? Or is it just a manufacturing fault? Anyone know?If it is by design, I'm not sure how you would connect several together without them running progressively downhill, so to speak. It does say in the instructions that "once fully assembled it is impossible to add the extension". I wonder if this is why?Note that there is no scope for adjusting the brackets once the holes are drilled into the wall.UPDATE: I put a couple of washers between the bracket and the wall at the bottom screw position on the RHS. These act as shims to bring the front edge up level on the RHS. It's because my brick wall isn't perfectly flat and if you tighten up against it, any "out of square/flat" will show as a wonky front edge. So be prepared to make adjustments with suitable packing pieces or shims (not provided) if this is the case.

Very pleased with the quality and how sturdy this canopy is, however would have given it 5-stars but the polycarbonate panel was 5mm too long I had to cut a small notch so I could screw the one end cap on, I did this rather than take the panel back down and cut it to the correct size, also found an easier way to put the panel on, i first screwed the cross bar to the wall and put the round bar in place at the front and simply inserted into the channels and then bowed it to the shape to the 1st strut and gentlyslid the panel along slowly while supporting in the middle, much rather this way than follow the instructions by putting the cross bar on the panel and then screwing to the wall, definetly would have found it more difficult doing it this way, also make sure you put the two long rubber seals the right way up, the concave shape will need to dish upwards, the instructions are not very clear showing this, if you don't insert the correct way up it won't be water tight.!

Unfortunately, when this arrived we opened the box to find one of the arms missing. I rang the supplier who sent another the same day. Top marks for customer service. This product was dead easy to assemble following the instructions provided. I managed all of it on my own up to the point of actually fitting it to the wall when it was handy to have someone help by holding it steady in place while I fitted and tightened the bolts. Although close up it does look a bit plastic-y it is not at all flimsy and looks great from a bit further away. My neighbours have already remarked how good it looks.

So pleased with this purchase. Looks great. Make sure you measure a few times before you drill. Did everything on my own until lifting the panel on that took 2 minutes to fix well pleased.