Last February, once I had finished replacing glass in a cracked window pane (see Window Repair Part 3 ), painting the window and the wall, and painting the eves, I was ready to install the new awning I had purchased. I drilled the first couple of holes with no problems, following the directions with the awning, put the supplied wall plugs in, and tried to screw in the screws. I then discovered that the supplied screws would not go into the holes! After stripping the heads of a couple of screws, to the point where I had a lot of trouble getting them out, I compared the supplied screws and wall plugs to some from my toolbox. Although the instructions called for 7mm holes, it was very clear that the screws and wall plugs were the right size for 8mm holes. No wonder they wouldn't fit! I then started to drill out the wall plugs, so that I could make the holes bigger. Unfortunately, in one of the key anchoring holes, I broke the drill bit off in the hole. After a number of attempts to get the drill bit out of the hole, I was forced to buy some filler ("builder's bog"), fill the holes, paint over them and start again. By this time I was completely sick of the whole project, so after putting a single hole and screw in (to the right of the original set of holes), so that I would know where to start from next time, I put the whole project into the "when I find the energy" bucket and left it there.
Well, it is now spring, the hot weather is on the way again (and I wanted the awning installed before it hits), and I was feeling enthused again.
This time everything went very smoothly. The only part I had trouble with was tensioning the blind (it is still not quite right), but I can have another go at that later. In the mean time, the pelmet and guide rails are fully installed, and the blind is in place. Yay!
