What Type Of Fixing Do I Need?

[thomp1983]

Hi All,

SWMBO has decided I need to put up a retractable awning to provide some shade on the patio for our newborn daughter.

I've aquired an awning and have a question about fitting the brackets that hold the unit, first some pictures

thats the rear of the house

this is a close up of whats behind the white featherboard, it's a weather proof membrane behind which looks like breeze block.

that's the bracket I need to fix up, there's 2 of them and they will be roughly 2.5m apart.

due to the vertical batons that the featherboard are attached to I can't just attach the brackets straight to the breeze block as the awning mechanism would then foul on the vertical batons. I'm thinking can I use some more 2x3's that I have horizontally to bring the bracket flush with the vertical batons then use a m10 or m12 x 140mm anchor bolt straight through the wooden baton into the breeze block to hold the brackets in postion or is this the wrong kind of fixing for the job?

Thanks
Chris

 

[thomp1983]

that's a photo of the block under the weatherproofing, the house was built in 1973 if that's of any use.

 

[bobasd]

Without a fixing instruction diagram for the awning I dont understand what you are proposing? Or where exactly you intend to position the awning?
The framing and siding look to be in a poor condition - the plate seems to be unsuccessfully acting as a full length lintel.

FWIW: where the bottom course meets the gutter there's a short length of damaged siding - water damaged because there should be a
Kick-Out piece at the bottom of the lead flashing. K-O's divert water into the gutter.

 

[thomp1983]

The bracket on the table is fitted vertically 2 of them, the awning and it's retractable mechanism is mounted horizontal and will run from next to the guttering to above the french door.

I plan to remove the next piece of feather board up then horizontally fix some more baton between the verticals to bring the brackets flush with the outside of the house then drill through those batons into the block behind and having done some more reading will use a threaded resin fixing through the baton and into the block holding the bracket in place

 

[thomp1983]

ok here's what I've done and hopefully it's clearer what I tried to explain yesterday.

That's with the second piece of featherboard removed, there is a concrete lintel the whole way across the house and then breeze block on top.

Ive used 2 bits of baton screwed to each other to bring the awning brackets flush with the front of the house, the threaded rods you can see has been fixed 100mm deep into the block using chemical resin (the first picture they had been I was juust test fitting everything.) the battons are then screwed to the block with 100mm screws into brown plugs to keep the wood in place, there are also some screws sideways in them through the vertical batons.

the awning mechanism is then held in place by the 2 screws on the brackets and weighs about 18kg so hopefully the resin fixed rods will be strong enough

 

[bobasd]

If i may say so, i admire your ingenuity and determination, & all things being equal, the awning project should work out fine.

However, previous to the PVC frames there would probably have been hefty wood frames supporting the wood plate and posts.
You now have two separate cuts of plate over the door frame - & the head of the Pvc frame is sagging due to pressure from above.
Is the concrete lintel you mention behind the grey material (lead?) - whatever, it doesn't seem to be taking any weight from above the Pvc frame?

There are a couple of other things but no matter - whats done is done and as above it should work out fine.

Make sure the awning is well secure if any strong winds are forecast.

 

[thomp1983]

The bit you think is lead is just very dirty clear plastic with the lintel inside it.

The wooden bit you've mentioned being bowed is just some 1x1 that's been fitted to fill the gap between the wall and feather board it's not supporting anything but is well rotten, sorting out the whole thing is on the job sheet at some point as all the feather board paint is flaking so needs something doing to tidy it up.

What else can you see that's less than ideal?

The awning is retractable so will be fully used during bad weather.

 

[bobasd]

Then what's supporting the posts? A single length plate should be supporting the posts and all the weight they carry. Plates are not there to fill gaps.
The lead colored plastic was an attempt at a cavity tray - but where is it draining to except underneath the rotting plates.
The black membrane has nowhere to drain to either.
Cutting three boards vertical at the post is bad practice - cuts should be staggered.
The siding is on its last legs. There's decay at nail holes & cut ends.
Due to not understanding how such siding works, the last paint job used filler between the boards - a very wrong thing to do.
Go over the siding with a Belt Sander before the next paint job.

In N. America including Canada there's been a 30 yr ongoing revision of siding installation - cedar, plastic or other.
Read up on it - info must be on the net somewhere?

 

[thomp1983]

managed to get the job done and it seems fine, just need to trim the featherboard to go around the awning brackets.

Bob I think the photo's may have deceived you, there isn't 3 boards cut at 1 post, I'm assuming your referring to the right most vertical post if so the very bottom board goes along and is cut above the french doors, the second one up is cut at the right post then the third one goes across to above the door again.

I don't know where the black membrane and cavity tray are supposed to drain I can only assume when the house was built they assumed very little water would get behind the boards due there overlapped design and being recessed under the roof edge.

From what I can see the vertical posts are fixed to the breeze blocks with no support at the bottom so the fixings holding it to the blocks are what is supporting the weight of all the featherboard.

Thanks
Chris