I bought this to cover a drippy area on the porch. It stays partly open all Winter, not fully open and does the trick. I did not buy the weightable stand that goes with it, and instead have used two cinder blocks which keeps it down. I would encourage the stand to be purchased instead of another creative method as it is not a secure weight. It can be a little hard to adjust and requires some strength to move the plastic collar on the pole if changing the height or stretching it out. Opening it up is easy.