Sheets as shade structure cover?
Sheets as shade structure cover?
My buddy and I are first time burners and have been planning our shade structure. It is made of PVC and is approx. 16' x 15'. It's sort of a quonset hut kind of shape that will cover our tent. We're using white sheets (um... "borrowed indefinitely" from the hotel my buddy works at) to cover it. They're actually rather nice sheets, you know, high thread count and what-not. We've attached grommets to the sheets and are planning on tying them to the PVC (after we paint some cool designs on them). Does anybody forsee any problems with this plan? I'd really like to tackle problems in the safety of my backyard rather than the playa. Thanks in advance for any comments. --CC
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meanstreak
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2004 11:18 am
it is hard to imagine grommets in sheets holding up to much shear and tension. even if you reinforced them, sheets or anything like them get their strength from not having holes in them.
the winds can be really fierce, so fierce people cut holes in their dome coverings to spoil the wind so as not to lift their domes up. ask yourself if these sheets will hold up to tens of pounds of force, b/c they will be subjected to it.
silver tarps are good (the blue ones disintegrate in the sun). i use the 24ft military surplus parachutes. you can get them for $20 if you hunt around online or in a surplus store. they are strong, have a ventilation hole built into the top, and reinforced loops to tie it down.
the winds can be really fierce, so fierce people cut holes in their dome coverings to spoil the wind so as not to lift their domes up. ask yourself if these sheets will hold up to tens of pounds of force, b/c they will be subjected to it.
silver tarps are good (the blue ones disintegrate in the sun). i use the 24ft military surplus parachutes. you can get them for $20 if you hunt around online or in a surplus store. they are strong, have a ventilation hole built into the top, and reinforced loops to tie it down.
time wounds all heels - groucho marx
Tarp Tip
I'm not sure whare you dwell, But the discount store called Big Lots (used to be Pick N Save), has blue 5'x7' tarps for a whop'n .99 cents. They are ok actually. I've used it to cover a car top carrier for the last year, and it held up great! 
Because moderation is better than just saying no!
Tarp Tip
I'm not sure whare you dwell, But the discount store called Big Lots (used to be Pick N Save), has blue 5'x7' tarps for a whop'n .99 cents. They are ok actually. I've used it to cover a car top carrier for the last year, and it held up great!
Because moderation is better than just saying no!
Tarp Tip
I'm not sure whare you dwell, But the discount store called Big Lots (used to be Pick N Save), has blue 5'x7' tarps for a whop'n .99 cents. They are ok actually. I've used it to cover a car top carrier for the last year, and it held up great!
Because moderation is better than just saying no!
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LostMachine
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Sat May 15, 2004 4:32 am
- Location: Beaverton Oregon
- Contact:
Sheets rip when Shear forces are applied to them. The best way to prevent that is to increase the cross sectional area of where they’re going to rip.... the edges...fold up those edges.
Our Dome uses hotel bed sheets for the covering. Instead of one huge covering we have 180 small panels each the size of a bath towel. Each edge is folded over 5 times then sewn at the corners. I didn’t want to cut into the fabric with a grommet so we also sewed on loops for zip ties to run through. This method was able to support a 45 pound bucket of water and held up to speeds of 80mph while positioned in the bed of my truck.
Here is a Photo of the Dome with a few of the panels in.
http://www.lostmachine.com/Images/Misc/BM/star.jpg
Sheets are free and they look a hell of a lot better than Blue/silver/pink tarpaulin. Easy to dye, and quiet in the Wind. I say go with them.
Our Dome uses hotel bed sheets for the covering. Instead of one huge covering we have 180 small panels each the size of a bath towel. Each edge is folded over 5 times then sewn at the corners. I didn’t want to cut into the fabric with a grommet so we also sewed on loops for zip ties to run through. This method was able to support a 45 pound bucket of water and held up to speeds of 80mph while positioned in the bed of my truck.
Here is a Photo of the Dome with a few of the panels in.
http://www.lostmachine.com/Images/Misc/BM/star.jpg
Sheets are free and they look a hell of a lot better than Blue/silver/pink tarpaulin. Easy to dye, and quiet in the Wind. I say go with them.
www.LostMachine.com
So a dome cover that has holes in it to begin with would be ideal? Something like camaflage netting or mesh stuff?sgrunspa wrote:it is hard to imagine grommets in sheets holding up to much shear and tension. even if you reinforced them, sheets or anything like them get their strength from not having holes in them.
the winds can be really fierce, so fierce people cut holes in their dome coverings to spoil the wind so as not to lift their domes up. ask yourself if these sheets will hold up to tens of pounds of force, b/c they will be subjected to it.
silver tarps are good (the blue ones disintegrate in the sun). i use the 24ft military surplus parachutes. you can get them for $20 if you hunt around online or in a surplus store. they are strong, have a ventilation hole built into the top, and reinforced loops to tie it down.
We tried to put a parachute on our dome, but it wasn't big enough. Guess the netting will be our next choice.
Icepack
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