X4m Triangle Sun Shade Sail Outdoor

I thought I’d update this article because this recent bout of extreme hot weather has actually made the garden moderately uncomfortable anywhere outside of the pergola or cantilever parasol! We’ve even been using the pop up gazebo as a protector from the sun, but, and there’s a big but. A cantilever parasol will cost a fortune for something of decent quality, a pergola has a fixed position, and a pop up gazebo (a standard 3m2 version) won’t fit a little rattan sofa set comfortably. The larger marquee style gazebos also cost a fortune. Step in the perfect solution: a shade sail. The best shade sails I’ve tested start from less than twenty quid and trounce all the other sun shade methods I’ve mentioned on value by a country mile, but there are some drawbacks which I’ll go into. But before I do, here’s the latest one I’ve tested on my sofa set:

Now the first thing you’re wondering – why so low compared to the fancy pictures on the sales ads? Two reasons. Firstly, as the sun moves around my garden, I’d need a shade sail about 10m by 10m to actually cover the area I want! Even at this low height there are points where my neck still gets the sun! Look at the sunlight still landing on the back of the set despite this only being head height! As I say, unless the sun is directly over your head there is much to discuss 🙂 And we will get to that in my install guide!

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Over the years, I’ve tested loads of shade sails to bring you the best. And before you buy one you must consider a few important things and pitfalls. Do you need shade sail posts? What are the best fixing kits for shade sails? And once you’ve got your shade sail up, then you need to start thinking about the sun moving and changing shade areas. Let’s take a look at the top shade sails available in the UK first, but if you want to get into the shade sail practical usability and install guide further, please find the link attached and a shade sail buyer guide runs through important factors such as price, size, heavy duty quality of material, and shape (important believe it or not). Otherwise here’s my top picks after testing for the best shade sails:

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Best shade sail UK overall: Ankuka Sun Shade Sail Grey Rectangular Waterproof Garden Sun Sail [personally tested and proven] I tested this for heavy duty material that is waterproof and it came out brilliant!

Worth a mention: Sol Royal Garden Shade Sail [huge favourite with others online]and the Greenbay Sun Shade Sail Outdoor Garden Patio Party Sunscreen

The sales pictures make these shade sails look like a dream of shaded areas and beautifully comfortable ambience. The reality is very different when you buy one and it rocks up in a small plastic packet – that basically unfolds to be a coloured tarpaulin 😀 But that’s not to say shade sails don’t work, they need a good bit of careful consideration in terms of the angle the sun is coming at you, height of shade sail install which ties into those angles, and of course what sturdy fixed position you’ll tie up your shade sail. And if you don’t have some you may need shade sail posts or poles which take a fair bit of installing! Let’s look at those:

Shade Sail Structures

If you don’t have somewhere to attach your shade sails then you will need posts or poles but what you need to consider is these will require installing into solid concrete if you want them to stay upright in any kind of serious breeze. I would personally opt to bodge something up all day long if this is just a temporary thing while the sun is shining bright 🙂 (and that won’t be long in the UK 😀 ) Be it off of a solid fence post (that belongs to you), your shed, and of course your home. Drilling a couple of anchor eyes or more into solid brick is a great place to start. If you want to see that process I would look at my how to install a fence on a wall article as I use big anchors for that. The anchor eyes I’ve linked you to are far smaller but more than adequate for a large heavy duty shade sail. Annoyingly in this instance, my house is cladded so that doesn’t work.

No as you can see I used a simple variation of the mooring hitch knot so that it’s quick to release the rope from the shade sail. This is crucial if you want to make minor adjustments or you have expected bad weather incoming. It also makes packing away a 2 minute job. You simply give the knot a tug and it’ll come free. Here’s a look at the knot close up and how to form it:

Now if you look closely I mention sending the rope through doubled up – don’t panic – here’s a close up of that. As you send the rope through doubled up simply tighten the knot:

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And from here, just pull it tight and you’re locked off and ready to go. The movement from wind on your shade sail will not release this knot. And when you want to release you just tug on the rope line and it’ll fall apart:

I’d just point out, if you install this miles in the air and not for easy access I would probably opt for a different knot.

And then I’ve simply run the rope off of fence posts within my garden. I would highlight I would not use a jointly shared boundary as this isn’t mine alone:

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It’s a bit of a pain having it run quite that much distance so I had to buy some cordage separately. Fortunately I have a friend in the sash window business (Brian at London Sash Window Repairs Ltd) who gave me some sash cord for free. If you don’t have anything adequate I would recommend this rope/cord as it ties easily and is the same as my friend generously gave me.

As the sun moves over your garden the shade sail is going to cast shadows in hugely different positions. As I already mention at the start, despite the fact I have my shade sail little more than head height from the ground and directly above my seating area, I still face issues with the sun getting on my back. Here’s a look from my security cameras of the shadow being cast:

Picture from my security camera: Notice the shadow is far from my sofa set so I had to adjust the ropes and bring the shade sail over to the right more

Sun Sails With Poles

So to fix this I had to bring the shade sail way over to the right. But that’s obviously a problem for other times in the day. Here’s a look at the morning:

So whilst it looks a bit unsightly, you don’t want to cut your ropes too short as you will want to make adjustments when sitting down to breakfast or lunch:

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Don’t cut the ropes or cords short on your shade sail so you can adjust the position of the shade you want to create

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You could tie the draping cords up easily and improve the look but really, I am not fussed at all and leave that to you if you want to improve the look. So with all four corners tied it holds up nice enough.

The alternative is multiple shades layered over each other. Let’s say I was in a hot country and wanted to shade the pool for the kids in different places while still allowing plenty of sunlight to heat the pool water, then I would get far more serious about aesthetics.

Without question I would be using anchor eyes or eye plate if I had solid brick or concrete as a point of install. I would perhaps even marginally prefer eye plates as they have multiple fixing points (gives you more chance if one fails. With that said, a single anchor eye installed properly is a multiple stronger.

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Installing into timber is easy – you want to pick eye plates. You need to be installing into the studs of the shed through the boards (so the 2 by 2 or larger upright timbers on the inside). In my case being a large shed the timbers I screwed into are 4 by 2 so more than adequate.

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