Guide to event tents?
October 24, 2022 12:55 PM Subscribe
I have a situation where a group of kids are ending up outside in mildly inclement weather (chilly and wet - not dangerously cold and snowy). I want them to have a tent. It has been pointed out to me that 'previous tents' were 'unstable and unsafe'.
My question is therefore 2-fold.
1) What kind of large tent is appropriate for shielding a small crowd of kids, outside, for a long period of time, and can stand up to winds and rain?
2) Is there some kind of official tent guidelines I can use for support when I ask for a specific type of tent?
My question is therefore 2-fold.
1) What kind of large tent is appropriate for shielding a small crowd of kids, outside, for a long period of time, and can stand up to winds and rain?
2) Is there some kind of official tent guidelines I can use for support when I ask for a specific type of tent?
Response by poster: 1) Several months
2) Probably buying
3) They got blown down in high winds. I don't know whether that was do to inappropriate selection or do inadequate installation.
posted by bq at 1:09 PM on October 24, 2022
2) Probably buying
3) They got blown down in high winds. I don't know whether that was do to inappropriate selection or do inadequate installation.
posted by bq at 1:09 PM on October 24, 2022
These style of tent weights (and at least 50lbs per leg) were required when doing tabling events for a large city Pride event for the typical “tailgate” style pop up tent of 8x8 or 12x12.
But I would likely look into wedding or event style tents, purchasing, but seeing if someone would professionally put them up.
posted by raccoon409 at 1:20 PM on October 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
But I would likely look into wedding or event style tents, purchasing, but seeing if someone would professionally put them up.
posted by raccoon409 at 1:20 PM on October 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
If it’s a school event, our board has a list of approved suppliers and you can only source from that list. Even if it’s not, if you can find out which suppliers are ok’d by your school district you might find one of the safer options there.
posted by warriorqueen at 1:24 PM on October 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by warriorqueen at 1:24 PM on October 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yeah, for long life get one with rigid poles (i.e., not a pop-up). I think they are "party tents" in the parlance.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:24 PM on October 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 1:24 PM on October 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
Marquee tents (for example ) are routinely put up for months at a time at resorts for weddings etc. They are available in a variety of sizes with and without walls. The ones I've been involved with had multiple 2' long pegs at each corner driven into the ground.
posted by Mitheral at 1:25 PM on October 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 1:25 PM on October 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: It would be extremely helpful if I could see a list of approved vendors from a US school district.
posted by bq at 1:47 PM on October 24, 2022
posted by bq at 1:47 PM on October 24, 2022
For standing up to wind, the anchoring is as important as the tent itself. I've used the largest size screw dog leash holders (can't remember the technical name for them) to hold down a 12x12 EZUp in a near miss hurricane situation. The EZUp tore itself apart structurally but stayed in place.
The two common things for holding down tents and structures at Burning Man where 35+ mph winds are common are rebar (which is risky for kids unless well covered or bent so there's not a sharp edge facing up) or lag bolts. Tent stakes are not enough for big structures in high wind.
posted by Candleman at 2:16 PM on October 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
The two common things for holding down tents and structures at Burning Man where 35+ mph winds are common are rebar (which is risky for kids unless well covered or bent so there's not a sharp edge facing up) or lag bolts. Tent stakes are not enough for big structures in high wind.
posted by Candleman at 2:16 PM on October 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
What you need is a tent that is erected by professionals who rent said items (I did this often when I worked as a location manager in film production), set them up, and are on the hook as far as safety is concerned. Don't scrimp on this if you can avoid it: you'll be happier in the end.
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 2:49 PM on October 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 2:49 PM on October 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
How large is "large"?
My organization, which puts on a regional burn event, uses the Hercules tents from King Canopy (the company has a few models; these are heavy duty). They're available in a few different sizes, and you can get clip-on walls for additional weather protection. Once you get the hang of setting them up they're easy to erect, but the first time you do it, you'll face a confusing jumble of pipes.
As Candlemas says, anchoring them correctly is important. Lag bolts may not work well in very loose soil. If you go with lag bolts, get an impact driver. This article goes into some detail on how to use them. Whichever stake you use, tie ¼" braided nylon rope from the elbow joints to the stakes.
