Put up a $40 shade sail last spring and my patio is 15 degrees cooler now

I was getting cooked every afternoon trying to sit out back, so I grabbed a basic triangle shade sail from the local hardware store. Mounted it to two fence posts and one corner of the house over a weekend. Before that, the brick patio would hold heat until 9pm and it was miserable. After just three days with the sail up, I could actually eat dinner outside without sweating through my shirt. Anyone else try those tension kits for adjusting the sag over time?

3 comments

3 Comments

linda_dixon4911d ago

My neighbor did the tension kit thing with turnbuckles and it worked great for about two months, but then the hardware rusted out (I live near the coast so that's probably on me). I went a different route and used stainless steel carabiners to clip the corners, lets me adjust the angle without tools. The real game changer for me was adding a second smaller sail perpendicular to the first one, it caught the late afternoon sun from a different direction and dropped the temp another 5 degrees easy.

keith9009d ago

Hold up @linda_dixon49 you got the angle right but perpendicular means 90 degrees, not 45. If your second sail is at 45 degrees to the first one you're splitting the difference, which catches the late sun better anyway.

milarodriguez11d ago

Carabiners are genius for coastal living, I learned that the hard way too after my turnbuckles turned into rusty messes within a season. The double sail trick works better than I expected, I set mine up at about a 45 degree angle to catch the late sun off the patio doors. Just make sure you get marine grade stainless for the hardware, it costs more upfront but saves you from replacing everything yearly.