Cover and Protect: The Best Heavy Duty Tarp

Types and Materials

Canvas

As you are looking for a heavy-duty tarp, this is one of the toughest materials. Canvas is a polyester fabric that is best for extreme outdoor use. Due to the tear-resistant fabric, this material can easily be used at construction sites. Despite the durability, this material is light in weight to handle. Moreover, the canvas is also known to be flame resistant. This material is usually available in a greenish color.

Poly

This material uses polyethylene, a heavy-duty plastic, to make tarps. It is the most common material used today to make heavy-duty tarps. This material can be used for heavy-duty tarp applications due to its strong fabric and water-resistant properties. This material is surprisingly lightweight, making it perfect for portable use like camping.

Vinyl

Vinyl tarps are made from fabricated ethylene. This material is also UV and water-resistant. However, Vinyl is a little more costly than polyester but is also more durable. This is why it is used in small quantities, mainly covering trucks and trailers.

PVC

This is one of the most robust materials for making tarps. Due to the durability and flexibility of this material, it is mainly used at construction sites. Mesh shade is a popular tarp made from this material. It is one of the breathable tarps, making it useful for many applications like covering plants or generators.

Size and Weight

It would be annoying to buy a tarp and then get to know that it’s short. Your only solution to this problem is buying another tarp and patching it or completely wasting the first one. Well, this does happen in the case of purchasing a tarp. The size mentioned may differ a few inches, thus wasting your investment. So what’s the solution? If you are looking for a tarp to cover something, then it’s always best to buy a size larger than the actual measurement. Or, if you are looking for the exact size, buy a tarp whose size is machine finished.

Quality

The quality of the tarp is an essential feature as you will use it for heavy-duty stuff. To determine the quality of a tarp, first, check for the thickness of the product. Heavy-duty tarps are above 10 mils thick, and a commercial tarp would have a thickness of about 15 to16 mils. Furthermore, it’s essential to check the weave quality of your tarp and additional protection features like double lamination. Tarps are usually prone to tear from edges or borderline, so check if there is extra reinforcing around these parts. Plastic or metal protection around the edges and grommets is also essential. It is important to note that most large-sized tarps have seams from where they usually get damaged. So it’s best to buy seamless tarps or the ones with solid seaming. Another essential thing to consider with tarps is that they must be waterproof and UV resistant, as heavy-duty tarps are usually used outdoors in a harsh atmosphere.

Choosing the Right Color

When it comes to the tarp, color is more than just a personal choice because it affects the tarp’s performance. For instance, bright colors like red, green, and yellow are usually used at construction sites or places where visibility is required. Silver or brown colors are generally used in heavy-duty tarps to block sunlight completely. White is another excellent color to reflect sunlight, but it will allow sunlight to pass through if the tarp is thin.

Top Uses of Tarps in 2023

Camping

One of the traditional uses of tarps has been during camping. It is because people can easily use tarps to make tents. They can fold up to carry them easily and make shelter whenever necessary. The most common tent is the A-shaped which can easily be made by putting the tarp on a rope between two trees and then nailing the grommets of the tarp to the floor.

Another great use for a tarp is that it can be used to store water. Most tarps are waterproof and have large surface areas to collect water. You can easily collect rainwater by hanging the tarp horizontally with trees through the grommets. Tarps can also be used to block winds while camping as you can easily hang them

Daily life

You often look for a large piece of cloth to cover things to keep them clean. However, these fabrics absorb water and, in some cases, make things messier. Tarps can come extremely handy in many cases to keep things clean, like if you want to transport something in the back seat of your car. Tarps are also helpful to cover broken things such as windows in everyday life. Due to their anti-tear property, tarps can also be used to drag heavy items around the house. Covering your cars, cycles, and trucks is another common use of tarps in everyday life.

Innovative uses

There have been some great uses of tarps, like making a water slide or using it to get rid of the weed. You can use tarps to cover the soil for a few days before planting, and it will get rid of the weed and smoothen the soil. If you feel bored and have plenty of tarp lying around, you can use it to make a water slide for kids. Just lay the tarp on a tilted surface, add water, and your water slide is ready.