“Maybe you can help me. It’s hard to find a straight answer in this industry. Here my situation. I have an unmarked awning that appears to be of fair quality. Unfortunately, at some time in the past, a wind gust caught it and destroyed one arm. other than a few stitches in the cloth everything else is AOK. I was at least able to track down the installer who gave me the run around and said that the unit is no longer made. Bottom line is everyone wants to sell me a new 3k awning instead of fixing the damage. can you help me out?
– Phil”

Dear Phil,

There are a few Awning Parts dealers out there that sell to consumers directly. One I know of is DIY Retractable Awning. If you send them a photo of the old arm, they may be able to match it with some of the universal Awning parts they sell. Some companies, like SunSetter, sell their Awnings through Home Depot and directly, but we have found getting replacement parts for them to be very difficult. If your awning is custom built, or made by a manufacturer that does not use standard parts and practices, you may be out of luck unless you can find a used one on Craigslist or EBay and use it for parts.