The Rudi Project

Vancouver, WA

Project Description: Exterior sunscreens and a retractable awning. The customers wanted to protect the homes interior furnishings and control the heat while preserving the view with sunscreens while the awning provides rain and late afternoon sun protection for the patio area.

The installation utilized 6 sunscreens that are 7’ wide and had between 7’ and 6’ drops.  Three of the sunscreens were for individual bedrooms.  The primary goal of the bedroom application was to control the heat intake as the entire home had a southwest exposure.  Two screens were used to cover the upper windows of the vaulted great room.  The primary goal here was to protect the interior furnishings and artwork from ultraviolet damage.  The final screen was used in the den and its purpose was to provide both heat reduction and ultraviolet protection.  Sunscreens were chosen to preserve the southwestern view of the city and river the home has.

Sun and wind sensors, T-12 remotes and a DSK –S/W, handle the operations of the sunscreens.  The customer relies largely on the automation of the sun and wind to control the screens.  As several of the screens are in children’s bedrooms, the customer opted not to have switches located in the rooms initially.  With the flexibility of the electronics the customer may add switches to the rooms as the children grow.  The DSK-S/W is located in the den at the south end of the home and works as the master switch for the screens.  The two remotes have individual and group control of the screens.  A remote is located on each floor for ease of access and control.  A LRA was used to increase the reliability of the remotes on the property.

The Lateral Arm Awning is 34’ 6” wide by 8’ 6” projection.  The awning is used to provide a covered outside are for play as well as to proved late afternoon sun relief.  Due to the homes location on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River and the width of the awning we used an AMDV and a RP60ASMHB to control the awnings movements.  We set the awning with two intermediate stops to combat the occurrence of up lift winds and the wind that is present in the Columbia River area.  The awning has its own sun sensor while being protected by the AMDV for automation.   The two T-12 remotes are programmed with the intermediate stop positions for added flexibility.