Awnings in Winter Garden, FL

Awnings in Winter Garden split into a few distinct jobs. Downtown on Plant Street, business owners need storefront canopies that shade the glass, shelter customers and carry a name. In the blocks around it, owners of early 20th-century houses want window and door awnings that look as if they had always been there. South of State Road 50, in the newer subdivisions, the request is usually a patio cover or retractable for the back yard. We handle all three, but the historic core is where Winter Garden stands apart from the rest of west Orange County.

Plant Street storefronts

Businesses first grew up along Plant Street, and the revitalized downtown now has restaurants, shops, cafés, two museums and a performing arts venue, plus a weekend farmers market. The Winter Garden Downtown Historic District, added to the National Register on August 1, 1996, includes 26 historic buildings; the oldest confirmed construction dates are from 1912. For a storefront here we consider:

• How the canopy lines up with the transom, sign band and neighboring facades
• Fixed versus retractable frames over sidewalk seating
• Colors that read clearly against brick and stucco without clashing
• Projection, clearance over the walk and any design review the city applies downtown

Bungalows and Colonial Revival homes

The Winter Garden Historic Residential District, also listed on August 1, 1996, covers about 250 acres bounded by Plant, Boyd, Tilden and Central Streets. Its 76 historic buildings include Bungalow/Craftsman, Prairie School and Colonial Revival designs. On houses like these, a canvas shed awning over a double-hung window or a simple hood above a side door is a traditional, practical way to cut heat. We size each awning to the window opening, keep brackets discreet and pick solid or striped fabric that suits the era. If the home falls under local design review, we confirm what is required before building anything.

Newer neighborhoods south of SR 50

Communities such as Johns Lake Pointe, Stoneybrook West, Stonecrest, Westfield and Wintermere Pointe were built south of State Road 50 on former grove and farmland. These homes typically call for patio shade rather than window hoods: an aluminum cover over the pool deck or a motorized retractable over the lanai. If your neighborhood has an HOA, Florida Statute 720.3035 lets it enforce only the architectural standards its documents grant, applied the same way to every owner, and it cannot hold up review waiting on a building permit.

Horizon West and county parcels

Horizon West, a census-designated place, borders Winter Garden to the south. A home there may carry a Winter Garden mailing address and still sit in unincorporated Orange County, which changes who reviews an attached structure. We look up the parcel before quoting the permit portion of the job.

Weather on the north side of the county

Lake Apopka forms the city's northern border. For awnings, the season that matters runs hot and rainy from May to October, overlapping hurricane season, which the National Hurricane Center dates from June 1 to November 30 with a peak around September 10. Storefront canopies must be built to stay in place through that stretch, and residential retractables should be rolled in whenever a storm builds.

Talk to us

Call (689) 229-2337 or send a photo of the storefront, window or patio. We visit, measure, bring fabric samples suited to the building and leave a written estimate.

Get a Free Estimate