How to hang a "Coolaroo" shade-sail?

Question

We'd like to hang a Coolaroo shade-sail over our elevated deck, but are uncertain, how to best attach it.

Deck is adjacent to the house's second floor, but the walls have no hooks and are covered with Hardieplank siding. What's the best way to install some feature (a hook or an "eye"), which will be able to withstand the substantial stresses the sail may apply to the rigging in the wind?

On the other side of the deck there are no walls at all -- it is circled by safety fence, but the posts are neither tall enough nor attached hard enough to withstand the above-mentioned stresses. I'm thinking of using longer ropes to attach to the trees beyond the deck's fence.

But the question of how to attach to the house remains...

Answer 1

For attaching anything bigger than christmas lights to the house, the siding is just a covering of the frame. And the frame (wall studs, etc) is what you need to securely anchor to. You can either drill straight through the siding or cut some siding away and tackle it that way.

It's spooky when you cut into your house, no doubt, so the concept of "measure twice, cut once" really starts to take center stage. You can read up a bit on general tutorials, and getting it right includes not drilling into pipes and wiring that might be behind the siding running through the walls.

Regarding the side with the fence and the trees, you'll get a lot of stretch out of the ropes you use, to the point where you may want to consider guy wires. They'll be much smaller than equivalent strength rope, last much longer (probably longer than all of us), and will have much less stretch than rope even double its size. The downside is that it's a pain to work with if you're not familiar with the material.

In short:

• Secure the house-portion to structural framing elements of the house using quality hardware, and weatherproof when you're done.
• Consider using guy wires for both parts to keep a good look, but definitely on the longer side to minimize stretch.