Pool shade sails · SydneyThe pool you can swim in at 2pm.
Over water the sun arrives twice, once from the sky and again off the surface. A sail overhead takes the direct sun off the water and off the deck around it.
Pool shade sails
Shade over the water, and nothing in the way of it.
A pool is a different design problem to a backyard. The people underneath are wet and barefoot, the surface throws back whatever the sky sends, and the paving is hot by lunchtime. So the job takes its shape from where the posts can land and how high the fabric sits.
We have been building shade in Sydney for more than 40 years. On a pool the design carries more weight than the fabric choice. We set the posts clear of the swim path and the fence line, and the sail is cut and sewn in our Rydalmere factory.
Shade cloth is the usual membrane over a pool. It cuts the sun and still lets hot air out through the weave, so nothing sits and stews underneath. Waterproof PVC keeps the rain off, but it holds the warm air in and the light out, so we save that for the seating and leave cloth over the water.
- Fabric that blocks up to 99% of the UV coming down onto the water.
- Engineered to NSW wind codes, with certification available on request.
- Cut and sewn at our Rydalmere factory, Australian made.
- A 10 to 15 year warranty on the sail.
- Repairs and re-tensioning, including sails we didn't build.
Selected work
Over the water, and around it.
A poolside cantilever umbrella, and the centre-post hip shades at Miller.
How it goes together
What makes it work over water.
Where the posts go
A post has to miss the coping and the fence line and still land somewhere a footing can be dug properly. You can't sink a deep footing hard up against a pool shell, and there's usually plumbing and power running under the paving as well. We mark the positions out in the yard with you before anything is drawn.
Height, and the air under it
Set it high, with fall across it, and the warm air rolls out from underneath while the shade still lands on the people. We work the height back from where you sit in the afternoon. Height buys room underneath as well, so a long-handled brush or a pool scoop isn't fighting the fabric every time the leaves come down.
Hardware that lives in chlorine
Chlorine vapour is hard on metal, and a pool deck keeps it in the air all summer. Over water the turnbuckles and shackles want to be stainless, with the cable sized for the span. Plated fittings rust in that air, and the stain runs down the post onto the paving.
Plunge pools and courtyards
Small pools often run paving to the fence on every side, which leaves nowhere for four posts to stand. A cantilever umbrella answers that: one upright set back off the deck, the canopy reaching out over the water with nothing underneath to walk around. They tilt to follow the sun and wind down when the weather turns.
Fencing and clearances
Pool areas come with rules about what can sit near the fence and what a child could climb on. The design has to respect them. The clearances get checked on site at the free measure, and the post positions are drawn around them on your blueprint before anything is cut.
Good to know
Pool sails, answered.
Will a shade sail make the pool cold?+
It will warm more slowly than a pool sitting in full sun. But a sail is not a lid, and the water still sees plenty of open sky, so the change you notice is on the deck, not in the water. If a warm pool matters more to you, we shade the seating and the paving and leave more of the surface open.
What colour works best over water?+
Darker fabrics tend to read better over a pool. A charcoal or a deep green holds its colour and cuts the glare coming up off the surface. Pale colours bounce more light back onto the water and show every leaf mark. Look at samples in your own light before you choose.
Can the sail come down over winter?+
Yes. A sail is tensioned onto fittings, so it can be released and stored, then re-tensioned when the weather turns. Put it away clean and dry, because damp fabric bagged up with leaf mulch still on it will grow mould over the winter.
Do I need council approval for a shade sail over a pool?+
Almost never. Most home shade sails are exempt development in NSW, so there is no application and nothing to wait on. Larger commercial and school structures are the usual exception, along with the occasional heritage site. On the uncommon job that does need approval we prepare the documentation as part of it, and our sails are engineered to NSW wind codes with certification available on request.
NSW builder licence 294924C · ABN 54 631 910 168 · family-owned, 40+ years · our own factory at 40 Bridge Street, Rydalmere NSW 2116.
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