Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Garment Rack Hack: Clearance canvas for $100 off the retail price (to use as tent-hut walls).

 the main complain of this Canvas garment rack cover is that the canvas is a bit too rough, not soft enough


 I got these on clearance. So normally they are $15 each but I paid $14 for eight of them! Wow. Quite a steal. Again people complain the canvas is too rough - that's because it's 8 ounce canvas - perfect for tent walls!! The product is advertised as "poly-canvas" but I don't think it is at all. I have poly-canvas tarps and I have 100% cotton canvas - this is just really thick cotton canvas. 

So 14 ounce canvas is available as way more expensive... then 10 ounce... I'm talking a 20 x 20 size tarp. 8 ounce is thick enough for my purpose.

I got 3 x 5 by 3 garment racks canvas that have buttons. So I button the sides together but I will have to cut the top seam to expand out the 3 by 5 section. So I have a 3 foot top section to then go over the wall but under the roof - I will then attach it to the roof rafters as "roof blocking" between the rafters.

 I actually got 22 pounds of canvas for about 300 square feet.... total. But again 3 feet of that is to overlap the wall.... for the connection. So that brings it down to 120 square feet of canvas.

so 10 ounce is the minimum norm for a heavy-duty canvas tarp. 8 ounce canvas is not really heavy duty but it is heavy enough and I will create a "clay slip" to soak the canvas in clay for fire proofing - before I attach it to the walls. This will also make the canvas thicker and heavier duty.

 So 8 ounce canvas is also called a "drop cloth" as used for painter's tarp.

So if it was just a pure tarp then I could get it for about the same price of two tarps for $25.... so $10 more than what I paid. But with this "garment rack" design it works perfectly to button together to extend as a 5 foot tall high wall that extends for 44 feet or os. 

  18 L x 36 W x 65.5 H inches 

So instead of buttoning to itself - I button one end to a 2nd garment rack and keep going like that for 8 garment racks....buttoned together...

so I get 6 (1.5x2plus3) x 8 feet for the length = 48 feet....

the wall lengths for a 10 x 12 area are 12 x 2 plus 10 x 2= 20 plus 24= 44 length in feet.... 

OK so the only thing I need to do is cut the seam so I can expand the sides as length. So I have to make two cuts in the top where the top section connects to the sides for the top of the garment rack.... That top section then will connect between the roof rafters as "rafter blocks".

what will I use to attach the canvas to the wood framing of my tent hut? I could use a staple gun but that is a bit tedious for the spacing. I have a drill - so maybe - but drilling through canvas would twist it. Better to nail with a hammer but a nail would not hold. I could nail in staples...

OK I can get a staple gun with 500 staples at Harbor Freight for $10.... much better deal. vid review

 This stapler will not drive staples into wood unless you turn the tension knob to its maximum and then, you have to be the hulk to squeeze the handle. Most of the time the staples don't drive in straight, have to be removed and try again....Only used once before it stopped working. I opened to see if staples were stuck and the internal parts are bent.... Broken after not even 25 staples driven. The spring driven hammer that drove the staples out of the gun misaligned and bent and would no longer line up to drive staples. Because of this misalignment, it was much better and driving the entire tray out of the bottom, allowing the spring loaded staples to shoot out the front. Do yourself a favor, avoid this.

I suppose I'll be putting in a lot of staples to hold in the canvas - so I guess it's the best option...OK I'll just get one at the other DIY store. HF sells a lot of suspicious items but so does the other DIY store. hahaha

yeah the idea here is not to be water proof but water and wind resistant - and increase some insulation value. I actually have a wall that is collapsing but the actual wall framing is still solid. It's just the pliable membrane of willow branches as cob-hay insulation that is collapsing on its own precarious instability. I have it braced up with a solid wood 3 x 6 or something board.

It's all very makeshift shack janky but the framing has held up for five years despite major frost water heaving. Lots of holes in the walls - hence the need for this canvas membrane to block wind/water. The roof overhangs enough to stop water from coming in the walls. But I still get ground water coming in - as I don't have a floor.

 

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