Party tents are much, much heavier than these, and typically can only be rented rather than purchased, with professional installation and removal. That may turn out to be a better option for you.
posted by adamrice at 2:54 PM on October 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
My organization, which puts on a regional burn event, uses the Hercules tents from King Canopy (the company has a few models; these are heavy duty). They're available in a few different sizes, and you can get clip-on walls for additional weather protection. Once you get the hang of setting them up they're easy to erect, but the first time you do it, you'll face a confusing jumble of pipes.
As Candlemas says, anchoring them correctly is important. Lag bolts may not work well in very loose soil. If you go with lag bolts, get an impact driver. This article goes into some detail on how to use them. Whichever stake you use, tie ¼" braided nylon rope from the elbow joints to the stakes.
Party tents are much, much heavier than these, and typically can only be rented rather than purchased, with professional installation and removal. That may turn out to be a better option for you.
posted by adamrice at 2:54 PM on October 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
So wind/storm resistance is a lot about anchoring but design is really important too. Those Marquis tents linked above are nice but they need huge anchorage bc as a pointy roof with no walls they are basically wings eager to take flight. They also offer little protection from any cold breeze.
Last year I purchased a 'tent' like this, that is part of a series designed to be left up year-round and provide shelter shelter for golf carts, passenger cars, trucks and up to big RV's (mine is on the smaller side, for several bikes etc, am very happy with it).
A key element is they have walls and a sloped parabolic design that directs wind forces down to the ground instead of up into the sky. I figure the skin is good for about 5-7 years of continuous deployment in the Midwest. Then you can buy new skin, but the price is Low enough, the shelter is total enough, and the anchorage is easy enough that the total cost of ownership makes it seem like a good deal for my needs.
TLDR check out ShelterLogic; Good luck!
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:17 PM on October 24, 2022 [5 favorites]
Last year I purchased a 'tent' like this, that is part of a series designed to be left up year-round and provide shelter shelter for golf carts, passenger cars, trucks and up to big RV's (mine is on the smaller side, for several bikes etc, am very happy with it).
A key element is they have walls and a sloped parabolic design that directs wind forces down to the ground instead of up into the sky. I figure the skin is good for about 5-7 years of continuous deployment in the Midwest. Then you can buy new skin, but the price is Low enough, the shelter is total enough, and the anchorage is easy enough that the total cost of ownership makes it seem like a good deal for my needs.
TLDR check out ShelterLogic; Good luck!
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:17 PM on October 24, 2022 [5 favorites]
This pdf says:
ANCHORING: (D)
There are two common methods for anchoring a tent, with stakes and/or ballast. Tents that were
designed with wind loads, conforming to standards such as ASCE 7, will have documentation that
can be used to develop an anchorage plan using stakes and/or ballast. Tent manufacturers often
supply documentation of loads with the structural documentation. Installers/owners should supply
an anchorage plan for these tents demonstrating sufficient staking and/or ballasting with permit
application (E)
The majority of tents, commonly referred to as pole or frame tents, will not have any load
documentation. For those tents the general guidance below should be used with a conservative
emergency plan as outlined in Structural/Construction Documents above. For tents without load
documentation the code official should consider whether to allow their use when occupancies
increase beyond an occupant load of 300 people.
E. The Industrial fabrics Association International-Tent Rental Division has conducted studies for both
staking and ballasting that can be used for anchorage plans for tents with or without load
documentation.
posted by oceano at 5:01 PM on October 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
ANCHORING: (D)
There are two common methods for anchoring a tent, with stakes and/or ballast. Tents that were
designed with wind loads, conforming to standards such as ASCE 7, will have documentation that
can be used to develop an anchorage plan using stakes and/or ballast. Tent manufacturers often
supply documentation of loads with the structural documentation. Installers/owners should supply
an anchorage plan for these tents demonstrating sufficient staking and/or ballasting with permit
application (E)
The majority of tents, commonly referred to as pole or frame tents, will not have any load
documentation. For those tents the general guidance below should be used with a conservative
emergency plan as outlined in Structural/Construction Documents above. For tents without load
documentation the code official should consider whether to allow their use when occupancies
increase beyond an occupant load of 300 people.
