Adding shade

[dubby]

I ordered a big mesh tarp last night to attempt to add a sun shade outside the range connex office. I will have to figure out how to attach/suspend it.

The connex side should be easy enough and I'll have one of my guys weld on some rings to the outside. Out front we have 3 telephone poles buried 5+ ft deep. I'm hoping I can just drill through them and add a large eye bolt to each.

My issue is how best to rig it. The 'area' I have to span is 13'x29'. The closest tarp size I could find (on the cheap, ready-made) is 12'x25'. It has grommets already in it, and the manufacturer claims it's heavy duty. I'm thinking one attachment point, likely S hooks, at each grommet along the container side. I'll put those just below the top level to try and keep the tarp out of the wind as much as possible. I'm thinking of running steel cable from the connex, through the grommets, out to the posts and using a turnbuckle to add tension. On the front, center post, I can run a the cable under the tarp to keep it from sagging.

Anyone have issues/suggestions how to do it better?

Overhead photo of the area in question...

[toprecycler]

I just put up our summer sun shade tent at our church this past weekend. My initial thoughts if you get these ball bungees, and use these to attach to your cables you will run the perimeter out of steel cable. If you space the cable about 6” away from the edge of the tarp, they should stretch well enough. Then tarp will have a bit of flex in the wind too.
Here is the website I ordered the new canopy from. This page is their ball ties. https://creativeshelters.com/categor...-premium-grade







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[GWIZ]

IIRC: HF has the cheaper price on steel cable 1/8" x 100' about $9.00
may also have SS at 50' I don't remember. then you also need the clamps for the cable also check HF.

[mccutter]

The playgrounds in the park that I walk at have the mesh shade affairs here or there. They have a center pole I think, circus tent style. Or one or two poles is higher than the others. If I remember I'll get pics next time I am there.

[dubby]

Bossman is convinced all we need to do is run bungee cords all over the place. But he also wants us to attempt to take it down every night--which ain't gonna happen. I'm leaning towards a seasonal thing, like your church. I think once the structure is there, the tarp will last a summer or two. A replacement is still less than the cost of one of those pop-up tents, which we've tried with numerous disastrous results.

As all my projects tend to go, this one has hit it's first snag already. The seller (through Wal-Mart) said one thing, but the FedEX tracking received says another. The two delivery dates are off by a week. And, FedEX is never reliable around here often being two or three days later than they claim they will deliver it with no explanation.

[toprecycler]

Originally Posted by dubby

Bossman is convinced all we need to do is run bungee cords all over the place. But he also wants us to attempt to take it down every night--which ain't gonna happen. I'm leaning towards a seasonal thing, like your church. I think once the structure is there, the tarp will last a summer or two. A replacement is still less than the cost of one of those pop-up tents, which we've tried with numerous disastrous results.

As all my projects tend to go, this one has hit it's first snag already. The seller (through Wal-Mart) said one thing, but the FedEX tracking received says another. The two delivery dates are off by a week. And, FedEX is never reliable around here often being two or three days later than they claim they will deliver it with no explanation.

I think we had this canopy up for about 8 summers. The last two we’ve been patching some grommets, and this year I finally said we are ordering a new one.

As far as I know, this is the first replacement canopy top.

I had to make some new supports tubes couple years ago. The wind had pulled the old ones out of the ground pockets, and bent a couple. Then I suggested a ratchet strap on each corner, and that has been working good as a secondary tie down measure.


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[randydupree]

I have used shade clothe as a canopy,shade cloth down here anyway is used to shade nurserys,plants from the sun.
The stuff i get is the mesh type,you can get woven but its not as tough.
I order it online and they make it to size and put eyes in it every 24''.
I had an area i covered that was 50x30 with one long side attached to the warehouse and two poles in the ground for the other side,i used 1/4'' cable on the pole side and steel S hooks through the eyes and over the cable.

This shade was 20 feet high,i was working on busses under the shade.
Under the shade the temps were 15 degrees cooler than out in the sun.

On the pole barns down on the coast we cover the sides with the same stuff,to keep heavy rain and sun down.
We screw through the eyes into the wood posts using fender washers on the screws.
It holds up well to sun and the heavy monsoons we get almost daily on the coast.
We also screened oin the back porch on the warehouse with it,its way stronger than the screen you normally see on porchs and it comes in whatever size you want.
And you don't need to put a post up every 6 feet.
The back porch screen made it through hurricane mike when i lost the entire 9000sf roof.

The big shade over the bus working area would lift up and down with a breeze,no harm down but it was interesting.

One of my rv rental lots we put 4 telephone poles up and they were leaned out on all 4 corners,2 were higher than the other 2 on the diagonal,cable and turn buckles along each side,then S hooks and the shade.
It held up pretty good but it did pull all the eyes out in a huge storm,this lot was on the beach and if the eys had not pulled out it may have pulled the poles out of the ground.

Dubby,get good screen and it will last,and yes i know you have wind.

[dubby]

I'm pretty sure it'll last well enough for my purposes too. Trying to control it in the wind is what I'm unsure of.

We put up one of these tarps on the east end of our pistol line years ago. It wasn't so much for shade as it was to catch the ejected brass and redirect it down to the concrete pad. Attachment was simple, just wood screws and fender washers directly into the wood frame of the structure. I keep telling Bossman that the thing has survived every possible weather event we've had for years and still shows no signs of rotting or tearing.

Randy, did you run the cable from just the corners to your poles, or did you run it through all the edge grommets and then to the poles? I can do this one either way, and add a 3rd cable to the 'middle' of the tarp to the center pole. I don't think the actual design of this thing is going to be as complicated as actually getting enough folks to help me complete my vision.

[mccutter]

HF sells grommet kits fairly inexpensively. Might be an option to strengthen the mounting points...

[randydupree]

Originally Posted by dubby

I'm pretty sure it'll last well enough for my purposes too. Trying to control it in the wind is what I'm unsure of.

We put up one of these tarps on the east end of our pistol line years ago. It wasn't so much for shade as it was to catch the ejected brass and redirect it down to the concrete pad. Attachment was simple, just wood screws and fender washers directly into the wood frame of the structure. I keep telling Bossman that the thing has survived every possible weather event we've had for years and still shows no signs of rotting or tearing.

Randy, did you run the cable from just the corners to your poles, or did you run it through all the edge grommets and then to the poles? I can do this one either way, and add a 3rd cable to the 'middle' of the tarp to the center pole. I don't think the actual design of this thing is going to be as complicated as actually getting enough folks to help me complete my vision.

i used steel S hooks to hold the shade to the cable,and i squeezed them shut so they would not fall off or come unhooked.