Party Tents and Freezing Cold Air Don’t Mix
Party tents enhance your backyard parties and other events through most of the year, especially if you live in a warmer climate. But what about those of us who live in seasonal states? Can we continue using our party tents during the winter months?
While you can certainly get your party tent warm in fall and winter, there’s a pretty big asterisk you need to know about: freezing temperatures and party tents don’t mix. In fact, cold weather can do a lot of damage to tent tops and tent sidewalls. So much so that we strongly advise against trying it.
Party tents should only be stored and used in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees fahrenheit. Anything below that mark will expose your party tent to risk. That risk factor grows more and more serious the colder it gets. Using party tents in freezing conditions voids your warranty, too. And warming the tent’s interior doesn’t really help, either.
There are two types of damage tent tops and tent sidewalls are susceptible to in cold weather. Rental pros refer to them as wind whip and cold cracking. And while there are some steps you can take to try and minimize the risk of them happening, there’s only one surefire method of avoiding both: don’t set up your party tent in colder weather.
What Are Wind Whip and Cold Cracking? And How do I Avoid It?
There’s really no way for a party tent to entirely avoid cold weather damage; this is a “darned if you do, darned if you don’t” scenario. Either your tent top and tent sidewalls are firm and take a little damage, or they’re loose and take a lot of damage. There unfortunately isn’t an option for taking no damage at all.
A taut tent top or tent sidewall means the material is getting stressed, and in warmer conditions, that’s not a big deal. But cold air makes vinyl more rigid and more brittle. So what would be a nominal amount of stress in warm weather suddenly becomes dangerous in the cold.
This leads to “cold cracking,” where the material cracks and scars from those aforementioned forces. That scarring can get pretty severe, too. Not only is this unsightly, but it can ruin the integrity of the tent itself. Still, having said all that, it’s better to keep tops and sidewalls taut than loose. Wind whip can get a lot worse.
Cold wind blowing around tent tops and sidewalls causes the material to “whip” around, hence the name “wind whip.” The cold causes the material to get brittle, while the whipping motion makes it stretch. This causes the base material to rip and tear, causing major scarring and even large holes to open.
These problems can of course be fixed using vinyl repair kits. But we very strongly recommend avoiding these problems entirely by simply not using your party tents outdoors when the temperature is under 40 degrees fahrenheit.
If you need party tent repair kits, replacement tops, or new tent sidewalls, give PTD a call today at 1-716-566-5804 and we’ll gladly help you find everything you need. But we do hope our advice here helps you avoid these issues entirely.