How to fix and secure clear screens and tarpaulins

Okay, I'm going to talk quickly now about ways that you can fix our clear screens and our tarpaulin covers. I'm going to touch on a few different options — some of these options we stock, and other options you can buy pretty easily at your local DIY store.

So number one is ball-loop bungee cords. These are short elasticated bungee cords with a plastic ball at one end, and these, as you can see from the video, thread through the standard eyelets that we fit to our screens. The bungee is designed to wrap around a pillar or a post, and then the loop of the bungee is designed to wrap back over the head of the bungee. These are a great semi-permanent solution — it means you're not drilling into your framework or your gazebo, and they can be removed and fitted very easily.

Beyond this we have turn buttons. Now these are an alternative to eyelets. They're a very neat alternative, but they're a little bit costly — as you can see, it's a very, very tidy solution. So the turn button consists of two pieces: you have a base section, or a base twist-button, which screws into your structure, your post, your pillar; and you have the oval-shaped eyelet, which we will insert into the screen. It's very much like a normal eyelet, except it's oval in shape rather than circular. So, as you can see, the button twists to effectively lock the screen in place. So that's turn buttons.

Finally, I'm going to show you an option that we ourselves don't supply, but it's the kind of thing you can pick up at your local DIY store, and that is washers and screws. Now this is really a solution if you're intending on fitting these screens on a fairly permanent basis. So we have, effectively, a washer which goes over the top of the eyelet, and you have a screw that then fits in over the top of that, and that screws down into your structure. So, as I say, this is a pretty permanent solution — it's not something I'd recommend if you're going to be fitting and removing these screens with some regularity. And there is a variation on this solution as well, which are cup screws or hook screws.

I'm also just going to quickly address the fixing of the bottom edges of screens, in situations where maybe you've got a screen that is hanging against hard-standing ground such as a concrete patio, for example, and you've got no option using the eyelets to secure the screen down to the ground. In these situations we can fit the screens with an open hem on the bottom edge, and that open hem essentially allows you to slide something heavy such as a chain or a wooden baton into the hem itself — it's almost like a pocket — and that will effectively keep the screen fairly well anchored to the ground and stop it from being buffeted in and out by the wind.

Another quite temporary solution that we supply are metal clamps, commonly referred to as market-stall clips. From an aesthetic point of view they're perhaps not as good a solution as something like the bungee cords or even the turn buttons, but it really does depend on your application and what they're being used for — but I thought I'd just throw it in here as an option as well. So there you go, those are a few solutions we have for fixing and anchoring these screens. So please do let me know if you have any questions and we'll be happy to help. Thank you.