InTents August/September 2019 - 36

Weight can be positioned on top of a plate that is
attached to the base plate of a tent. Weight can be
distributed via a web and ratchet or rope to the
eaves of the tent. Weight can be attached to both the
baseplate and attached via a web and ratchet or a
rope to the eaves of the tent. Finally, weight can be
positioned on top of a plate that is attached to the
eaves of the tent via a web and ratchet or rope.
The factors to consider are the type of tent and
con iguration required; ground type or surface
condition; required load for the tent; and type
and geometry of ballast to be used. These are
important factors for using a proper ballasting
system to assure that tents are installed correctly.
Deninno: Eliminate the guess work in ballasting.
People do a lot of guessing, and say, "This is what I've
done in the past." Know what your tent needs. Get the
information from the manufacturer and actually look
at the numbers in the ballasting study. Make a cheat
sheet so when your sales people book a tent that has
to be ballasted, they know what that tent needs.

TRD Boot Camps offer hands-on training for installers on
topics ranging from safely anchoring a tent and basic site
safety to performing site surveys and installing speciﬁc
styles of tents.

How can the studies be used to educate
local code ofϔicials and customers?
Tharpe: Building a relationship with your code oficial should be a priority. They, in most instances, do
not know what they are looking at when reviewing a
tent on site. Therefore, you must do everything in the
proper sequence to train your code of icial. Show the
code of icial examples of bad staking techniques and
what is not acceptable for safe tent installations.
Reyen: If you want to elevate the entire industry, and
especially your individual company and skills, you
have to be able to explain the "why" to the customer.
If you go out to a site and use the staking study and
identify that the site requires twice as many stakes
as, say, another site that has different soil, you have
to explain, "I've come in with a professional tool to
test the soil to make sure we use the appropriate
amount of stakes so that this event goes off without
a hitch and no one gets hurt." If you can articulate it
to the customer so that they don't think you are just
overcharging without any kind of reason, you can
differentiate your company in terms of being more
professional and that your price might be a little more
because you are doing it right versus taking short cuts.
Deninno: Where the ballasting study comes in handy is
showing it to a customer. For example, in the middle of
bidding a job, a customer says, "Well you know, I have
another quote, and it's a thousand less using water
barrels or sand bags." We can say, "Here's why we are
using this much weight. Here's why we are charging
what we are charging, and here is some back up to show
you what we are doing and why we are doing it." That's
very helpful in securing jobs and con idence. Securing
the con idence of the customer is a big win, because
they understand that we have safety in mind and we are
looking out for their best interests and their guests' best
interests. They will always appreciate that and come
back to you again. That builds a good relationship.

What information do you need to
use the TRD Ballasting Tool?
Tharpe: There are a couple of important pieces to this
puzzle. The size of the ballast being used (length/width/
height) along with the manufacturer's installation
instructions and/or engineering documents that
36 intents

august-september 2019

InTents August/September 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of InTents August/September 2019