Jay5835--
Did it EVER occur to you to maintain the place you live??? Get out your hose and clean your awning man!!!--what's wrong with you??? Houses require maintenance inside & out.
Don't you clean your outside in the spring???
**It's Pittsburgh--you HOSE OFF THE HOUSE!!!**
Honestly, I can't believe you'd rather not have a view and would close the curtains instead of cleaning your awning.
I hate to break it to you, BUT
There is no ***outside of the house maintenance fairy***
It's your responsibility to clear the scum from the place you decide to live.
If you maintain it, there will not be scum.
It will however still be tacky.
Awnings aren't a fashion statement, they are a working part of the home as a discreet unit. Awnings save BIG $$ on HVAC & utility bills, keeps the furniture from fading, and blocks the sun when your watchin an early steeler game, gives acoustical rain, privacy & cross ventilation--amoung other things!
And no, I never bothered my neighbors while grilling--They'd come over with some Kielbasa and some cold Irons and shoot the sh*t Pittsburgh style.
But, of course, being Pittsburgh, my nieghbors have awnings too--and theirs *ALSO* had *NIFTY* aluminum side vents--these *ALSO* serve a function--privacy and cross ventilation--these things were specifically designed with these functions at heart.
***Also, as a teen, you could close 'em and your next door neighbor couldn't see you makin' out on the front porch***
If your family didn't have as much $$--your porch may not have had the side(s) done with the louvered vents
Pittsburghers can be nebby sometimes...just close da louvers!
Copanut--ahhh--I remember back in da day livin' dahn der on the Sahside -n'at--not just the train whistle--but the whole train--I loved the rhythm of it at night too...
Pittsburgh--porch Luvin, tacky awnings, gliders, trains & rain--these things bestill my heart...
To know them is to love them!
(ps--gliders are an 'old' thing? sigh, I'm not yet 40!)