Cleaning shade structures?

Homiesinheaven · Post by **Homiesinheaven** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:16 am

my friend last night saw all my BM crap stuffed away and said "you better hose off that shade structure dude." the playa dust allegedly wore away his tent from 2008 and messed up the cloth material.

is this something you guys do? and how the F am i going to hose off a 12X26 piece of tarp when i live in an apartment. bleh.

misfit · Post by **misfit** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:27 am

take it to the park and turn it into a, "slip 'n' slide"....

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:30 am

I know people who take their equipment off the playa and drop it straight into a storage unit in Reno. No issue with the dust causing the material to degrade. Maybe over the course of years, but not just once. If you're worried you could wipe it down by hand. That would get most of the dust off.

Boijoy · Post by **Boijoy** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:36 am

use it as a shower curtain & rotate every few days.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:49 am

you don't necessarily have to "hose it off"

You can spray the dirt with vinegar or lemon juice to bring the PH of the playa on your stuff back to a non-damaging PH level, then it will just be dirt on your tarp, and wont eat away at your fabric with it's corossive nature.

Absolut Jeenyus · Post by **Absolut Jeenyus** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 5:40 am

People are full of shit talking about playa dust like its hydrochloric acid or something. I have a storage unit that is strictly for BM and similar supplies. I unload it and pack it onto the trucks every year, use it on the playa, re pack it and bring it home and put it right back into the storage unit. Been doing this for years and years and years now. Nothing has been eaten through.

Hosing it off will prove to be mostly a large waster of water. The dust will still reside. Besides that, if your smart you will have equipment that is strictly for BM use only, hence there is no point or reason in cleaning or hosing any of it off since its just going to get dusted out again anyways.

And if you are going to clean your BM equipment, Ive found the best way to do so from my experience is to use or get access to a compressor and air blast the dust off. Pressure washers are nice too but they can tear things into pieces, and are also a waste of water. Besides that, the dust will reside no matter what. So I recommend the compressed air blast. Trying to wash out tents and shade structure materials with water is really just a massive waste of water.

Homiesinheaven · Post by **Homiesinheaven** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:08 am

thanks sputnik and Absolut Jeenyus. i was hoping someone would call bullshit on this. last night i actually noticed a tarp from 2008 that we took this year and although it is thicker than the material of our carports it was in no way corroded or messed up.

what about tents? does anyone clean those?

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:54 pm

we do clean our tents, but only because we use them at other times. The small ones can go in our washer; we have no center agitator to tangle it up on. Then we just line dry them. Larger tents can make do with a blast from a hose after vacuuming the interior.

We don't specifically wash our shade tarps, but we do rinse them now and again. Again, used for more than B-Man. We always wash off the floor tarps, but not always immediately after the event.

I think the sun would do more damage than the dust.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:03 pm

Homiesinheaven wrote:thanks sputnik and Absolut Jeenyus. i was hoping someone would call bullshit on this.

You are taking Sputnik out of context, he said "maybe over the course of years", which is what I am talking about.
If my banwidth wasn't exceeded on phobucket i would show you a pic of what happens to a cosco carport's roof after 7 years of not cleaning it.

Asolut Jeenyes hasn't been going long enough to know what he is talking about, the dirt out there IS like a powfered acid of sorts.
Why do you think people treat thier chemical burns by soaking thier feet in vinegar...hmmm ?

Do what you like, I suppose, even if that is choosing to ignore warnings about the Playa's corrosive properties.

Doesn't it say something about this fact in the "first timer's" guide, or whatever they call it ?

Homiesinheaven · Post by **Homiesinheaven** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:11 pm

7 years?!

if my carport lasts 3 i think i'll have gotten my money's worth and will gladly buy another.

how long do tents last before they get messed up?

Post by **AntiM** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:54 pm

Homiesinheaven wrote:7 years?!

if my carport lasts 3 i think i'll have gotten my money's worth and will gladly buy another.

how long do tents last before they get messed up?

We got our carports in 2003, although they are the old heavy ones from Sam's Club. Some of the end panel vinyl has ripped along the zippers, but we made new panels; the roof has held up well on both of them. Currently replacing the ball bungees, they're cheap on eBay.

We used our REI backpacking tent ... I bought it originally in 1993, first year at Burning Man in 2001. Also used it for regionals and camping in the desert, and motorcycle camping when we had a bike. The only reason we have a new tent is I found one with no mesh which gives us a tick more floor space. Mind you, our tents are always draped in comforters, under a carport, and only used for sleeping and fucking. My 16 year old REI tent is still in fine shape, needs the floor seam resealed is all.

Homiesinheaven · Post by **Homiesinheaven** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:05 pm

awesome AntiM. i must take this opportunity to thank you for helping me in preparing for this year, your knowledge was very useful and you were always so helpful! my camp copied your clamshell carport idea and it worked great!

the L shaped rebar worked fine along the back edge and the thing never budged.

the only thing i regret was not having time to pay you a visit with some ice cold beer. 2010?

Post by **AntiM** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:45 pm

Certainly! Except I don't like beer. Oh well, LOL>

We use two clamshells facing each other with camo in the middle. I took pics during breakdown, but never have captured the entire structure.

And photobucket is acting up. Meh.

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:25 pm

Go to a party supply rental company, and ask where they send their linens. I used to work for one, but its been a while.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 12:24 am

I bonk my head continuously with the clamshell setup.
I seem to remember Mylarry not being that much/if any shorter than me...

what is his trick ?

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:16 am

oneeyeddick wrote:I bonk my head continuously with the clamshell setup.
I seem to remember Mylarry not being that much/if any shorter than me...

what is his trick ?

Nine years in a tiny house in Japan where all the interior doorframes hit him in the middle of the forehead.

No, really.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:49 pm

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:52 pm

that'd be great, if, it was vinyl............silly couch.............

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:05 pm

Armour All wrote:Renews and revitalizes vinyl, rubber and plastic

Look it up.