Enclosures and Canopies Serve Many Purposes

Did you know that Metro Sign and Awning works with many hotel and restaurant owners to create semi-temporary enclosures that add a degree of weather-proofing to their outdoor areas?

Properly done, these enclosures extend the outdoor seating season and thereby add revenue for restaurants.  They’re able to contain heaters placed in the enclosed area, as necessary, to allow the space to be used quite comfortably during the colder months, here in New England.

We’ve also worked with hotels to create enclosures to block the wind and weather around pick up / drop off areas. This makes hotel ingress and egress for guests and visitors far more inviting and hospital.

Material Choice Important

For many of the enclosures we use “Weathertyte” brand vinyl, which is a tough 16 oz. fabric that comes with an eight year warranty.  We also use a 20 oz. clear marine vinyl, fully hemmed, as the top panel.

Another fabric we like to use for awnings and canopies is the popular woven acrylic: Sunbrella. This material is available in many color choices and print patterns. Of course, it is not as water-tight as the vinyl, and so we try not to use it for shallow pitched roof canopies and enclosures.

For framing of our enclosure designs, we typically use 1″ square galvanized steel tubing (which works well for locations near the water). In other situations, we like primed and painted aluminum tubing, which allows us to match the framing to the building’s trim.

If you have a situation that might benefit from a canopy and/or enclosure, please give us a call at 978-851-2424. We’re confident we can show you how to make the outdoors more hospitable and comfortable for you and the people you serve.