Maugwa
Songster
Do you find yourself replacing tarps, particularly those kind that are usually blue, or that type of tarp, any color, poly, too often? I used to, in fact I still keep a few around that are nearly new. That's the only time that they seem to work, is when they are almost brand new. They are cheap, and they are handy, and don't take much storage space, and they work great if you a going to cover something for a few days now and then. However, they don't work well at all for extended periods in the weather. The combination of sunshine, UVs, rain, frost, and wind eat them right up. I'm a mason, and I found out years ago, if you use one to cover your mortar pallet, unless that tarp is almost new, your sacks of mortar will get wet when it rains. I also remember once covering some stuff on a truck, and the tarp blowing into blue strings about 100 miles from home. Those cheap tarps turn into the most expensive tarps you can buy when you have to keep replacing them often. Through the years I've found some far better solutions than cheap poly tarps. Here are a few;
1st off, if you going to be messing around with tarps, one of the first things that I'd do is get a grommet punch set. You can get these and your first bag if grommets for $20 - $40. It's a tool that can save you a fortune and should last forever. Also a heavy sewing machine would come in handy. I've never had one of these, but I know someone who does, that I can usually sweat talk into doing me favors. I've also been known to fold a hem and 'sew' it with Liquid Nail, or some sort of construction adhesive, and set block on my hem till it dries.
Used billboards tarps. Why not advertise on the roof (or ceiling) of your chicken run? I used to know a guy who would save and give me a free billboard once in a great while -- but never enough, or often enough to count on. They work great. And now in this new world of interwebs, there are many to choose from just do a few searches and see. There are several common sizes, and if it's one of those sizes you need, you probably can get it with grommets already, or trim one side and only need those grommets. I find these run around the same price per sq ft as the cheap blues, and last at least ten times longer.
Rubberized heavy tarps. There is nothing wrong with these, other than the price. They cost several times what cheap blues cost, but they are awesome. I'd bet if you broke it down to how many cheap blues you replaced in a good rubberized tarp's lifespan, the rubber one would still be cheaper, not to mention all the hassle changing out so many tarps. But I'm a cheapskate, and they are not cheap enough for me -- unless I found a bargain at an auction or garage sale.
Vinyl flooring. Not linoleum as we used to call it. What I grew up calling linolium was thicker, and kind of brittle, and if you bent it enough it snapped. This is not what I'm talking about. The more modern version, vinyl flooring looks like linoleum on a floor, but looks like a rubber tarp on the roll. It get's glued on floors and gets torn up when removed, so that kind of rules out getting it used. However I found a good sized remnant once in a dumpster on one of my job sites from a new install. It was around 7' x 10'. I glue hemmed it, and grommetted it and it was an awesome tarp for a long time. I keep my eyes open at those box stores, and if the right remnants are the right price . . .
You also can use painter's drop cloth canvas and weatherize it yourself. It's a little more work, and a little more expense, but it still beats replacing cheap blues all the time. The first way I learned to do this was to put the hems and grommets in first, this canvas has none of that, then lay it out on a concrete drive you don't mind a few stains on. Then in a metal bucket on a hot plate, or camp stove on low (be careful, everything here is flammable but none are really 'flash' flammable. They are slow burners like oil, not gasoline), slowly melt two lbs of wax (Bees wax is recommended, but if you use paraffin nobody will know) then when the wax is liquid take it off the flame if using a stove, or turn the heat way down on a hot plate, and slowly pour in 16oz of boiled linseed oil, stirring constantly, then stir in 16oz of mineral spirits after that. Do all of this out in the drive there's not a lot of fumes but some, and there are the flammables, it's an outdoor job, and you want to be near the canvas anyway. Then get a paint roller that screws on a long handle and a helper. Have your helper pour out dabs of the sealer you've made, as you follow along, feet where not done yet, rolling and spreading your stuff. Go all directions "W" patterns like painting a wall. If your goop gets too thick before you're done, warm it up some. When you get it all done, you can go around the edges reaching in, and go over the stitches and grommets again, and again, or you can pour what's left of your goop in something with an airtight lid and use it like shoe polish, or Snow Seal on lots of other things. It will take that tarp a while to cure. I'd put a few block around the edges and leave it right there over night. I wouldn't fold it up for a week or more depending on the temp. If it were a lid for a chicken run or hoop house, I'd just put it on and cure it in place (After the first day in the drive, after most of the 'messy' was gone). I also recoated an old tarp I had done this to before, but I only had a little over a quart of wax/linseed/turpentine goop left, but I saw I also had a little over a quart of oil based forest green exterior paint going to waste in the shop too, so I melted the goop and stirred in the paint, and refreshed the lid on a cattle panel hoop run, and not only did it work great, but I now had a green roof to boot.
