Best awnings

Five workshops in and around Torre del Mar make, fit and repair terrace awnings, roller shutters and fly screens, and all five carry a public rating. The leader holds a 4.9 across 77 opinions, the deepest record in the trade.

Ask the community before you order

This is the step people skip and then regret. In a block of flats the facade is common property, and communities usually fix the colour, the model and sometimes the fixing for awnings so the building stays uniform. Order first and you can be told to take it down at your own cost. A look at the community rules or a call to the administrator settles it in five minutes.

The wind decides what you should buy

The poniente, the westerly, gets up in the afternoon on this coast, and an awning that is wrong for it will not survive a season. Ask about wind resistance and about automatic retraction, which is what protects it when nobody is home.

Repair before replacement

Restrapping or re-mechanising a persiana is everyday work for these workshops and it is a repair far more often than people assume. Ask for that quote too before agreeing to a new installation.