Hi all -- Wondering if Im too picky.Ive just arranged the fitting of a 2k motorized sun awning . The finished job looking out from the inside of the lounge, looks great , the horizontal bar from which the apron hangs, is , exactly horizontal. However, from the lawn, looking back at the bungalow, its evident that the actual cassette it rolls back into, is parallel to the gutter, not the window frame or facia that the apron bar is parallel to. The cassette when closed , is probably at least an inch higher at one end . The awning is about 13 feet wide. The contractor acknowledges its 'a bit out' but says dealing with that length, and huge coach bolts, makes it impossible to be totally accurate, and that as the property backs onto farmland, and the homeowner only sees the slight list on the cassette if theyre standing in the garden looking back at it, its not a problem, and anyway to remedy it would be virtually impossible as the new huge bolthole, would need to be too close to the original. The overall effect is ok, and the thing works --but when I am down the garden, I get the same feeling as when I pass a slightly crooked picture in the house ! It looks DIY put up. 1) Is it that hard to get a wide item with half inch bolts totally level, or am I being told porkies ? 2) Should I let it go as I cant see how it could be redone either ? Grateful for a few opinions please.
For £2000 I would want it level, If he told me I would only notice it if I stood at the back of the garden I would have told him to take the thing away and give me back my money!
He sounds like he works for Messrs Bodgit and Scarper!
If it's a bit out cause he didn't put it up properly... and it can't be fixed so that's a bit of a problem... and it's looks like a bit of a DIY job... all these bits add up to me like quite a nice bit of a discount on the £2000 price. Trust you haven't already paid him !
Have you put a spirit level on it? It could be that they put it up dead straight, but it looks to be on the piss because no house is actually perfectly level. Your guttering, window frames and ground level will be all over the place and your awning cassette may be the only thing that actually is truly straight! Doesn't help to know that though as it is going to bug you every time you look at it. Ideally your fitters would have talked this through with you so you could decided which reference to square it with. I had to do this with a shelf in the kitchen as the tiling was not dead level - I opted to fit the shelf a teeny bit skewed so that the eye didn't dwell on the discrepancy between tiling and shelving.
Thanks for your views folks. No I havent paid yet .Yes its definately out according to the spirit level. The fitter said half the bubble was outside the parallel lines. Ill dig out our own spirit level, climb up and check myself I think before deciding what to do. Is there a formula to make a link between how many millimeteres the bubble is wrongly to one side of centre, to how much lower one end of the measured item is to the other ? Mm, I know what I mean but Im not sure Ive put that very well. Still, Ill wait and see if anyone understands.
Lol.... no I don't think you can figure that out.... well perhaps if you were a collage professor. Bubble mm's too hard to measure correctly... the length of the item measured would effect the distance out at the end of it... get me ?
Yes I think you're right Lillie , it would. I put a long spirit level on it this morning, and it was far more out than the fitter suggested - so Ive rung the firm and theyre going to come back out and look at it again next week. A neighbour suggested that the old bolt hole could be filled with concrete, and then theyd be free to redrill right next to that. We'll see. Thanks for all the opinions folks.
