Retractable awnings in Malaga shade that comes out and folds away

The price of a retractable awning in Malaga depends mainly on its size. The width sets how many metres of fabric and front bar you need, and the projection (how far it comes out) sets the length and strength of the arms. An awning with a large projection needs sturdier arms and sometimes more brackets on the facade, and that shows in the quote.

Then come the finishes: the fabric you choose from the Sauleda and Dickson collections, the frame colour and whether the awning is manual or motorised. A Cherubini motor with remote adds to the cost, as does automation such as a wind sensor, depending on the model. If you’d like the fabric and arms protected when it’s retracted, the boxed version is the cassette awning, which is priced separately.

Finally, there’s the installation: the type of facade, whether it has to be fixed to the ceiling or the slab edge, the height and the access. A penthouse where the arms have to be carried up the stairs isn’t installed the same way as a ground floor with direct access.

That’s why we don’t give generic prices. We’ll measure up for free, explain the options and give you a written quote with a fixed price, with no obligation and often in under 24 hours. You can request it using the form or on our contact page.

The maximum projection of a folding arm awning is set by the manufacturer for each arm model, and it isn’t the same for all of them. Some arms are designed for balconies and small terraces and others are reinforced for large terraces. So when someone asks us for a specific figure, the honest answer is: it depends on the model and on your facade.

As well as what the arm can take, you need to look at the ratio between width and projection. An extended arm needs room across the width to fold up, so a very narrow awning can’t have a very long projection. The wall matters too: a large projection puts a lot of force on the brackets, and the facade has to be able to take it with the right anchoring.

When the terrace needs more projection than is sensible, there are alternatives. An awning with support legs rests the front on the ground and gains stability, and a monobloc awning spreads the load better on wide awnings with few anchor points. If you want to cover the terrace all year round, a wall-mounted pergola might suit you better.

At the free home visit we measure your terrace, check the facade and tell you what projection is realistic in your case. We’d rather suggest an awning that works well for many years than one fitted at its limit that suffers in the first levante.

In a light breeze, yes. In gusts, no. A retractable awning works like a sail: the fabric catches the push of the wind and passes it on to the arms and brackets. If the wind picks up, the right thing to do is retract it. It’s the most important rule for making an awning last, and many of the faults we repair come from awnings left out on a levante afternoon.

A few things help a lot. First, a good pitch: an awning with some fall lets the wind and water escape more easily. Second, properly sized anchoring, with stainless fixings chosen to suit the wall. And third, the most effective of all, a motor with a wind sensor, which retracts the awning by itself when it detects movement, even if you’re not at home.

In the Axarquia and on the Costa del Sol this isn’t theory. In Torre del Mar the levante blows in hard in the afternoon, on the western Costa del Sol the poniente can blow for days on end, and inland the terral heats up and stirs the air. That’s why we almost always recommend motorising awnings on exposed terraces. There’s more information in awning motorisation.

If your terrace is very windy and you want to close off the sides too, combine the awning with a windbreak awning with side guides. We’ll look at it together at the visit.

In many cases, yes. A manual retractable awning can be motorised if the frame is in good condition and the tube the fabric rolls onto can take a tubular motor. We replace the crank gear with a Cherubini motor that sits inside the tube, so from the outside the awning looks the same, but it’s operated with a remote or a switch.

Before motorising there are a few things to check. The arms need to fold and extend smoothly, with no play; the fabric needs to be in decent condition, because there’s no point putting a new motor on a torn fabric; and there needs to be a power point nearby. If any of this falls short, we’ll tell you and give you options, such as replacing the fabric at the same time.

The big advantage of motorising on the coast is safety. With a wind sensor, depending on the model, the awning retracts by itself when a gust comes. And the convenience changes how you use it: you put it out for half an hour over lunch and retract it without thinking twice, instead of leaving it out all week because you can’t be bothered.

There’s more detail in awning motorisation and in our article on awning motors. If another company installed your awning, that’s no problem: we’ll check it over and motorise it too.