1st off, if you going to be messing around with tarps, one of the first things that I'd do is get a grommet punch set. You can get these and your first bag if grommets for $20 - $40. It's a tool that can save you a fortune and should last forever. Also a heavy sewing machine would come in handy. I've never had one of these, but I know someone who does, that I can usually sweat talk into doing me favors. I've also been known to fold a hem and 'sew' it with Liquid Nail, or some sort of construction adhesive, and set block on my hem till it dries.
Used billboards tarps. Why not advertise on the roof (or ceiling) of your chicken run? I used to know a guy who would save and give me a free billboard once in a great while -- but never enough, or often enough to count on. They work great. And now in this new world of interwebs, there are many to choose from just do a few searches and see. There are several common sizes, and if it's one of those sizes you need, you probably can get it with grommets already, or trim one side and only need those grommets. I find these run around the same price per sq ft as the cheap blues, and last at least ten times longer.
Rubberized heavy tarps. There is nothing wrong with these, other than the price. They cost several times what cheap blues cost, but they are awesome. I'd bet if you broke it down to how many cheap blues you replaced in a good rubberized tarp's lifespan, the rubber one would still be cheaper, not to mention all the hassle changing out so many tarps. But I'm a cheapskate, and they are not cheap enough for me -- unless I found a bargain at an auction or garage sale.
Vinyl flooring. Not linoleum as we used to call it. What I grew up calling linolium was thicker, and kind of brittle, and if you bent it enough it snapped. This is not what I'm talking about. The more modern version, vinyl flooring looks like linoleum on a floor, but looks like a rubber tarp on the roll. It get's glued on floors and gets torn up when removed, so that kind of rules out getting it used. However I found a good sized remnant once in a dumpster on one of my job sites from a new install. It was around 7' x 10'. I glue hemmed it, and grommetted it and it was an awesome tarp for a long time. I keep my eyes open at those box stores, and if the right remnants are the right price . . .
You also can use painter's drop cloth canvas and weatherize it yourself. It's a little more work, and a little more expense, but it still beats replacing cheap blues all the time. The first way I learned to do this was to put the hems and grommets in first, this canvas has none of that, then lay it out on a concrete drive you don't mind a few stains on. Then in a metal bucket on a hot plate, or camp stove on low (be careful, everything here is flammable but none are really 'flash' flammable. They are slow burners like oil, not gasoline), slowly melt two lbs of wax (Bees wax is recommended, but if you use paraffin nobody will know) then when the wax is liquid take it off the flame if using a stove, or turn the heat way down on a hot plate, and slowly pour in 16oz of boiled linseed oil, stirring constantly, then stir in 16oz of mineral spirits after that. Do all of this out in the drive there's not a lot of fumes but some, and there are the flammables, it's an outdoor job, and you want to be near the canvas anyway. Then get a paint roller that screws on a long handle and a helper. Have your helper pour out dabs of the sealer you've made, as you follow along, feet where not done yet, rolling and spreading your stuff. Go all directions "W" patterns like painting a wall. If your goop gets too thick before you're done, warm it up some. When you get it all done, you can go around the edges reaching in, and go over the stitches and grommets again, and again, or you can pour what's left of your goop in something with an airtight lid and use it like shoe polish, or Snow Seal on lots of other things. It will take that tarp a while to cure. I'd put a few block around the edges and leave it right there over night. I wouldn't fold it up for a week or more depending on the temp. If it were a lid for a chicken run or hoop house, I'd just put it on and cure it in place (After the first day in the drive, after most of the 'messy' was gone). I also recoated an old tarp I had done this to before, but I only had a little over a quart of wax/linseed/turpentine goop left, but I saw I also had a little over a quart of oil based forest green exterior paint going to waste in the shop too, so I melted the goop and stirred in the paint, and refreshed the lid on a cattle panel hoop run, and not only did it work great, but I now had a green roof to boot.
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