AEZ Aluminet Shade Cloth
FAQs, Experiences, Techniques, and lots of Opinions
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the photos.
Note: this page is dedicated to Aluminet, but much of the information here could apply to any KNITTED shade cloth.
Please comment below if you have information to add.
What is Aluminet? Who makes it?
Aluminet is reflective shade cloth that is knitted with plastic high-density polyethylene strands. It comes in different “percentages of shade provided” (density and color of the HDPE strands): 30-87% shade. Durable, stretchy, versatile. Intended use: greenhouse fabric.
Aluminet comes in reflective plastic on both sides and doubled-sided: reflective one side, colored on the other. Photos below show blue and black double-sided Aluminet.
Made by Polysack: http://www.polysack.com/ No online sales department? Call Polysack for reseller information.
Polysack USA, Inc.
7590 Britannia Ct. Suite C Building D
San Diego, California 92154
Tel : +1 619 661 9601/2
Fax: +1 619 661 9603
E-mail: usa@polysack.com
The ‘shadiest’ Aluminet (Shading: 85-87%) is double-sided black: reflective side goes up, black side down. Here is what Polysack says: “A double layer net used to shade playgrounds, swimming pools and large open areas. Used for home pergolas, garden balconies, permanent and movable shade structures. The net reduces temperatures by up to 8 degrees C and UV radiation by up to 95%, creating a pleasant climate.”
Double-sided Aluminet also comes with blue or green on the colored side.
I want to make a shelter out of Aluminet. Any suggestions?
The best teacher is experience. Get a 20’x 20’ chunk of the stuff months before BM, and experiment with it in your livingroom or back yard. Play with it. Start with something simple.
It’s light, weighing between 0.01 and 0.02 pounds per square foot, and so 1,000 square feet of the material weighs no more than 20 pounds. The shelter’s structure needs to deal with the wind, not the weight.
The fabric is stretchy. Design your structure so that the Aluminet is tight: this will create a nice shape and help to prevent excessive flapping in the wind. You can see some examples of ‘fabric tension structures’ here:
http://www.moonburststructures.com/Image_Galleries/index/index2.html
Polysack has Acrobat Reader documents with great drawings and ideas for simple structures icluding windbreaks.
http://www.polysack.com/ and click on the Installation Guides link at the top.
Get some of the snap-on grommets that are made for Aluminet. See Plastic Grommets at greenhouseMEGAstore. They can be taken off and moved around, allowing you to experiment with your creation.
Aluminet can also be purchased in a variety of sizes and shapes, including custom sizes, with the edge reinforced with webbing and brass grommets every foot or so: be sure to order ahead.
Note: Taped edges with grommets all around sounds like a good idea, BUT it costs more, takes more delivery time AND, worst of all, creates a fairly non-stretchy edge whereas the Aluminet is very stretchy. Result is that you will have a bathtub shaped ‘roof’ of Aluminet UNLESS you provide for some sort of tall pole in the middle. Here is a photo of the bathtub effect with a taped edge piece of Aluminet. It’s uplifted in this photo, but the Aluminet would also flop down into our faces! Get a center pole, or otherwise set up your Aluminet to deal with this effect, if you have taped your edges. More photos here
How about sewing Aluminet?
Roger folds and sews nylon fabric ‘tape’ over the cut raw edges of the seams on the Mayor’s tent. This creates good reinforcement of the seam and a finished appearance on the inside of the shelter.
Kerry’s Answer: Using an ordinary sewing machine, I’ve attached strips of Aluminet into a tight-fitting cover for a 26-foot geodesic dome frame, which easily protected us from 35-MPH winds. I used high-quality polyester thread, 1/2-inch flat seams, and a “reinforced stitch” for stretch fabric. (A reinforced stitch is a “two steps forward, one step back” stitch.)
To prepare for each seam, first I pinned the ends of the fabric together where the seam was to start and end. Next I repeatedly stretched the fabric between pins and pinned the halfway point, eventually resulting in pins about every foot. This preparation ensured that the fabric ends would line up when I finished the seam.
