50% will give a good amount of cooling. Does it allow enough light for your plants? Mine is 30% and it helps with cooling while allowing enough light for fruit crops. But won't be enough without an evaporative cooling system. That means a wet wall on one side/end and exhaust fans on the opposite end.

I have shade cloth on top and the west side. It will get real hot inside before the sun gets to the west side.

Many places sell shade cloth. I shop for the best price on what I want. The black polypropylene is very tough and lasts a long time, some of mine 30 years of part time use. I got aluminet once and while excellent in effect it unraveled in 4-5 years.

fruitnut,

Any idea why the aluminet unraveled/failed on you?

I'm looking for material to cover a largish pergola and that was one product under consideration. I have a post running now about covering mine to keep it dry:

Would also like advice about the best appearance I could get for the pergola, shade cloth type. Hope the opinions keep coming. Will be following this thread.

Rosie

Here is a link that might be useful: Recommendations for non-glass cover

I put some old 60% white on half the inside roof of my gh (it is probably less than 60% now) and 50% aluminet on the outside. The 60% has been on all winter here in Michigan- I grow orchids and when the sun comes out,it really comes out. I just put up the 50% two days ago but will probably take it down as the weather turned again. In summer I don't need to shade the sides but I do in winter. I find the aluminet is more comfortable to sit under due to its heat reflectivity than the regular shade cloth- but not by a huge margin. I have only had the stuff one year: the 60% white I got from a friend and the aluminet I ordered from greenhousemegastore.com. There are other places that have it, but last spring they had the best prices and I could get other stuff I needed in the same order.

Lisa, this is a bit off topic, but I've smiled repeatedly since reading of you enjoying your orchids during a Michigan winter.

Can someone speak to the appearance of aluminet? I'm seeking shade protection for a pergola, and hoping for attractive and functional. Heavy shade is my aim for summers in Georgia.

I've been using Aluminet in many ways on my greenhouse, coming up on six years, with no failures or problems. I hope I don't have the problems fruitnut mentioned (so far so good.) I first purchased 40% for the roof, but that was not nearly enough protection for my plants during the intense summer months. I later changed it to 60% for the roof, and used the 40% aluminet elsewhere.

It's very versatile, and easy to work with because it's so lightweight.

I made a cover for my roof, by folding over the raw edges, hand-sewing with a big needle and strong nylon thread, and adding grommets. Then I used it to make screen panels for the south wall of my greenhouse, by stretching it inside the Home Depot metal frames for making your own window screens. I've also made a simple curtain out of it (hand-whipping the edges, again) that slides on shower curtain hooks on a rod over my greenhouse doors (lets the breeze through, but keeps the sun and birds out.) I've wrapped it around a wooden frame for my greenhouse gable, and stapled it in place with a staple gun. Really easy to work with.

Rosiew, the appearance is very silvery and shiny/sparkly. It has a fairly loose weave and stretches quite a bit in one direction. It doesn't look organic at all, though, and at first I was a little disappointed with the shiny metallic look. I used to joke that it made my greenhouse look like the Starship Enterprise. The stuff works so well for me, though, I've stopped worrying about that.

If you'd like me to send a small piece in an envelope, so you can see the material for yourself, send me an email through Gardenweb. I have lots of little scraps.

mudhouse,

I've sent you an email. You are such a doll making the offer.

This stuff must be really thin. I'm intrigued. And Lordy knows I have time to experiment since I still don't have a bid from the contractor for building the pergola. Grrrr.

Will be back with updates, all.

Rosie

My husband likes the look of the aluminet better than the custom made shade we had on the patio. We have a 20' x 8' patio off the back door which faces south- the wind finally did in the old cover and I bought extra aluminet to use there. I attach it to the metal frame with shark clips and zip ties. I think it looks a bit rink-dink, but Hubby likes it. It does fool the eye a bit as you can kinda see through it so you don't feel so closed in. One piece I used my sewing machine to put on strap material. I found that it curled so I didn't do the other pieces. I think it would be wise to have something on the edges as in a stiff wind (we get over 40 mph regularly here) just the shark clips will most likely tear the material.

lisa,

I googled "stitching aluminet" and found lots of info. Thought I'd share. Mudhouse, aka Sheri, found some of your posts here.

All this info will be a huge help to me. Hope it helps others too.

Rosie
p.s. search was in google via firefox.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tons of info about ALUMINET