Tents as it Starts to Rain
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
To be quite honest, no one can stop the rain (until my weather machine is complete, but that’s a separate blog entry). There are still ways to combat the effects of rain as they affect your tent installations. Light sprinkle-type rain isn’t so much of an issue as heavy or prolonged periods of rain that can change the soil conditions. Changes in the dirt can drastically reduce the hold that anchoring has on canopies and creates dangerous situations for you and your guests.
Safety
As more and more rain begins to soak in to the soil, you’ll start to find that your guy lines leading to any anchoring will start to show a little more slack. Checking on all anchoring lines is a standard requirement for any longer-than-a-weekend installation. There are, however, a few additional steps to be taken when rains are knocking at your door.
Step 1: While looking at anchoring lines that seem to have an increased amount of slack, assess the amount of rain that you’ve had. Light rain situations may not have infiltrated the ground to the point where it is affecting stake-depth. In this case, you can tighten your guy lines so long as you make sure to check on your stakes within a few hours. Additional tension can start to pull softening stakes out of the ground when water is retained in the ground. Noticing that? Go to Step 2!
Step 2: PANIC! No, just kidding, but you do need to take action pretty much immediately. If the rains have subsided or are consistently light, you can add additional or “gang staking” to your anchor locations in order to maintain the amount of tension required for a safe installation.
Because of the actionable timeframe from the first two steps, you should have arrived at the best outcome by the time heavy or constant rains begin to assail your installation. As is always the case with extreme weather, the moment it looks as though very scary weather (scientific term) begins to arrive, you and your guests should leave the tent immediately – tents are temporary shelters and are dangerous in stormy conditions.
Comfort
Most guests will be spending a lot of time underneath the canopy when rain begins to pour, so it’s important to have preparations in place for these situations. Getting caught in an unexpected downpour is bad enough, so here are a few ideas for keeping your guests from getting too miserable.
- Walls!
Rain doesn’t always fall straight down toward the ground – there are times when wind may blow it at an angle, or water can begin to ricochet off of nearby objects and splash towards your tent interior. Oh no! Having sidewalls ready for your tent, whether already installed or simply on hand, is a great way to provide additional protection for when weather whips up at your event.
- Floors!
Even if you aren’t expecting rain to make the ground all soggy and spongy, portable flooring is a great way to make your installation comfortable to walk through. Most portable flooring also works to keep grass intact as an added bonus. Flooring will keep any mud that forms from inconveniencing you or your guests.
Keeping your guests safe and happy is the preferred outcome of literally every event. More information on weather effects and tent installations can be found in our Product Support, where all of our tips and tricks for events is located. Not finding what you’re after? Feel free to contact one of our Customer Account Managers by calling (866) 767-9242 or emailing sales@gettent.com. We look forward to hearing from you!