When temperatures rise, awnings are an essential weapon in the cooling arsenal–blocking direct sun and creating zones of shade. The best development we’ve seen in a while is the tensioned shade sail, a triangle or rectangular of UV-blocking fabric.
Photograph by Verne via OWI.
A shade sail outside a house in France.
Whittier, CA-based Shade Sails offers an extensive range of sail shades in different configurations; prices range from $159.95 for a 12-foot triangle to $394 for an 18-foot square.
The 16-foot Coolaroo Shade Sail is made from a commercial-grade fabric that resists mold and mildew and blocks up to 90 percent of UV rays.
Coolaroo’s Square Shade Sail comes in several dimensions, the 11-by-10-foot size is $147 from Amazon.