5 Important Uses For Tarpaulins
Even with their amazing versatility and wide variety of industrial applications, tarpaulins are generally underappreciated tools. Having a greater understanding of the many different types of tarps that are available can help you choose the right material for any situation. Here are five common uses for tarps and the best material to use for each.
Industrial Equipment Protection
Protection from the elements is necessary to prevent dangerous rust buildup for many types of industrial machinery. Specific cases where this would be necessary are outdoor construction projects and farm equipment, both of which would be at risk of exposure to precipitation over the course of a long project.
To protect this machinery, a heavy-duty polyethylene tarp is recommended. These tarps from sites like http://billboardtarps.com/ are made from laminate plastic that is completely waterproof. Untreated polyethylene will become brittle and unusable if it is exposed to direct sunlight for too long, but UV-treated polyethylene can have a functional lifespan of several years to a decade.
Camping
Camping is a pastime that would not be complete without a reliable tarp tent. For camping tents and flies, a light- to medium-grade polyethylene tarp will be entirely sufficient. This tarp will still keep you completely dry in detriment weather but has the advantage of being much more affordable than the heavy-duty tarps that are used for industrial applications.
Home Painting and Remodeling
No painting and remodeling team that is worth hiring would attempt the job without a tarp to protect your floors. While you may think that the most important quality for a painting tarp is water resistance, these tarps do not have to be completely waterproof due to the viscosity of paint. For this reason, most painters tend to go with canvas tarps that are moderately absorbent but maintain a soft, dry bottom layer to protect hardwood floors from damage.
Truck Beds
If you often use a truck to transporting hay, grain, sand, and other materials that could be damaged by rainfall, you will want to use a tarp to protect the cargo in your truck bed. However, because these materials are usually only transported short distances, you would likely benefit more from choosing an economical material such as vinyl tarp than from more expensive poly tarp.
Vinyl tarps come in several different varieties. You can find clear vinyl tarps, colored tarps, and even flame retardant tarps. In addition to being more affordable than polyethylene tarps, vinyl tarps are sturdier. This allows them to provide more protection for your cargo while still keeping it dry. You can find vinyl tarps that are custom-fitted for your vehicle for an extremely convenient solution to keep your truck bed dry.
Emergency Shelter
A tarp is a useful object to keep with you because it can be used as a makeshift shelter in an emergency. In the event of a natural disaster that has damaged the roof of the structure you are in, a tarp can be put in place to keep rain from flooding the interior.
While polyethylene tarps will be the best solution to combat heavy rainfall, any type of tarp with reinforced grommets will be a good choice. The grommets in your tarp will hold it in place and keep strong winds from blowing it away. If you have a tarp that is not fitted with grommets, consider manually installing your own grommets so that you will be ready in the event of an emergency.
These examples show how tarpaulins can be useful in a number of different situations. When you are working with machinery that is sensitive to outdoor weather conditions or will be spending a significant amount of time traveling, it is a good idea to have a tarp on hand so that you are not caught off guard by detriment weather.