Installation Guide
How installers lift awnings and shade structures into place
Shade is specified by the square foot and installed by the pound. Here is how crews get an awning or a pergola beam up to mounting height and hold it there.
The lift is the hard part
On a wall-mounted awning or a pergola, fastening is quick. The slow, awkward part is raising the cassette or beam to the brackets and keeping it there while the first fasteners go in. Done by hand, that means installers on ladders holding the load overhead.
What installers use
A portable electric material lift raises the load to height and holds it, so one installer can do the lift and the fastening. Our sister company, Site Handling Canada, supplies these lifts to awning and pergola installers across Canada. Two models cover most shade work:
- •CM340: a 46 lb lift that reaches 11 ft, for cassette awnings and lower installs with tight access.
- •CM520: reaches 16 ft, for pergolas and larger shade structures.
Both run on a standard 110 V outlet and fold for a truck or van. Site Handling compares them, with loads, heights and delivered Canadian prices, on its portable lifts for awnings and pergolas page, and explains the method in lifting an awning into place with one installer.
Shade that needs no wall
Not every site has a wall to mount to. A freestanding system stands on its own base, so there is no bracket height to reach. CSC Shade supplies Glatz and FIM commercial umbrellas and freestanding shade across Canada and the U.S., including the Flexy freestanding retractable awning.