Eric dalius
3 min readDec 14, 2020

Features to Consider While Choosing Super Heavy-Duty Tarps

Tarps are one of the most useful things mankind has ever got. People tend to use it for a wide range of things. From covering firewood racks in your backyard to protecting your stored furniture, the use of tarps are endless for households. However, not just for homeowners, but tarps serve many purposes in industry settings too. These are also used as a protective covering to vehicles like trucks, cars, boats, etc.

Tarps are also used as ideal camping gear, whether to make a tent, protect the RV, or make a quick temporary shelter during snowfall or rain. As it has many uses, there are plenty of models and shapes available in tarps, which you need to be very careful while choosing the apt one. This article will discuss some essential features you need to consider while buying heavy-duty tarps.

Features to consider while buying heavy-duty tarps

1. Quality of the material

On top of the list of priorities, you should consider quality as the key aspect of deciding which tarp to buy. As we know, tarps are usually used outdoors as a protective tool for various objects ranging from vehicles to industrial equipment. Tarps are also used at construction sites to cover up the materials and machines.

When it comes to quality, you need to consider the material used to make the tarp, its thickness, and the ability to withstand the toughest weather conditions. Considering the durability factor, you need to check if the super heavy duty tarps are highly durable or not and what warranty the manufacturer offers.

The thickness of heavy-duty tarps are usually measured in mils (which is 1/1000 of an inch). In general uses like covering items outdoors, you may look for the commonly available lightweight poly tarps, which are blue and come at a thickness of about five miles. If you are using tarps to cover the goods transported on trucks like heavy machinery or so, you may have to look for the heavy-duty thick tarps, which are of 23 mils or so.

2. Type of tarp

Like any other industrial goods, tarps also come in various types. Properly choosing the appropriate type of tarp for your purpose is essential. Let us have an overview of various types of tarps.

1) Poly tarps — It is the most popularly used tarp type. Poly or polyethylene is used to make these tarps, which is a heavy-duty plastic material. This is ideally used in camping, construction sites, and for remodeling, etc. The purpose served by poly tarp is primarily of temporary storage and shelter.

2) Canvas tarps — These are made of durable woven fabric of hemp or cotton. Canvas tarps are more expensive compared to poly tarps but can last longer. These are also capable of withstanding weather conditions and also can prevent abrasions. These are used in tougher applications like painting projects or long-term construction sites. Canvas is also flame-resistant but not fully waterproof.

Apart from these two popular tarps, vinyl tarps and PVC tarps come in different thicknesses to serve various purposes. You can take the appropriate measurements and look for the most matching products at the online stores or the offline hardware stores.