Easy DIY Swing Set Canopy Replacement

The last storm we had took our swing set canopy from shading canopy to shreds.  This prompted a little brainstorm session from me.  I’m too cheap to pay $45 or more to a swing set canopy replacement so what did I do?  I made my own…out of Duck Tape. 🙂  We’ll see how long it holds for.  So far it has been on for 3 weeks and is still going strong.  Even if it just lasts a couple months this under $10 DIY Swing Set Canopy replacement will have been worth it.

This project is very simple and only takes about 20-30 minutes depending on how many interruptions you have.  Total cost for my DIY swing set canopy replacement was just over $5.  Your cost will vary depending on the size of your canopy.

To Make Your DIY Swing Set Canopy

1. Pick up 1-3 bright, fun colors of Duck Tape at the store (FYI – I bought them for $5 a roll at Michael’s and then saw them for $3.60 a roll at Dollar General).
2. Prep the existing canopy by cutting off any dangling pieces. You can also wipe any dust or pollen off with a damp cloth.
3. If your canopy is wider at the top than it is at the bottom like ours is then you’ll want to move a third of the way up the canopy on each outside edge (right along the outer yellow strip) and tape your first strip there.  Stick the end of the tape directly on the fabric of the canopy and unroll, gently smoothing the tape onto the canopy as you go.
4. Keep adding strips of duck tape in your color choice making sure there is just a bit of overlap on each layer.
5. Adding stripes is as easy as counting strips of tape.  For example: Working my way inward, I added 5 strips of blue tape on each side of the canopy.  Still working my way inward, I added three strips of yellow tape to each side, then, 2 strips of blue to each side.  I concluded with one strip of yellow right down the middle.
6. To discourage the tape from curling up on the ends (on the inside of the front of the awning and the back of the top of the awning) I stretched a long strip of tape perpendicular across the ends of all the tape strips.  I’m hoping this will also discourage my boys from picking at the tape ends.
7. The final, most important step is to line the underside of your new swing set canopy with heavy duty duct tape (not the colored kind). Duct tape sticks best to itself (something you always learn the hard way) so applying this heavy duct tape to the underside will ensure a long lasting canopy.  Without the duct tape on the underside, your top layer of duct tape isn’t going to stick long to the brittle, crumbling canopy.  Make sure your duct tape on the underside are placed in horizontal strips (opposite the vertical strips on the top of the canopy).

And…you’re done!!! Enjoy the  fruits of your labors, and feel free to brag about the fact that your custom swing set canopy replacement cost less than $10!

It can be a bit of a crap shoot trying to find just the color of Duck Tape you’re looking for. These solid color rolls of Duck Tape on Amazon actually are twice as large as the rolls I bought in the store, but only cost $1 more. Love it! (Once you click the link, you’ll see all the colors there are to choose from.)

Update: So, this easy fix lasted the entire summer and through September. It held up well through several heavy Louisiana storms. At the beginning of October we got some heavy storms that ripped it apart. I was pretty impressed that it held up for as long as it did through all the severe weather we got.