Review on Enjoy Versatile Shade With The Diensweek Patio Retractable Awning-Commercial Grade Quality & Fully Assembled! by Nick Mahoney

I had to install this on vinyl siding. I'm going to try to explain how I did it. I used a siding zipper tool to pop up the siding to locate the studs. You should be able to tell where the studs are based on where the particle board seams are.you should see nails or screws where the particle board was screwed into the studs. Studs should be 16" apart. I then popped the siding back into place and measured in 16" increments from where I made my initial mark.that way you can at least know where the studs are while the siding is on. There are 3 brackets(at least with the 12x8 awning). I mounted(will explain how below) the middle bracket(it doesn't have to be perfectly centered as you can adjust the awning side to side). I then put the awning into the groove of the middle bracket and had help holding it in place while I adjusted left to right as to find where the other 2 brackets would hit a stud and the awning would be where I wanted it. You only have so much space to place the outer brackets on the awning itself so I was only able to find 2 studs to support it(make sure the middle bracket is in a stud). The third bracket mounted fairly securely into the OSB behind the siding so it shouldn't be an issue.Now for mounting the brackets on the siding: I measured how far the siding stuck out from the wall behind it. It ended up being roughly 5/8". I went to Lowe's and bought nuts that are 3/4" deep(not wide). I also bought a big flat 1.1/8" drill bit(a little bigger than the circumference of the nut). After marking where the brackets would go, I made holes in the siding using the flat drill bit and stuck the nuts in each hole.that way the nuts hit the OSB behind the siding and so they stuck out the same distance, making the bracket hit flush/level against the nuts sticking out. I then made pilot holes into the OSB so the lag bolts would get started. Place the lag bolt and washer into the bracket and then through the center of the nut sticking out of the siding and tighten lag bolt and bracket into place. I used a little silicon around the nuts just to keep any water out. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, I can try to answer them as I see them pop up in my email.