One distributor of Aluminet says that they use “an industrial 5-thread serger with polyester thread” to attach pieces. Translation: two pieces of shade fabric are stacked with their right edges aligned, a simple straight stitch joins the pieces, and the fabric to the right of the straight stitch gets an “overlock” stitch to encase and control the fabric edges. But comparing the results of using a high-end serger and using an ordinary sewing machine, I believe that using a serger is more than is needed.
Jill’s Answer: Aluminet is a made from long pieces of twisted mylar-like strips (about one-eighth inch wide) that are sewn into a 7 foot width of fabric by sewing across the twisted pieces of mylar (at 90 deg. to the mylar) with heavy thread about every one-half inch. Wider widths of Aluminet are made by sewing the 7’ wide fabric together to make 14’, 21’, etc.
Aluminet has very little stretch either lengthwise or width-wise, BUT it does have about a 25% stretch across the bias (45 degrees to the mylar thread). Any large structure should start with a small prototype to test how this stretch will affect the finished project. Or if you happen to be a math major, figure the stretch into the design. NOTE: percent of stretch *might* vary with “shadiness” of Aluminet. the 25% stretch was determined on “50% shade”. most playa-dwellers buy “70% shade”.
Here are several PDF web pages with information about how to join Aluminet using the clamp-on grommets, lacing pins, hooks etc. This information is from the manufacturers of Aluminet. Some of these fasteners could be made with coat hangers, and would be easier than sewing. http://www.polysack.com/docs/Info19en.pdfhttp://www.polysack.com/docs/Info18en.pdf http://www.polysack.com/docs/Info16en.pdf
If you want to cut and sew Aluminet into more complex shapes, you will need to be careful about: 1) the stretchiness of any seams that are on the bias: a typical “straight stitch” made with lightweight sewing thread will break when stretched 2) creating MOOP (small pieces of mylar, etc) on the playa: cut the fabric and test (by pulling on it, flapping in wind, etc) to see if small pieces come off.
One way to deal with both problems is to “bind” any cut edges with bias tape (available at fabric stores or make your own by cutting fabric into strips across the bias). Use a ZIG-ZAG stitch (and good quality thread) to apply the binding tape: this stitch will stretch with the bias tape!
If you don’t have any ‘bias cut’ seams, the easiest way to sew Aluminet is with a lightweight nylon string. Harden the end of the string with a flame to make the end stiff and so it doesn’t ravel. Then take a looping under/over stitch to sew the Aluminet pieces together. This works VERY well and can be done on the playa!
What are some of the common uses of Aluminet on the playa?
Answer: Perhaps the most common structure on the playa is a “flat plane” of Aluminet: grommets placed at corners and every 2 feet along edges, then tied up to poles to create a flat ‘roof’, perhaps with one side tilted downward, to provide shade underneath. 
Some people simply throw Aluminet over their tent and stake down the bottom edges, leaving an opening for the door. You can stake up the opening to short poles or bend a long length of PVC pipe into an arch and use zipties to attach the Aluminet to your archway!
You can cover a dome or other ‘construction’…or a truck or car…with Aluminet, but be careful of snagging the fabric on bolts and other protrusions.
Aluminet also lends itself well to fancy sewn shapes such as the Mayor’s beautiful tower-tent. Use your imagination…and a sewing machine.
More information about this dome here: dome
This is a 30’ square ‘flat plane’ of aluminet with 8’ tall sides and a 12’ tall center: the Aluminet easily stretches enough to create a pyramid out of a flat plane. The shade structure was designed to be almost completely pre-assembled: all of the grommets and ropes are in place on the Aluminet. All we had to do was pound in 12 stakes, and, poof, the structure went up in the air! We erected the structure in less than an hour with only 2 people. Shade is a wonderful thing on the playa.
The only disadvantage to the hOodville shade structure was that the enormous size of the Aluminet made it difficult to rinse off when we got home: we didn’t have a length of fence nearly big enough! Next year we will come home, set up the structure in our backyard, and then hose it off. More information about this structure here: hOodville shade structure
How durable is Aluminet?
Answer: Aluminet will tear or shred if it flaps or rubs against something sharp or snaggy, creating a rip or hole. Fortunately, Aluminet doesn’t ‘run’ like an old-skool nylon stocking: any holes or rips can be easily sewn up with lightweight nylon twine and nimble fingers on the playa…no needle or sewing machine required. (Although a packing needle, used for sewing up canvas packages, would help.)
