Tarps - treated VS untrteated; 10; 12 or 16 oz?

[666]

Do I want treated or untreated canvas tarps for my structures?
Are used billboard tarps good for floor?
What is the proper appropriate tarp material for the Playa? 10; 12 or 16 ounce per yard?
Good place to buy these?
Never paid attention to specifications of materials but now that I need to build the camp - OMG...

THANKS !

[The Rod]

Tarps are generally regarded as poor material for shade unless used in a format that is playa proven such as the Black Rock Hardware style flat top EMT conduit structure. Even then, you are almost always better off using shade cloth or aluminet. Both shade cloth and aluminet can be purchased online, or from an agricultural supply distributor.

Billboard vinyl however can be a great ground covering if used underneath rugs. Using just tarp material, billboard or otherwise, as a floor will making mooping your footprint a lot easier, but it can be an undesirable walking or dancing surface. Especially if there is heavy rains (which is definitely a possibility in BRC) then you end up with a playa mud slip and slide.

[RodMcInnis]

it can be an undesirable walking or dancing surface. Especially if there is heavy rains (which is definitely a possibility in BRC) then you end up with a playa mud slip and slide.

Last year I would have taken a slip-n-slide over the mud pit. Heck, that would have been fun!
I got some amusement watching the camp across the street from me as the occupants would exit their tent and play "the floor is lava" to get to their camp stove, ice chest, etc.

[BBadger]

I found that Harpster 12 mil heavy duty silver tarps (from Amazon) worked well for my monkey hut back in the day. They are semi-reflective, and light-blocking, which helped a lot. The tarps are UV-treated, silver, and, thick. I don't think the UV-treatment makes all that much difference for just a week of exposure on playa, but may make a difference if you use it year-round.

With sufficient ventilation (monkey hut) the setup stayed nice and cool under it, probably some of the best shade I had for sleeping, provided there was enough space between it and the tent below.

I switched over to Aluminet and a different shade structure to accommodate a taller tent, and it doesn't perform as well as the old monkey-hut-with-tarp setup I had before. It might be because the Aluminet is 70% as opposed to light-blocking, but also just the amount of surface coverage because the Aluminet costs significantly more.

[666]

THANK YOU BBadger. This is the type of input I was looking for !