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Why don't we use awnings anymore (2022)

(thecraftsmanblog.com)
413 points samclemens | 1 comments | 15 Oct 24 22:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.203s | source
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pistoleer ◴[16 Oct 24 07:10 UTC] No.41856374[source]▶
It surprises me to read about "fixed metal frame" awnings. You don't _have_ to make that trade off.

In the Netherlands a lot of houses have electrically retractable awnings (or even just mechanically windable by hand), especially above the giant windows facing the back yard.

During winter and bad weather, we retract the awning. When it's too sunny, we deploy it.

typical row house layout with big windows on both sides: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorzonwoning

retractable awning: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zonnescherm

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dumbo-octopus ◴[16 Oct 24 07:55 UTC] No.41856655[source]▶
We have them in america too. But every moving part comes with inflated costs for both acquisition and ongoing maintenance.
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pistoleer ◴[16 Oct 24 08:00 UTC] No.41856685[source]▶
In the Netherlands it costs around a grand, as for maintenance... Haven't needed to do any in more than 15 years. The actual screen retracts into a weather proof metal casing, so there's not that much that goes wrong, whereas fixed awnings are exposed to the full weather gamut 24/7.

Let me put it this way: it's cheap enough that a lot of social housing and other cheap forms of housing inhabited by the "lower class" feature them.

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dumbo-octopus ◴[16 Oct 24 08:14 UTC] No.41856747[source]▶
A government paying for a thing does not in any way imply that the thing is a good use of money. How many decades of fabric replacements could you get from the savings of bolting on a simple metal frame as compared to an elaborate electromechanically actuated arm mechanism?
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jve ◴[16 Oct 24 08:59 UTC] No.41857020[source]▶
Reading your comments, including down the thread I'd want to remind some guidelines:

> Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

Your comments currently stand close to trolling and it is annoying.

You may find other useful ones, too: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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1. dfxm12 ◴[16 Oct 24 17:17 UTC] No.41861456[source]▶
Interestingly, trolling does not appear to be against the guidelines, but posts like yours suggesting someone might be (close to) a troll are. After all, the guidelines tell us to assume good faith, but do they say anywhere that you must post in good faith? It seems like our only recourse under the guidelines is to flag a post and hope for the best.