Although its ‘open weave’ means it doesn’t ‘catch the wind’ the way a solid piece of fabric would, a large piece will create a substantial ‘sail’ in high winds. If your structure is billowing forcefully in the wind, make sure that your edges are well-anchored with grommets close together at stress points: grommets will tear out of the Aluminet under duress. Save some spare grommets to reinforce stressed anchors on the playa.
Aluminet is quite strong in terms of ‘load bearing’ properties. Here’s a photo of a chunk of Aluminet filled with sixty pounds of hail! The weight ripped a small hole near one grommet, but the structure held up just fine. Uh, this is obviously NOT on the playa.
Those of us who live in a sunny climate appreciate Aluminet is year ‘round. It looks nice and is easy to put up.
Are there any disadvantages?
Answer: Probably the biggest disadvantage of Aluminet on the playa is that it will accumulate dust within its strands. There is some strange synenergy between the plastic mylar and dust, causing the dust to actually stick to the mylar. The dust reduces the reflectivity of the mylar, and winds (or a bump from your head) will cause the dust to come showering down. Be prepared to have the ‘de-construction’ of your playa shelter be a dusty experience! Put the dusty Aluminet in a garbage bag for transporting.
Fortunately, once you get back to the default world, the dust will rinse right off with a hose or tub of water, and your Aluminet will look as good as new!
Another thing to consider is the Aluminet does not totally block the sun: you can get sunburned underneath. Its main use is greenhouse fabric as it diffuses the sunlight but doesn’t block all of it.
You can estimate the sun protection factor (SPF) of shade fabric to get an idea of how much sun protection it provides. SPF is roughly the reciprocal of the transmitted radiation: 70% Aluminet transmits 30%, or about 1/3, and so it’s around SPF 3. Compare to the SPF 30+ of your sunscreen, and you see how little UV protection Aluminet provides.
Does Aluminet cut the wind? What about blowing dust?
We use Aluminet for wind control, and we hang a canvas painter’s drop cloth below the Aluminet to cut the UV.
If I remember, the force of the wind varies with the square of its speed, and so slowing the wind from 30 MPH down to 10 MPH cuts the force of it to nearly one tenth.
After spending hours in the noisy wind, I discovered that inside an Aluminet-covered dome there was a surprisingly welcome quietness, with only gentle rustling of the fabric’s fibers. This was inside a dome that had no inner canvas, only the Aluminet on the outside. The wind *did* come through, but it was possible to cook inside.
Adding the inner UV canvas, the dust still comes inside because the lining is neither fitted nor attached at the bottom. To control dust, two years ago we created three “rooms” inside the Aluminet dome. Two tents were bedrooms, and the remaining area was a common cooking area with a table. One of the tents was a curious one that had standing room inside but didn’t take too much floor space. I think that outside of the dome that tent would have collapsed, but inside it was fine.
How much does it cost? Where can I buy it?
Answer: 20-40 cents a square foot? See Links section below for online sources.
Polysack may be able to direct you to other sources.
Links:
http://gothicarchgreenhouses.com/shade_aluminet.htm
Comment: Scroll down to Aluminet section. Other types of shade cloth, too. Plastic Snap-On grommets on this page too. Mentions BM Festival.
http://www6.mailordercentral.com/igcusastore/products.asp?dept=1117
Comment: Scroll down to Aluminet. Other types of shade cloth, too. Snap-on plastic grommets also on this page. Order early: May, June? Make sure to check your order status– they probably won’t notify you if they are out of stock of what you’ve ordered.
http://under-coversolutions.com
(714) 960-5383 Comment: Based in Huntington Beach, CA– they cater to a lot of Burners and understand our needs. They were nice enough to work with me when I got screwed by another supplier at the last minute! Highly recommended!
http://www.signaturesupplyonline.com/
P.O.Box 1585, Lakeland, Florida 33802-1585
Call Frank at Signature Supply: 1-863-698-0399
signature@polk.net
Comment: .28 a sq foot.
Very Burner-friendly.
Delivery of 2100 sq feet to my home: $50.00
Lead Time: 1 week.
