Sean Young
Shadeport Specialist
Office: 011 568 4436
Whatsapp (Messaging Only) Cell: 060 673 4126 (office hours)
Cell: 079 187 3528
e-mail: admin@shadeportspecialist.co.za
SPECIFICATIONS OF MATERIALS USED
"Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort." - John Ruskin
We believe you are only as good as the materials you use. Quality should never be compromised for the sake of profit. We use only the best materials and we aim to educate our prospective customers by including detailed specifications with every quote we send.
Shade-netting
We exclusively use Knittex Colourshade as we have found it to be the most durable shade-netting available. It comes in a wide range of colours to suit any building style. It is also fade-resistant.
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Our shade-netting is ideal for industrial, commercial and domestic applications.
Colourshade is manufactured using High Density Polyethylene, UV stabilisers and high quality refined pigments, which prevents fading. Strength within the individual yarns provides overall agility and longevity.
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Colourshade has a ten year manufacturer’s warranty against UV degradation.
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Colourshade can also be used for tension structures and shade-sails and provides protection against sun, rain, hail, frost, dew, tree sap and bird droppings. A well designed and installed shade-net structure can enhance the appearance of outdoor surroundings.
Knittex Colour Chart
Stitching
For the sewing of the seams & joins of our shade-nets, we use a top-of-the-range UV stabilized SABS certified sewing thread only available from a single supplier in this country which is a closely guarded trade secret, unbeknownst to many suppliers. It will outlast any other cheap sewing thread on the market by at least an additional two years.
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We also use well-maintained & regularly serviced precision industrial sewing machines, which will stitch 4x threads into a continuous double row with the correct tension and will prevent the seams from coming undone prematurely, which may often be the case with other suppliers, conveniently just after the client's 3 year guarantee period has ended.
Steel
There are distinctive qualities assigned to well-manufactured steel products (such as the round columns, square columns and cantilevers we use); ie. adaptability, cost effectiveness, aesthetics, strength, robustness and ductility, making steel the material of choice for many home builders, engineers and architects.
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After being in the Shadeport business since 1995, we are among a select few who still supply and install genuine design-specific Shadeport structures which comply with structural engineers’ specifications, namely the correct steel diameters & wall-thicknesses, steel grades, rolling,
bending-, welding-, fastening- and planting methods.
There are a few seemingly minor, but very important details with regards to Shadeport structures' specifications, that are important to keep in mind when choosing a supplier.
It is important to take into consideration the diameter and wall thickness of steel components and correct size & strength of the concrete foundations for your specific requirements, so you will be able to rest assured that we will not sell you an ‘econo’ type structure, which could collapse and would not be strong enough to withstand severe weather conditions; whether it be due to incorrect steel specifications, or sub-standard workmanship in either the manufacturing process or the installation process.
For our steel cantilever trusses [aka hanging braces], we make use of structural lattices where required, which is an integral part of the design according to structural engineers' specifications for cantilevered Shadeports, yet so many companies out there are omitting these all together to reduce manufacturing costs, which compromises structural integrity considerably.
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Fasteners
Most of our competitors are using Hex Tek screws, which inevitably rust & loosen themselves quite rapidly due to movement of the Shadeports’ steel components in the wind.
We use through-and-through galvanized M6 nuts and bolts to fasten our framework together.
Cable / Steel wire rope
Paint & Technique
Another integral part of any shadeport structure is the tensioning cable which runs all the way around the perimeter of the shade-net inside the perimeter seam [aka the hem or pocket].
We use a 4mm diameter high-quality galvanized steel wire rope, not the cheaper 3mm diameter wire rope , of which diameter is just too little for the galvanizing to adhere properly, therefore rapid and severe cable-rust is highly probable. This in turn causes the cable to fray, which damages the shade-net seams and will eventually snap, releasing all tension. Galvanised steel cable is regular steel cable that has been covered in zinc to make them corrosion resistant.
We have seen instances where competitors use nylon ski-rope for tensioning in order to cut costs. It goes without saying that although it may lower your quote value, in the long term it is not a viable option as it will stretch in a short amount of time and cause your shade-netting to sag, which is aesthetically displeasing.
We use a specialized top quality Quick Dry Enamel paint which has a ‘built-in’ primer to paint our steel framework.. We do not paint a standard top coat directly onto the raw steel when touching up the steel framework after erection, which is a practice that is all too common in this industry, and will result in flaking paint & subsequent rust, usually within the first year or two after installation.
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When refurbishing structures, we remove surface rust and damaged paintwork by means of sandpapering, scraping, chipping and wire brushing.
We clean all steelwork, apply Rust Converter Primer to prepared areas & leave to dry for a minimum of 4 hours. We then completely re-paint structures with Quick-Drying Enamel.
