How To Perfectly Measure Your Shade Sail
EVALUATE SPACE
PICK SHAPE
TAKE MEASUREMENTS
REQUEST QUOTE
In order to give us the most accurate measurements, we strongly encourage using attachment point measurements. This means you’ll need to measure the actual distance between each attachment point, often a tab on a pole, wall mount, etc, rather than the dimensions of the shade sail itself. We will use those measurements to design your sail, accommodating for the stretch of the fabric and the hardware offset.
It’s actually best to start without having actual attachment points installed. This will provide you an opportunity to speak with one of our shade sail experts to make sure the design you want is indeed feasible and to make sure you maximize coverage. We don’t want you to waste any shade. We can design to fit many irregular dimensions, but there are practical limitations.
So let’s get started on your measurements! Follow the simple instructions below to find the exact fit needed for your shade sail. If you already have an existing sail that you are just replacing or if you already have your anchor points installed you can skip to step 5 below. Please do review step 2 as well to make sure you take all the measurements including the diagonals that are needed.
Start by estimating where you want your attachments to be. This will be enough to get you started on a quote. Not having them installed is actually preferable and will allow one of our shade sail experts to let you know whether or not your design will work.
If your attachments are already in place, but won’t accommodate a functional shade sail, we may not be able to create a design for them.
Sketching the proposed shape of your shade sail will ensure you provide every necessary dimension. Start by sketching your shape and labeling each corner. Then make a list of needed dimensions as shown below:
On any sail with more than three corners, it is important to include all diagonal measurements. This is because there are many shapes that can be made with the same perimeter lengths. For example, each of the below shapes have the same side lengths, but are clearly different:
Now measure from imaginary attachment point to imaginary attachment point. Don’t worry, these measurements don’t have to be 100% accurate. This will simply give us an idea of what you’re trying to accomplish. Once you have your approximate measurements using imaginary attachments points, go to our custom quote form and submit your dimensions.
Once your design is confirmed, go ahead and install your actual attachment points. We will ask for finalized attachment point dimensions before fabricating your shade sail.This will ensure the perfect fit of your shade sail.
When measuring attachment point distances, be sure to measure from the inside of the hole where your hardware will attach on one corner, to the same spot on every other corner. Like this:
Simply measuring the distance between poles won’t work, since it doesn’t take into account the variation in the height of attachment points. While these additional inches may not seem like a great deal, this extra distance could mean the difference between a shade sail that fits properly and one that does not.
We rely on you to provide accurate dimensions so that we can design your sail to perfectly compliment your outdoor living space. If you have further questions about your specific application, as always, feel free to contact us!
