7 Things to Consider Before Putting a Tent on a Deck.

A tent on a deck can be a great addition to an event at your home! It can act as that extra room you need, and since it’s typically connected to your house, you don’t even need to go far! You could use the space as a beverage area, lounge area or a way to show off a great view your guest wouldn’t normally get to see. But, can you do that on YOUR deck?  This list will cover the things  you need to consider before making that decision.

How much room do you really have?

If your deck measures 20ft long by 20ft wide that does not mean you can fit a 20ft x 20ft tent.  A minimum of 2ft-3ft are required to accommodate weights and setup room. The amount of room you have AVAILABLE on your deck will determine the size of tent you can fit. Do your measurements include the nearest tree distances and heights? How about the eve of your house?  There are a lot of environmental factors that actually might make the measurement of your deck  smaller when adding a tent into the mix.

Where is your deck?

You may be thinking, “That’s a silly question!”. But keep in mind, no two houses are the same.  “The back of my house” is not the same as 20 feet leading to deep decline in the ground while heading all the way around a fence to a single opening, though the garden, around a pool and up the steps. As fun as that sounds, there is a charge for that. What we are looking for is the safest, shortest route possible to carry your equipment. Planning this out ahead not only saves both of us time but could save you money as well!

How many steps do you have?

On the day of set up we will be carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment up the steps to your deck, multiple times. The amount of trips we need to make up those steps will determine what kind of a level charge you will incur.  Again, we are looking for the safest, shortest route possible; saving you money and time.You may have more than one area on your deck with steps. You may even have a multilevel deck.  Depending on where and how big, these types of steps may prohibit you from being able to set up a tent on your deck altogether.  We will not do a deck with more than 5 steps when Minnesota blesses us with snow or ice!

How will people get from your home to the tent?

We know, you think we’re asking the obvious; again. But this is probably the most forgotten details when putting a tent on a deck. If you have a swinging door to your deck and your door is taller than our tent, nobody can get inside! So, how tall is your door? Is it a sliding or swinging door? This one detail will determine whether your deck can handle a tent or the side of the deck that we can actually use.

How far do the eaves of your house hang off?

The eaves of your house are the edges of the roof that overhang the side of the wall on your home and usually projects beyond the sides of the structure. This is important because if your eave is too long or too high, it could interfere with the peaks of the tent and cause damage to the vinyl.

Can your deck handle the extra weight?

In most cases, a tent on top of a deck will require weights. Depending on the style and size of your tent we could be using 40 lb to 220 lb concrete weights, on each leg. For example, a 20 x 20 tent requires at least 3 220 lbs weights per leg. That’s 2,640 lbs.  You need to make sure your deck can handle that much weight, plus your guests and other party equipment. As well as making sure you are okay with a concrete block possibly scratching the surface of your deck. Scratches cannot always be avoided.

Do you need a Site Inspection?

So, maybe you don’t know the answers to the questions we’ve asked so far. Or maybe you don’t want to be responsible for the measurements yourself. We get it! We’ll do that for you! For a small fee, we will come out to your location and take notes of your deck, the route we need to take to get there and anything that can interfere with set up. Not only can you rest assured everything will fit perfectly but we can get a head start on thinking of how to make that happen. If you have a good idea of your deck already and everything can be easily explained with pictures or layouts, we get that too! Just promise us you aren’t going to make any changes before we get there!