Advice on the best way to secure Aluminet shade cloth?

[mrsmoo]

We have a nifty frame that we use for shade in front of our RV; it's a car-port style frame without the heavy tarp covering. Last year we used camo netting, this year I would like to buy a length of Aluminet (or regular shade cloth) to cover it. The cloth would be 20x20 or smaller.

The customer service guy at Outdoor Canopies advised taping the edges and putting brass grommets every foot. This really inflates the price, but if it's necessary I'll do it. It would be faster and much cheaper to buy a raw length of cloth and use clip-on fasteners like these:
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/Shar ... o/SC-9009/

But these are plastic! Will they hold up in the wind? Will they rip the cloth? Are they even big enough to use bungee ball-ties on? Should we use something other than bungee ball-ties? Would it be safe to use zip ties?

I have no idea how much abuse this cloth can take or how strong it is. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[gaminwench]

I've used Aluminet as shade for years... zip ties are fine, or kite line, bungees, plastic clips... all work well.
I'd advise against edging/grommets, Aluminet has lots of 'play' on the bias - you may want to bunch it in spots for tension; also, edging makes it bulkier for storage.
It's pretty sturdy stuff, you'll be pleased...

[mrsmoo]

That's great to know, thank you! Do you use bungee balls straight through the holes in the fabric?

Also, do you use the 70% stuff?

[Token]

Zip ties fo' direct to fabric.

Bungee balls to plastic clips.

As GW said, both work great.

Aluminet is knit and does not run when torn a bit. No moop either.

[mrsmoo]

Excellent. I knew the scheisty-mc-scheister salespeople were trying to rip me off! Thanks for your help :-)

[gaminwench]

I've been using 50%, this year I'm adding some 70%; deeper shade is always desirable...

[kraskland]

As others said, they will work just fine. I used this product which is very similar and it worked brilliantly.

[Karma]

I'm using Aluminet for the 1st time this year (20' by 28') and I bought those shark bite clips that the 1st poster mentioned. It was an extra 3 week wait to get the thick fabric knitted to the edging so I got unfinished edging (thats what I get for waiting for the last minute).

I was going to put Gorilla tape all along the edging to help stop any potential tears or fraying but y'all think just doubling up the fabric at the clip will be enough ?

How does the material act in our notoriously high wind dust storms ?
I always presumed that there would'nt be alot of pressure / tension on the clips cause the material would'nt parachute like a tarp but rather just let the wind pass thru.

Any extra thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Bob]

Hemming and grommeting every 12 inches is the best way to deal with any knit shade cloth, esp. if rigging it to rope, cable or other straight-line supports, and it helps the edges from getting stretched out of whack. It does take more lead time from suppliers, and I suppose you can get away with plastic tarp clips for small tarps stretched over odd shapes, just bring twice as many as you think you need and plenty of nylon cord.

[rodiponer]

I used the Shark Bite Clips every couple feet, without doubling it up underneath the clips. The aluminet stretched a little but was fine.

Over the first few days the aluminet stretched a bit and started to sag. I think it would do this whether or not you had rope in the edges or grommets. I had to enlarge the shade structure a little to get rid of the sag in the ceiling. Something to think about when staking down your structure-- maybe think about a way to take up some slack later without pounding new stakes in.

[Karma]

Well, I was planning to run some cable across the center to catch the droop in the material. I was kinda hoping the would be enough.

[rodiponer]

I think antidroop cables would work. That is our plan this year.