I have used heavy duty tarp with gorilla tape. No cutting, just folded to fit the shape and taped with gorilla tape. Did this as an emergency setup . This lasted 2 years, and now want to sew it along the edges, as the gorilla tape has come loose after this long. I thought of sewing one with shower curtain, but this worked well too.
@@gabeslifestuff yes, it has come off after more than one year, and then i have put more gorilla tape. Hence I am looking to sew it. Just today I sewed it, but with lots of trouble due to the glue of gorilla tape. I wish i had sewed it in the first place. But still time will tell soon. Hence sharing what I went through so others may find it helpful.
@@daniellehardy8841 I feared the same that water may come through small holes. so far no leakage after sewing at the sides. It looks better than with gorilla tape. Less hassle taking off / on, keep it well loose and don't see all the way to the end. I'd say, leave about 1/2 metre from the bottom no sew. I'd tie it around with plastic rope that came with the tarp. My tarp(bought from ALDI) has some eyelets/holes for passing the rope when tying, a set of these holes are on either side of the tarp.
Thank you so much for sharing this! It’s exactly what I want to do to protect my outdoor sofa and cushions (no space in the garage to store the cushions during the rainy season…). The melting technique hadn’t occurred to me-I thought I’d have to sew it and that seemed daunting. So happy I found your great video.
Thanks for this. Not a lot of information about ironing poly tarps online so I appreciate the video and follow up responses. I want to create a tent cover with a 20mil tarp and this is helpful.
@@gabeslifestuff Thanks for the encouragement! Luckily my tarp came packaged in a piece of scrap tarp so I was able to try a variety of iron temperatures and experiment. My tarp is 20 mil and regardless of the temperature, I cannot get the heat to penetrate enough to fuse a seam without first melting holes in the top layer. I even tried flipping it over after doing one side to fuse from both sides. Not good. So I can say that 20 mil is too thick for this technique. Luckily, I had enough material to experiment with before I damaged an expensive tarp. I would definitely try this again if needed in the future just with thinner material.
I was going to buy pricey covers and remember a large tarp I have in the garage. Thanks for posting this! One question. When you say “baking paper” is that parchment paper you’re using under the iron? Thanks!
11 months since posting, and I'm thinking about doing this for my patio furniture. Are these still holding up? Anything you'd do differently? Thanks for sharing this video
Hi Louis! Mine have a few holes on the ironed seams already. I think it’s because I bought the cheapest/thinnest type of tarp. So if I was to do anything differently, I would get a thicker tarp so there’s more material to bind on the seams.
Hi Phillip! Good question. I don’t use it anymore to be honest. Some of the ‘heat weld’ edges have actually opened up. If I were to do something different, it would have to be that I should have used a thicker kind of tarp. That’s mainly it.
@@gabeslifestuff there is! And there is also a special tarp tape. I did lots of googling after I watched your video. Another option I am thinking about it sewing and then treating the seams with a special waterproof sealant. I haven’t decided exactly what I’m going to do, I need to balance the time it takes vs longevity!
