10 Questions to ask yourself before buying a net

In short, a net is most probably a great option for most projects!

But in order for this project to be a success, it’s important to consider a few questions prior to having a custom net made. So here is a list of 10 questions to ask yourself first.

First things first, it is incredibly important to have a clear idea of what you want to do with the net as this will have an impact on every other question. Being able to clearly formulate the goal that you want to achieve with the net will also help us be able to guide you through the process of selecting the best net for your needs. Different goals could be: catching fish in a lake, preventing goods in storage from falling down on someone, preventing birds/animals from entering specific areas, protecting your crops against animals/birds, etc.. 

To be honest, nets are extremely versatile and can be used in many different ways to suit a wide variety of functions!

This being said, it is important to have a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve before buying any net you find. 

Our dedicated team of expert net makers is here to help you with this process and can help you clearly define your goal and then help you choose the right material and fabrication method to guarantee your success!

Depending on your goal, it is very important to know if the net will be used outdoors or not and if so, will it be for extended periods of time. 

The reason for this is quite simple, different net materials are better suited for outdoor weather thus increasing the overall lifetime of your purchase!

Also, if you plan on leaving your net installed during winter, then it is important to realize that the weight of the snow will most probably change the shape of the net and will greatly reduce the useful lifetime of the net.

Most nets on the market are black, green, clear or white, but there are other colors available. 

Depending on your goal, you might need a net a specific color in order to help with your unique goals.

For example, gillnets are made of a type of netting that is usually clear, but oftentimes, if the net is green, fish don’t see it as much, thus greatly increasing the catch. So our clients ask us to dye the nets in green!

Nets come in many different shapes and sizes, some are in bulk, some are in rolls. Some are more flexible than others. Some are more solid than others. 

For example, if your goal is to prevent someone from falling from a specific height, then you will want extremely strong netting to safeguard that person’s life.

Are you trying to cover an above ground pool with a net to prevent leaves from falling into it during fall or are you trying to prevent geese from exiting a lake?

One will require a round net and the other will require a rectangle net, so shape is super important. 

For our pool example, is your pool 21ft diameter or 22 ft? Do you want the net to go beyond the size of your pool or stop directly at its border?

For our geese example, what is the length of the lakeshore you want to protect? There is no limit to the length that we can do, but there sometimes we will recommend splitting the net in multiple parts to help with the shipping and installation.

As mentioned previously, your goal with the net is the most important thing to know. 

Usually nets fall into two categories, either people want something a specific size to go through the net or the opposite, they want the net to prevent something from going through. 

In order to know what mesh size to use, we definitely need to know the size diameter of what we are trying to achieve. 

If using a gillnet to catch trout, you want a net just big enough to let it’s head through, but not it’s body, so it gets stuck by its gills.

If you want to prevent a golf ball from going through the net, then you will want a mesh that is smaller than a golf ball yet strong enough to hold even if the ball is hit extremely hard.

The weight and force of what you are trying to do will have a massive impact on your choice of net. 

The heavier and faster moving things will require a fairly strong twine to do the job. 

For example, preventing a 15kg box from falling off a warehouse shelf will require a net with a finer twine than if your goal is to carry a 120kg seal. 

Will you be installing your net with pikes in the ground, or will you be building an apparatus to hold the net vertically? 

If your goal is simply to prevent geese from existing lakes onto the shore, then 5ft pikes (2ft in the ground) at regular intervals will be sufficient to hold a net.

On the other hand, if you are building a military-style wall climbing training net, you will require a structure built out of logs and strong anchors to hold the net in place and support the weight of many people on it at once. 

When building a custom net, will can basically make anything that you require. This being said, if you are planning to use the net vertically in water, we would then use floats with a lead core line to help the net keep a vertical position. 

If you are looking to build a golf practice cage, do you only need the net or do you also need us to supply the cage to hold the net in place?

Finally, this is probably one of the most important questions to ask yourself, but do you have a plan? Can you draw the net on paper or computer? This helps us better understand what you need and also greatly reduces errors due to communication errors. 

A net plan is not always required, but if you need the net to have very specific dimensions or if the shape of the net is unique, then we will ask for a detailed plan in order to guarantee that the final product is exactly what you need!

I believe this wraps up quite nicely the 10 questions that a future net owner should ask themselves before buying a net. 

There are a lot of pre-made nets on the market, but being that nets are made to be unique and highly customizable, we believe that it is very important to find a net that is custom made to your unique needs!

If you have more questions, feel free to contact us directly at info@filmarnets.com and it will be our pleasure to help you out in finding the best possible solution for your project!