E. The Industrial fabrics Association International-Tent Rental Division has conducted studies for both
staking and ballasting that can be used for anchorage plans for tents with or without load
documentation.
posted by oceano at 5:01 PM on October 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
Several months
If you genuinely plan to leave it up 24/7 for months, I would go with a "commercial" or "party" tent, a frame tent or pole tent or cross cable/marquee/high peak tent. These are tents with heavy vinyl tops and thick aluminum poles, and as should be clear from some of the pictures, require serious anchoring, with heavy straps and stakes or concrete blocks or water barrel ballast (often 55-gallon drums).
These are, obviously, not cheap, and while they don't exactly require expertise to set up, they are a little complicated. And not easy to store or move - those vinyl tops are heavy.
BUT, that's what will last. My company parks a 15' x 15' on the shore of one of the Great Lakes (windy!!) from May through September. And I work a lot of events with tent rental companies, and those are the ones they'll leave in place for multiple days. (Actually, in my neck of the woods, Clear-span structure tents are the only ones legally allowed to be left up for months. But those are serious structures, not to be DIY'd. And you need a building permit and an inspection by city officials.)
I would personally be nervous about even that Hercules or the ShelterLogic sitting out for months. Unless (maybe) you managed a securing system like straps and stakes or water ballasts.
The "pop-up" style of collapsible tents (like this EZ Up) can be OK for like 24 hours, although there again I would get serious about weight - as mentioned, at least 50 lbs per leg if not more. But if you genuinely don't need like 24/7 use out of them, you might want to consider that kind of tent that you can set up when you need it. (Like, if this is a thing where a different groups of kids wind up outside for recess at different times of the school day, you could set it up in the morning and take it down at night. We use this kind of pop-up tent at events all the time, they are fast to set up and tear down.)
approved vendors from a US school district.
2 thoughts here; 1) is that I feel like serious commercial tents are not the kinds of things school districts buy? Rather, they'll rent from a professional company. So I'm not sure it'll be easy to find approved vendor lists for this kind of purchase; and 2) if this is genuinely an "official" situation on school grounds or somewhere like that, whose liability insurance covers this? Especially if the tent is purchased and put up by amateurs?
Meaning that if you seriously want to put a real tent up for months, renting might be the way to go. Even if it theoretically costs as much as it would to buy a tent, it'll be owned & put up by a company that carries the proper insurance, and may already be an approved vendor for the school district, as these kind of companies also do chairs and tables and other stuff the schools might have rented in the past. There are sure to be plenty of "tent rental", "party rental", "event rental" companies around any semi-sizeable city.
But I would likely look into wedding or event style tents, purchasing, but seeing if someone would professionally put them up.
YMMV, of course, but at least in my area this year there's a serious labor shortage for this kind of work plus a serious tsunami of events, even as the winter approaches, so I've got doubts that any of the professionals are interested in setting up tents they haven't rented or sold you - they're already busy enough, making a tiny profit on some labor cost isn't worth it.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:25 PM on October 24, 2022 [5 favorites]
If you genuinely plan to leave it up 24/7 for months, I would go with a "commercial" or "party" tent, a frame tent or pole tent or cross cable/marquee/high peak tent. These are tents with heavy vinyl tops and thick aluminum poles, and as should be clear from some of the pictures, require serious anchoring, with heavy straps and stakes or concrete blocks or water barrel ballast (often 55-gallon drums).
These are, obviously, not cheap, and while they don't exactly require expertise to set up, they are a little complicated. And not easy to store or move - those vinyl tops are heavy.
BUT, that's what will last. My company parks a 15' x 15' on the shore of one of the Great Lakes (windy!!) from May through September. And I work a lot of events with tent rental companies, and those are the ones they'll leave in place for multiple days. (Actually, in my neck of the woods, Clear-span structure tents are the only ones legally allowed to be left up for months. But those are serious structures, not to be DIY'd. And you need a building permit and an inspection by city officials.)
