Structure for String lights/Sun Sail

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gggvan

Member
Dec 6, 2012
134
Will this work? I have some 16' ipe deck boards left over. I'm thinking of ripping 3.5 wide boards in half, burying 4-6 ' and using them to hold string lights and a sun sail for shade. I'm thinking just a 2 dimensional, 8-10' rectangle with a brace in the middle. The lower part would be fastened to the deck rim joist. One end of the sail will be attached to the house.

Are 1.75 boards too thin

I can't keep up with umbrellas on this side of the deck anymore, too windy and storms pop up unexpectedly.
 
This is a little hard to envision... I get the goal, I'm just not quite sure how you are proposing to get there.

What about using 4 boards to make a box beam to hold up the lights and sail? That should be plenty stiff enough and have enough compression strength to support everything.

Also, if the issue is that winds take down your umbrellas, then it's probably an even bigger challenge with a sun sail... they don't call it a "sail" for nuthin'. If you can skip the shade, I would imagine that it would certainly hold lights.
 
TresK3 said:
This is a little hard to envision... I get the goal, I'm just not quite sure how you are proposing to get there.

What about using 4 boards to make a box beam to hold up the lights and sail? That should be plenty stiff enough and have enough compression strength to support everything.

Also, if the issue is that winds take down your umbrellas, then it's probably an even bigger challenge with a sun sail... they don't call it a "sail" for nuthin'. If you can skip the shade, I would imagine that it would certainly hold lights.
Click to expand...

I'll try to draw something up. The sail is more horizontal, not an umbrella, so a good portion of wind should blow the same way. Most importantly, if the sail fails. it won't hurl a huge metal structure 8' in any random direction. Maybe I can attach it to the deck below to anchor it. One end of sail attached to house, the other ends attached to the new structure, with a second line down to the deck. So the top structure board is really just holding it up, not supporting all the stress.
 
gggvan said:
I'll try to draw something up. The sail is more horizontal, not an umbrella, so a good portion of wind should blow the same way. Most importantly, if the sail fails. it won't hurl a huge metal structure 8' in any random direction. Maybe I can attach it to the deck below to anchor it. One end of sail attached to house, the other ends attached to the new structure, with a second line down to the deck. So the top structure board is really just holding it up, not supporting all the stress.
Click to expand...

what a coincidence, had 50+ winds blow through last night. was 60d overnight low... on 12/1 !
 
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