New growing benches

[Jarrod]

Thoughts? Each 3.6m long by .6m wide

[Bretts]

I love your thinking Jarrod. A little worried that the distance between posts might cause some saging in the middle if to much wieght went on. I have found that a litle with a section in my bench.

[Craig]

Very nice Jarrod , maybe a couple more wooden braces under the wire as that might sag a little aswell, otherwise great benches mate

photo-242.jpg

p.s-would it be worth puting some braces on the steel frames to support the edges more, when the edges of the benches get heavy it'll want to twist otherwise,,just a thought

[Sean M]

Looks good.

Did you make the metal pole bits too? What did it cost all up?

[Bougy Fan]

Hi Jarrod I like the design looks very clean. I would have made the frames from gal RHS 25 X 25 X 2 . That way with galvanised mesh they will last your lifetime. I have sleepers on besser blocks but have problems with termites attracted to the damp timber.

Tony

[rawhide]

nice work Jarrod look very neat and tidy .Are the poles extending through for future shade ?

[Jarrod]

Thanks for the comments guys. I installed these same benches dads three years ago and they havent moved yet so I think these should lastme quite a while.

The extentions are for future shade sales. And also for poles to mount spot lights on so I can see the trees at some stage during winter... Damn long hours!

[rawhide]

cant wait too see the light system I have always wanted light in my area too ,winter time its dark by 5 30 .it would also give your trees a different perspective I reckon.

[Jarrod]

Yeah it should be good. Might actually be able to see my trees during winter!

Oh and these cost me less then $200

[dannynovo]

Great benches.....

Danny

[FlyBri]

Nice one Jezz!

Very smart looking indeed! When do we get pics of the benches all loaded up with trees?

Bri.

PS: I like the forward thinking with regards to the shade cloth supports, but wonder how your steel will hold up on windy days once you have sails in place.

[Matthew]

Jarrod ill take some pics tonight of my lighting so you get an idea

[Jarrod]

I am also a bit skeptical about the poles holding up with shade cloth, but I have put a whole lot of concrete in the ground! Fingers crossed!

Love to see your light set up Noah! I'm thinking 4 spot lights, one at the top of each pole!

[deepeetee]

Hi Jarrod,

The benches look super!
The Shade Sail and the light concept is very very good.

Im a manufacturer of Shade Sails, im a little hesitant on the idea of actual Shade Cloth Material. Could just be me reading into the thread a little too deeply. But be mindful of the amount of wind and rain load on Shade Cloth material. I would advise against using actual Shade Sail Cloth. Too heavy, and the wind load rating could be too high for your structure, plus, most of the fabrics have a shade rating of 90%+ (so it wont let much light through at all). The most important advice i can give though is, put some run off on the material (slope). We generally allow 1m of fall over a 5m spanse. From the pictures it looks as though the peak is in the middle. I would try and have the sail cloth falling at least 60mm and probably more like 80 or 90 mm, the more the better. The quicker you can have the rain water run off the cloth, the longer the material will last, and the longer it will remain firm over the spanse.

Again i may have read into the term Shade Sail Cloth a little too deeply. I would probably advise using some of the 30% Shade "Mesh" you can get from the hardware store. The same principle would apply above.

Love the benches and sorry for putting my in if you already knew the above.

Dave

[Jarrod]

Thanks for your input Dave. I was actually referring to mesh however, as i dont deal with the stuff daily the terminology was a bit out... Sorry but you

I have a cousin who sews these for a living so i will hopefully be getting him to sew up some custom threads for this setup. I was thinking of having the fall front to back rather than side to side as i feel this will be more appealing to the eye. I may scrap the idea completely and jsut get some up rights in with lights on them for night time viewing.