Drop Cloths To Protect Your Installations
An Extra Layer of Protection
Not all of the fabric products that are produced at Celina Tent facilities use vinyl as their main material. Quite a few of our other items – table covers, tent liners, and ratchet assemblies coming to mind – aren’t vinyl at all. Our fabric dexterity extends past tent tops and walls. As the tent season continues to play out around us, in addition to the weather that comes with it, we’re here to try and keep your hardware in peak condition for the long haul. One item that we really can’t stress enough for increasing the life of tent tops is the humble drop cloth.
Usage
Once the footprint for your tent is laid out, drop cloths are added to minimize harm to your tent top. These are added to different areas depending on your tent style:
Pole Tents
Drop cloths can be added to a pole tent installation after all of the markings have been made to indicate staking locations. Once the stake locations are identified, the actual coverage area of the tent will be around 5 feet within the perimeter created. This is the area that requires drop cloths to protect the tent top during installation. Pole tent tops are laid out on the ground, to be lifted by the center and corner poles before the edges are finally lofted with side poles.
Frame Tents
Installation for frame tents is followed up through the formation of the roof framing. The framework, without the legs attached, should be located in the footprint. Drop cloths are spread out next to the frame. This is because the tent top needs to be spread out (and, if a sectional, assembled) so that it can be pulled over the tent frame ridge and situated about in the final position. No drop cloths need to be spread beneath the frame because the framework will be lifting the tent top once it’s pulled into place.
Overlap
As most drop cloths are not the same size as a tent footprint, most installations are going to require more than one cloth. Because of this, you’ll need to remember that to remain as protected as possible at least one foot of overlap should be given. Drop cloths are available in a few different sizes, so that just as you wouldn’t need a 40’-long cloth for a 10’ by 10’ installation, hauling enormous 80’ ground cloths to cover larger pole tent installations seems to be more than a bit cumbersome.
Cleaning
You may be considering a process similar to this: once the tent is up, roll up the cloths, toss them in the trailer or truck bed, and move on to the next site. And for many situations, this could be good. So long as you are remembering to keep the dirty side of the cloth down it should all work out, right? Forgetting that a rolled up drop cloth has the dirty side against the clean side? What happens if one installation site is wet? Drop cloths are machine washable, providing an easy means of returning your cloths to a useful state.
Drop Cloths can be ordered in various sizes depending on your installation needs. Have questions about these or any other installation procedures and accessories? Visit our product support page for more articles on tent set up or contact one of our customer account managers here. We’re here to help!