Driving Stakes in Cold Weather Doesn’t Need to be Difficult
Driving a tent stake into the ground seems like a fairly straightforward operation. Just hit the head of the stake with a sledgehammer, and try to keep it vertical and straight. Simple, right? Well, in the summer and fall, it usually is. But driving tent stakes into frozen ground is an entirely different matter.
Cold ground is harder and firmer than warm ground. You can still manually drive a tent stake in cold conditions, but it becomes a lot harder. Your swing isn’t going to drive the stake nearly as far as it would in summer. The whole process becomes tedious and exhausting just a few stakes in.
Likewise, removing those tent stakes later is also a chore. It’s almost as if the cold metal of the stake and the cold ground are teaming up to try and hurt your back. By the time you’re done setting up and then tearing down your party tent, you’ll find yourself thinking twice about ever putting it up in the cold again.
Thankfully, event and party rental experts have found a solution to these woes. Using a couple of easy to use gadgets, we can eliminate the manual labor from the equation almost entirely while ensuring our party tent stays safely and securely anchored.
Tent Stake Drivers and Extractors
Let’s start by learning how to drive tent stakes the easy way. For this, we’re going to want to use a tent stake driver. And while these machines might seem pricey, they’re the very easiest way to drive tent stakes into frozen ground.
These simple to use machines are usually bought by party rental professionals who set up a lot of tents in a given week, and need a means of semi-automating the process. You’ll see them being used on sites where fairs, festivals, and carnivals are being set up.
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Powered by simple gasoline fueled engines, tent stake drivers are held above the stake, where they use a jackhammer-like motion to pound it into the earth for you. The machine weighs around 40 pounds. For you parents reading this, that’s about how much most of your kids weighed around age six. These aren’t all that heavy at all, and they’re very easy to use.
When you’re all done for the day and it’s time to pull your tent stakes up, we recommend using a tent stake extractor. These simple mechanical devices use basic lever physics to take the grunt work out of pulling up tent stakes.
If you’re using standard tent stakes with a 1” diameter, you should be able to use any stake extractor. Just be sure to read the extractor’s description and make sure it’ll fit your tent stakes. You should be able to use any model with most sizes.
Do You Really Need All of this Equipment to Drive Tent Stakes into Frozen Ground?
Tent stake drivers and extractors are of course useful all year round. They take the grunt work out of party tent setups and speed up the process considerably. You’ll surely get your money’s worth out of these items, especially if you’re setting up your party tent fairly often.
Having said that, we’re not in the business of selling people equipment they don’t need. So we really want you to stop and ask yourself an important question. Do you really need a tent stake driver or a tent stake extractor?
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Most of you reading this got your party tents for events planned for late spring through early fall. You might occasionally set up your party tent in the colder months of the year. But just how frequently will you put up your tent in these conditions?
Do you plan on setting up your party tent every chance you get between late fall through early spring? If so, investing in a tent stake driver and a stake extractor is definitely a good idea. These tools will make these setups go a lot faster. Better still, they'll help you avoid pulled muscles and general exhaustion along the way.
If you’re only setting up your party tent once or twice in this colder period, we recommend trying it once without the equipment just to see how challenging it is. Some of you might just decide to save a little money doing it manually the second or third time around. And if that tent setup is exhausting and difficult, give us a call at 1-716-566-5804 and we’ll help you find the right driver and extractor for your needs.