Awning Shade Coverage Tables: How Much Shade a 10 ft Awning Really Gives

A 10 ft awning almost never gives 10 ft of shade. On a west-facing wall in late afternoon it may give 2-6 ft at seated height, while on a south wall at midday in summer it can shade nearly its full depth. These tables, computed by Retract Wise from solar geometry, show the real numbers for seven US locations.

The setup we modeled

• Awning: 10 ft (3.05 m) projection, brackets at 9 ft (2.74 m), 15° pitch, no valance. Front bar 9.7 ft out and 6.4 ft high.
• Cells show shade depth in feet measured out from the wall, at ground level / at seated head height (4 ft).
• "House shade" means the sun is behind the wall, so the patio is in the building's own shadow.
• Times are solar time (noon = sun highest). Under daylight saving time, add roughly one hour for clock time.
• Sun position from standard declination and hour-angle formulas; flat level patio; awning assumed wide enough that end effects do not matter.

West-facing walls

The hard case. Read across a row and watch the shade collapse as the sun drops.

South-facing walls

The easy case in summer. The sun is high at midday, so shade falls nearly straight down; by late September it is noticeably shallower.

East-facing walls

The morning mirror image of west walls. Breakfast shade fades as the sun climbs and then moves around to the south.

How much projection you would need

The inverse question: for the same mounting, what projection gives 8 ft of shade at seated head height in mid-August? Values near or above 13 ft are at the limit of heavy-duty lateral arm frames and bring the front bar uncomfortably low, which is the point.

How to use these tables

1. Find the row nearest your latitude and the table for your wall direction and season.
2. Read the seated value at the hour you most use the patio.
3. If it is less than the depth of your seating area, either raise pitch slightly, add a valance or screen, or accept the shade line.
4. For your exact numbers, use the shade calculator.

Citing this data

You may cite these tables with a link to this page. The underlying method is standard solar geometry and is described in full on the calculator page, so the figures can be independently reproduced.

Frequently asked questions