Ron pulls off the highway in the coastal town of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Thomas Favre was born here, and now has retired here with his wife Marsha. The Farves love relaxing on their front patio with their dachshund, Fidette, but by mid-day the sun can drive all three of them back inside. Thomas and Marsha invited Ron to stop by in hopes of finding a solution. They were hoping they could create something that they could roll out to cover up the patio and keep the sun off, but could then be rolled back as it cooled off.
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1. The plan:
- Ron's suggestion was to install a shade awning that could be opened and closed much like a window curtain. The awning would glide along three wire cables, which would run between the fence and the house. The Farves thought it sounded great so they got started.
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2. Screw eyes:
- They began by drilling pilot holes in the side of the house. They would then attach the cable with screw eyes, which would be screwed directly into the wood siding and hopefully some of the framing behind the siding to get a good strong attachment.
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- Marsha climbed the ladder and began drilling the pilot holes for the screw eyes.
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- She and Thomas inserted the screw eyes into the holes and tightened them first by hand -- and then by using screwdrivers for leverage.
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- With the screw eyes attached to the house, they would need to locate the exact corresponding points on the opposite fence, establishing a direct line of sight from the screw eyes to the fence.
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- To accomplish this, Ron tied a length of twine to one of the screw eyes.
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- Thomas carried the twine across the patio to the fence.
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- Ron held a carpenter's square perpendicular to the house and directed Thomas to move the string side to side until it was exactly parallel to one arm of the square.
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- Thomas marked the position where the twine met the fence and they repeated this process for the other two screw eyes.
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- Next, they drilled shank or clearance holes through each mark on the fence.
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- This time, instead of screw eyes, they installed eyebolts, which were very similar, but went all the way through the fence and were secured by a washer and nut on the back of the fence.
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- They used a socket wrench on the backside of the fence to secure the bolts.
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3. Cable:
- Their next step was to rig the cables. They used weather and rust resistant aircraft cable, which they stretched across the patio and draped with shade cloth.
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- According to Ron, the real secret to making the whole contraption work was a little thing called a ferrule, which is a small metal connector with a couple of holes in it.
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- Ron passed the ferrule over the end of the cable and then slipped the snap over the end section of the cable.
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