I would personally be nervous about even that Hercules or the ShelterLogic sitting out for months. Unless (maybe) you managed a securing system like straps and stakes or water ballasts.
The "pop-up" style of collapsible tents (like this EZ Up) can be OK for like 24 hours, although there again I would get serious about weight - as mentioned, at least 50 lbs per leg if not more. But if you genuinely don't need like 24/7 use out of them, you might want to consider that kind of tent that you can set up when you need it. (Like, if this is a thing where a different groups of kids wind up outside for recess at different times of the school day, you could set it up in the morning and take it down at night. We use this kind of pop-up tent at events all the time, they are fast to set up and tear down.)
approved vendors from a US school district.
2 thoughts here; 1) is that I feel like serious commercial tents are not the kinds of things school districts buy? Rather, they'll rent from a professional company. So I'm not sure it'll be easy to find approved vendor lists for this kind of purchase; and 2) if this is genuinely an "official" situation on school grounds or somewhere like that, whose liability insurance covers this? Especially if the tent is purchased and put up by amateurs?
Meaning that if you seriously want to put a real tent up for months, renting might be the way to go. Even if it theoretically costs as much as it would to buy a tent, it'll be owned & put up by a company that carries the proper insurance, and may already be an approved vendor for the school district, as these kind of companies also do chairs and tables and other stuff the schools might have rented in the past. There are sure to be plenty of "tent rental", "party rental", "event rental" companies around any semi-sizeable city.
But I would likely look into wedding or event style tents, purchasing, but seeing if someone would professionally put them up.
YMMV, of course, but at least in my area this year there's a serious labor shortage for this kind of work plus a serious tsunami of events, even as the winter approaches, so I've got doubts that any of the professionals are interested in setting up tents they haven't rented or sold you - they're already busy enough, making a tiny profit on some labor cost isn't worth it.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:25 PM on October 24, 2022 [5 favorites]
To be clear the ShelterLogic line I listed is not supposed to require no anchorage, just less than you'd need with the high-lift tents. I have mine secured with two of the four ~12inch ground screws it came with, and a tie to a light fence. It has been fine since March 2022, including pelting rains and winds gusting to 40mph on a handful of occasions. I fully expect it to be fine come March 2023 based on the last 7+ months of continuous deployment.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:13 PM on October 24, 2022
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:13 PM on October 24, 2022
I looked for US schools and I found Broward county (FL) has a list with a bunch of tent rentals. Buying, I'm not sure. That search also brought up a number of issues - permits and lawsuits, so - food for thought.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:56 PM on October 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by warriorqueen at 7:56 PM on October 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
If money is not an issue... look into getting a yurt. I am sure it is expensive, and not for diy.
They are used for all kinds of habitation, including airbandb, when looking for English language examples i found this for example. But i suppose more relevant, where i live (Austria) for Outdoor Kindergartens (children spend all day in a forest, but need shelter for inclement weather). This website has specific examples for use as shelter for children/outdoors Kindergarten.
posted by 15L06 at 12:39 AM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
They are used for all kinds of habitation, including airbandb, when looking for English language examples i found this for example. But i suppose more relevant, where i live (Austria) for Outdoor Kindergartens (children spend all day in a forest, but need shelter for inclement weather). This website has specific examples for use as shelter for children/outdoors Kindergarten.
posted by 15L06 at 12:39 AM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
I had missed the several months part. At that point you're probably looking at ballast plus some kind of heavy duty staking and I agree that renting from a company that does this professionally is the way to go if you can afford it.
posted by Candleman at 5:04 AM on October 25, 2022
posted by Candleman at 5:04 AM on October 25, 2022
Shelter Logic-type tent, well anchored, was my thought, as well. I've seen some where the cover was torn up by wind, but that can be replaced.
Another option would be a small camper; old ones in poor repair can be found and renovated.
posted by theora55 at 8:59 AM on October 25, 2022
Another option would be a small camper; old ones in poor repair can be found and renovated.
posted by theora55 at 8:59 AM on October 25, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
2) renting or buying?
3) what made the previous tents "unstable & unsafe"?
posted by soundguy99 at 1:05 PM on October 24, 2022 [3 favorites]