I wish I had known about these 6 years ago when we moved into this house there was nothing but blistering hot sun all summer and we could not sit on our side porch, and a six foot privacy fence held in humidity and blocked any breeze. I hated it! LOL.

How do you keep the wind from ripping them from their anchors? We have tried several shade systems only to watch them get ripped out by the winds.

Love this idea!

Yes, good idea. I had recently removed a tree which was providing shade and am using the sails now. (Mine are only DIY out of reclaimed shade cloth and nowhere near as nice as yours, but they work just the same.)

Nice! And great timing. I had a tree removed and then, took up the patio bricks which had been damaged by the tree roots. This was my plan once I relayed the brick patio. Thanks much, it is nice to see it in action .

Great idea and perfect timing, too. I've been tossing around ideas and trying to choose a replacement tree, but I'm not altogether sure that's what I want anymore. The shade sails sound like a good alternative.

Did you get the ones with channels for even stress distribution? Mine would be directly in the path of our fiercest winds...they pick up momentum crossing the lake, then slam into that corner of the house.

I just put one of these up over part of my roof garden for some sun protection. It is doing fine and we've had some pretty strong winds this last week as well as one day of heavy rain. The tomatoes under it are looking a lot less stressed as well. It does move in the wind and I hadn't realized that this is a plus not a minus. I'm going to move some other plants under it this week to protect them a bit from the sun. The one I bought is light colored and triangular, it has strong grommets on the 3 corners and it lets a little rain and sunlight through, just not as much.

Hmmm, I wonder if that triangular shape makes them less susceptible to being yanked out by strong winds.

Look at Shazeebo to see one of the strongest shade sails. They use cables and D-rings, not grommets.

This is a great article.We have been tossing around a shade idea for a few years.
Our deck isnt flat across the back of the house so a traditional awning system just wouldnt work.

Great article! Definitely looking into this.

I got two from IKEA a few years ago and they had a spring like attachment to take some of the stress off. We built a pergola there now so don't need them anymore but they were very useful and not expensive.

Does anyone know if they can be installed vertically to hide my neighbor's red canoe, kayak and huge boat?

@pirl

You think I'm fooling! I wish I were! Those boats ruin so many photos and hurt my eyes!

I'm so glad that this article is useful!!!
Ok let's me try to address some questions.
Wind...has never been an issue. Where the SS are located the top peak is roughly 23' ish feet in the air. Nothing blocks our strong N-S winds. We are smack dab in tornado ally & dry lines hover inches to the west of us creating extreme weather. Over the years the same set of SS has taken repeated poundings of 50-60 winds, ice & snow. Never came down!!! We however do release them when we are expecting substantial accumulations.
To use as a privacy screen, sure attach with turnbuckles & create a tension environment.

I started a thread over on BGI, a Brugmansia form. Focused on how our Brugs are responding being grown in full N.Texas sun under SS vs morning sun. I must say the effects are incredible the leaves are a dark rich green compared to a washed out color. To the point a new sail arrived yesterday to extend the SS growing area. As extranjera mentioned they actually create air movement elimateting that "dead air" effect. If we get small hail plants will be protected.

eBay is where we have purchased all of our sail from. We have NEVER paid over 40$ for one!!! Proper anchoring is the key to a long lived sail you want them to have some tension...that is the idea!!! Rain should almost bounce off of them. When we install here we leave a little slack they a seem to tighten up during our summer. Creating the perfect shade.

Huge Huge Thank You for likes & acorns!!!!
This is my first article here & frankly a rather new member. Fantastic community!!!!

I forgot to add to the original article...we use stainless steel chains & hardware, not what might accompany a SS.

What a great article! I love the idea and the look of those Shade Sails! Unfortunately where we live now they wouldn't be allowed because of HOA regulations. but in a couple of years when my husband retires we will be moving a bit farther south in the state to be closer to my sister and her husband so I will definitely consider something like this! My first thought too was "But, what about wind?" We sometimes have fierce winds here but if they are easy to release and take down that would be great ... especially if tropical storms or hurricanes are predicted!

Here's the link for Shazeebo that greene was talking about: http://www.shazeebo.com/

And, Cocobid: to ATP, we do have a fantastic community here!

Thanks so much for the additional info, Karen!

Great article. The shape of your SS reminds me of my backpacking tarps, squarish with curved sides, which do shed wind very well.

Here are a couple pics of the shade sail we put up. I bought it at Costco and will probably take it down at the end of the summer. I mostly wanted to save my tomato plants from the heavy rains and full summer sun.