Shade Sails

My partner and I had been looking for a shade structure for our garden and had in fact been considering an awning; however, we were inspired by Alan Titchmarsh’s recent episode of ‘Love Your Garden’ which featured shade sails and we decided that this could be a very attractive cheaper option than an awning, so plumped for this. Now the research/purchasing/installing experience is over, I thought I’d review the process as it may benefit others who are looking into buying a shade sail.

We had a good look at different suppliers of the sails but plumped for a waterproof sail in Sage from Primrose (http://www.primrose.co.uk) – we chose them for a few reasons, but main ones being that they have a good choice of colours available and a lot of information on the site pertaining to installation which we found invaluable. The shade sail and fittings were delivered much sooner than expected too, so kudos to them!

One thing I really recommend is to plan very carefully the area where you’re installing! I don’t particularly enjoy DIY so found the installation a little trickier than I’d expected (though luckily for me, my partner did most of the work!) We wanted the sail to provide shade over part of our patio so were able to attach two of the corners (it’s a triangle sail) to a wall of our house and a nearby tree and this wasn’t too hard. For the 3rd corner, however, we had to purchase a fixing post as we had no other suitable way to fix the corner, and this was a little more complicated as it not only had to be fitted into the ground but also at a certain angle – care required!

We managed it, however, and the shade sail now looks fantastic! It needed some tightening to make sure it’s taut enough, but we have really enjoyed sitting under it on the patio and the recent poor weather has proved that the material is good quality and fully waterproof as described. The colour is still strong, it hasn’t run after all the rain.

One tip though – remember to install it so the sail is at a bit of an angle, this way any rain water will run right off.

Question is – are we happy with the shade sail or do we wish we’d gone with an awning? Answer = we are very happy indeed! While you do have to take care with the planning and installation, even a less-than-competent DIYer like me can put up a shade sail (with a little help!) and once it’s up it looks great and provides very good shade. And for the price (especially compared to an awning), what else can you ask for?