Guide
Caring for your awning or screen
What to do in the first four hours, what to do when weather is forecast, and how to clean fabric without voiding anything.
Expectations first
The manufacturer's use-and-care sheet for the Open Roller product line sets out several things plainly, and every one of them is the answer to a call somebody eventually makes. A retractable screen without side tracks will show waves in the fabric — that is how a free-hanging mesh behaves, not a fault. A screen is not rain protection and it is not a guaranteed insect barrier at the edges. And these products are not to be used in high winds.
Retractable awnings carry the same shape of caution from the other direction: SunPro states explicitly that their awnings are not rain, storm or hurricane rated. An awning is a sun product. When the weather turns, it comes in.
Characteristics and cautions are SunPro's, from their Open Roller Use and Care Disclaimer and their awning warranty documentation.
Cleaning
Mild soap and water is the default and handles most of what lands on a screen. The manufacturer's care sheet also permits a diluted bleach solution at up to 10 percent for stubborn marks, and names 303 Cleaner and RMR-86 PRO as products it accepts.
What matters more than the cleaner is the drying. Rolling up a wet screen or awning is how mildew starts, and mildew from being rolled up wet is specifically excluded from the manufacturer's awning warranty.
Permitted cleaning agents are named in SunPro's Open Roller Use and Care Disclaimer. The mildew exclusion is from SunPro's awning warranty.
Seasonal
One item from SunPro's exclusion list is easy to miss and expensive to learn: leaving a valance attached to the front bar over winter is called out as an excluded cause of damage. If your awning has a valance, ask us at handover what the seasonal routine for it is.
Water pooling is another named exclusion. An awning that has been left out and has collected water in the fabric is carrying a load it was never designed for.
Step by step
You will need: Soft brush or cloth, Garden hose
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Leave a new screen down for the first four hours
The manufacturer asks that a new screen be left down for its first four hours in direct sunlight, so the fabric acclimates and settles into its shape before it is first rolled up.
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Retract before weather, not during it
Bring the awning in and secure the screen whenever severe weather is forecast. Do not wait to see how bad it gets — the point of retracting is that it happens before the wind arrives.
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Never leave a moving unit unattended
Watch the unit through its full travel whenever you operate it. If something is in its path, you want to be standing there.
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Rinse with mild soap and water
Wash the fabric with mild soap and water and rinse it clean. For stubborn marks, the manufacturer permits a bleach solution diluted to no more than 10 percent, or a named proprietary cleaner.
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Dry it fully before rolling up
Let the fabric dry completely before retracting. This is the single most important maintenance habit there is, and rolling up wet is an excluded cause of damage under the manufacturer's warranty.
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Check the hardware once a season
Look over the brackets, the tracks and the slide bar once a season for anything loose, and clear debris out of the side tracks. If something feels different when it runs, call us rather than forcing it.
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Stop using it if it binds or sags
If the unit binds, sags, or starts making a noise it did not make before, stop operating it and call us. Running a product that is already fighting itself is how a small fault becomes a replacement.
Where this comes from
SunPro Open Roller Use and Care Disclaimer; SunPro Awning Installation Manual (care and maintenance, pp. 21-24); SunPro Motorized Awning Limited Warranty (rev. 2023.08.15)
Published by SunPro Motorized Awnings & Screens.
Care instructions, permitted cleaning agents and the named exclusions are SunPro's published terms for their products. Following them is what keeps the manufacturer's coverage intact.
Products this applies to
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