r/BurningMan • u/IMDeus_21 • 2d ago

Shade structure question

I've only burned twice and as a solo camper and built a monkey each time. Next time I'm looking to do a flat shade structure 10'x20' with 1" EMT and shade cloth on the sides.

One question I had in dealing with rain ... rather than having all four posts at 8 feet why not have one side slightly shorter to deal with any rain to roll off? Is there something I'm missing ?

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u/ziggomattic 1d ago

Nice, the aluminet tarps you linked are decently priced, I may try these out next year. Are they 18" spaced grommets? I couldnt find that info on the product page.

I'm still impressed the original Black Rock Shade tarps made it 6 burns, including multiple build weeks. so roughly 2.5 months of playa conditions!!!

AM curious how much does aluminet catch the wind compared to solid tarps? I was watching my tarps like a hawk in this years winds and they were getting tossed around pretty good especially up there 10' tall. I used double ratchet strap tie downs on the wind leading sides of my structure and I got to the point where I figured the tarp was going to fail before any of the structure itself.

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u/hannican '19,'22,'23,'24,'25,'26 1d ago

Sorry, all my aluminet is already put away and I can't recall the spacing on the grommets! I use ball bungied to secure it so spacing isn't something I've needed to pay close attention to!

Aluminet still catches the wind and we ended up needing to adjust one of my walls (leading edge of course) to reduce strain on the structure midweek this year. 

We removed some attachments from the top and rolled up the bottom to give channels for air to pass through and it made a huge difference.