The ‘house’ next door is a single-wide trailer, and it’s painted white. The owner, who hasn’t come up for a couple of years, has it power-washed every year or two, so it makes a pretty good reflector. I’ve ordered an 8-foot roll-up shade to fit in the 9’ 3" space between the posts supporting our deck roof.
I plan to mount a pressure-treated 2x4 between the posts, to carry the shade. The wide side will be the face. I think this will work well, but I’m concerned about the wind. It can get a mite breezy here. We have a few wind storms per year. If we don’t roll up the shade and the wind comes up, I wonder if the 2x4 will flex enough for the ends of the shade to come out of their mountings. If that happens, I want to reinforce the 2x4 to reduce flexing. I have an idea I can put another board level with the top (i.e. not on top of the 2x4, but at the top) to stiffen it. I know another 2x4 screwed in perpendicular to the first board will do the trick. But I think it might be overkill. Would a 2x2 work as a stiffener?
When the shade comes, I’ll mound it without the stiffener. The ends will be close enough to the posts that flexing might not be a problem. But just in case…
First, a structural note: The deck roof is supported by 4x6 beams atop 4x4 uprights. The beams and uprights are joined with metal whatchamacallits. (You put them on the butt end of one board, and there is a bracket on top, offset 90º, in which the crossing board sits.) The faces of each side have a short length of 2x4 joining them as well, for a little extra longitudinal support, and there are short 4x4s on the insides of the beams set at 45º for lateral support.
The rains have lessened, and there’s more sun, which means more glare off of the neighbour’s trailer. So we finally got around to putting up the new shade, on the half of the side next to the house. (We’re leaving the other half open.) I cut a pressure-treated length of 2x4 to 9 feet, 7 inches to support the shade in the 9-foot, 3½ inch open space. I had everything carefully planned. I would drill holes in the board, and put the screws in. Yes, screws. Overdo it, remember? I’d put in the brackets for the 8-foot roll-up shade. I would have Mrs. L.A. hold one end while I climbed a ladder, checked the level, and secured the other end, then go and secure Mrs. L.A.'s end. It’ll be a piece of cake! What I didn’t account for is that I would not have the leverage to drive in the screws. :smack: I did get them virtually all of the way in on my end (the end nearest the house), but…
This board has been laying behind The Wife’s patio furniture since last Summer, and it had about a 1-inch twist in it. I just couldn’t get the screws in far enough. Three-inch screws, an inch sticking out. One screw was in far enough to hold that end of the board, which was butted up against the 4x6, while I ran to the hardware store. I used a 6" C-clamp to pull the twisted top flush with the 2x4 it was being attached to, and secured the end with four 3-inch nails. In the week it’s been up, it seems to be holding. Of course, we haven’t had a wind storm yet.
I don’t think the board will need any additional support. Any bending pressure will be very close to the ends, and I suspect its now-straightened twist will make it resist bending.