All three are folding arm awnings; what changes is how well they protect the fabric and mechanism when the awning is retracted. With a retractable awning without a cassette (also called an open awning), the tube with the rolled-up fabric stays visible. It’s the simplest option and works very well under an overhang, a balcony above or eaves that already shelter it.

A semi-cassette adds a top cover over the rolled-up fabric, protecting it from rain and from dirt falling from the floors above. It’s a very common halfway house in flats.

The cassette awning encloses everything: when it’s retracted, the fabric and arms sit inside an aluminium case. On an open terrace, a penthouse or a seafront property, where the sun, rain and salt air punish the awning all year round, a cassette extends the life of the fabric and looks neater on the facade.

To choose, think about whether your awning will have anything above it to cover it and how much sea air it will get. If you’re not sure, we’ll tell you at the visit, with no obligation, after looking at your facade and how much direct sun it gets throughout the day. You can also compare the two options in the table on this page or read how a retractable awning works.

A well-installed retractable awning doesn’t ask for much, but on the coast it’ll thank you for a simple check at the start of the season, usually in spring, and a clean at the end of the summer. Salt air, sand and humidity are what punish it most, and a little attention prevents most faults.

What you can do yourself: clean the fabric with fresh water and mild soap, rinse the arms and front bar to get rid of the salt, never retract the fabric while it’s wet, and check that the awning extends and retracts evenly, without one arm getting ahead of the other. You’ll find all the steps in how to clean and maintain an awning.

What’s best left to a technician: the arm tension, the bracket screws, the joints and, if it has one, the motor and its limit settings. An arm that loses tension makes the fabric sag, collect water and lose its shape. Catching it in time is a simple adjustment; leaving it can end with replacing the fabric.

Our after-sales service checks awnings we’ve installed and ones fitted by other installers too. If your fabric is already worn, we can help with awning repairs and fabric replacement without replacing the whole awning.

On an extendable awning the fabric does most of the work, and in Malaga it works hard. Sauleda and Dickson acrylic fabrics are solution-dyed outdoor fabrics that hold their colour better and stand up to sun and humidity. Their collections include plains, classic stripes and technical fabrics, and we show you the real sample book at the visit.

The colour affects how the shade feels. Dark fabrics give deeper shade and hide dirt better, but they absorb more heat. Light fabrics reflect more sun and give a pleasanter light underneath, although they mark sooner. On very hot terraces we usually recommend mid tones such as sand, grey or beige, which strike a balance between the two.

Which way the terrace faces matters too. If your terrace faces west, the afternoon sun comes in low and a horizontal awning won’t block it completely; there it can be a good idea to add a valance or combine it with a vertical awning. We explain this in more detail in which awning keeps the heat out best.

If your community has an approved fabric colour, we’ll find it in these manufacturers’ collections so your awning matches the rest of the building and you don’t have any problems at the owners’ meeting.

A retractable awning is the best option when you have a solid facade to anchor it to and want shade that disappears when you don’t need it. It takes up no floor space, has no posts getting in the way of the table or sun loungers and, when it’s retracted, you hardly see it. For flat terraces, penthouses and villa porches with a wall, it’s the most versatile patio awning there is.

An awning with support legs makes sense when the projection is large or the facade can’t be relied on to carry the whole weight cantilevered. The legs rest the front of the awning on the ground, add stability in the wind and allow projections that wouldn’t be advisable with arms alone. They’re also height-adjustable.

A pergola is a different league. If you want an area that’s covered for most of the year, that also keeps the rain off and where you can hang lights or close off the sides, an aluminium pergola or a bioclimatic one will suit you better. It’s a bigger investment and, depending on the case, more paperwork, but you don’t have to retract anything when the levante blows.

There’s no single answer: it depends on your space, how you use it and your budget. At the free home visit we show you the options that suit your terrace and give you a fixed-price quote for each one so you can compare.