Hail on a Retractable Awning: Fabric, Arms and the Wall Brackets

A retractable awning over a patio door or a kitchen window takes hail in three places: the fabric, the aluminum arms and the wall brackets that hold the whole frame to the house. Many owners check the cloth and stop there. On a St. Louis house the brackets matter as much as the fabric, because a bracket that has pulled loose from brick or siding lets water into the wall behind it. That water rarely shows the same day. It shows later as a stain on the trim, a soft spot in the sill or a patch of paint that bubbles beside a window.

Storm and hail

Hail in the metro usually arrives in spring and early summer, often in the late afternoon when a line of storms moves across from the west. A fabric awning that is out during those hours has no protection once the stones start. Even a cloth that is only partly rolled can take hits along its open edge, where the fabric hangs free. After a storm, walk the awning before you roll it in, because a rolled cloth hides the damage on its underside and dents on the arms are easy to miss from the ground.

Walk the awning in this order, and take a photo of each item before you touch it:

• The fabric face, looking for punctures, pulled threads and small holes where a stone went through.
• The seams and the hem, where hail can split stitching without leaving a visible hole.
• The arms, with dents in the aluminum or a bend near the elbow joint.
• The roller tube and its end caps, where a cracked cap or a bent tube can stop the cloth from rolling evenly.
• The valance, the bar that hangs along the bottom edge of the cloth.
• The wall brackets and the screws or anchors that hold them to the house.

What the fabric tells you

A stone that goes through the cloth leaves a clean hole with the threads pushed in or cut. A stone that lands hard without piercing often leaves a flattened patch, a thinned area or a line of broken threads that you can see when you hold the fabric up to daylight. Look at the cloth from the back as well. If you see a dark spot or a bloom of mildew after rain, water has been getting through a hole or a seam, and the cloth will need replacing rather than patching. Fabric replacement is work for an awning shop, and it is a separate job from the wall work.

Do not climb a ladder to test the fabric by pulling on it. The arms carry the tension, and a sudden tug can bend a bracket that was already loose. Open the awning only as far as you need to see the face, and leave the rest for someone with the right equipment.

The brackets are a roof detail

An awning bracket passes through the siding or the brick mortar, and whatever keeps water out of that opening is the flashing, the caulk or the sealant around the screw heads. Hail can crack a bead of caulk, shear the head off a fastener or bend the bracket far enough that it pulls against the wall. None of those signs is dramatic from the ground. Look for three things: a crack or gap in the caulk line where the bracket meets the wall, a screw head that sits above the surface instead of flush, and any stain on the wall below the bracket that runs down toward the sill.

If the awning sits under a roof edge, a porch roof or a gutter outlet, check where the water from above lands on the awning housing. Water that runs off a roof and collects on a housing can find the bracket line and follow it into the wall. In that case the bracket is not a separate problem from the roof above it. It is part of the same water path, and the roof crew and the awning crew should both look at it.

What it costs

An awning storm repair usually breaks into three lines, and a written quote should keep them apart. The first is the fabric, which is priced by the size and style of the cloth. The second is the arms and the roller tube, which are priced by whether they can be straightened and reused or need replacing. The third is the wall work, meaning the bracket fasteners, the caulk or sealant, and any flashing or siding that has to be opened to reach the anchor point. A quote that lumps all three together makes it hard to see which damage came from the hail and which came from an older leak or plain wear.

Missouri law (RSMo 407.725) bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, so an awning claim that goes to your insurer is yours to run. Keys Roofing documents the damage, puts a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands, and attends as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer. The statute does not stop a contractor from documenting the damage. It stops the contractor from speaking for you to the insurer.

What to ask

Before you sign for any awning or wall work after a storm, ask these questions and get the answers in writing:

1. Does the quote price the fabric, the arms and the wall brackets as separate lines?
2. Will the bracket fasteners be replaced, or only resealed over the old holes?
3. If the wall behind a bracket shows water, who opens the siding and checks the flashing, and is that work in the quote?
4. Will each arm, the roller tube and each bracket be photographed before the work starts and again after it finishes?
5. Can the awning be checked while closed, or does the crew need it extended to see the fabric?
6. Will the written scope show the measurements of the cloth and the bracket spacing?

If a bracket is loose or the wall below one has started to stain, call the Keys office at (314) 220-2333 before the next rain, and keep the awning rolled in until someone has looked at the anchor point. A loose bracket in a storm can shift the whole frame, and a rolled cloth caught in wind can tear at stitching that hail has already weakened.