Canopies | Portable Building Store

Portable Shelter for the Homeless

Lynn Boland and Eryk Hanut, along with four others, began Project Aqua to help fix a flaw in the services that the homeless in Las Vegas receive. They currently do a lot for local homeless people, but after receiving three EDAR units, have been looking for qualified candidates for them.

The EDAR units are from the Los Angeles-based non-profit Everyone Deserves a Roof. The mobile shelter units fill a void for lack of alternative shelters in Las Vegas. While there are shelters available, many are overcrowded. The EDAR unit allows the homeless to have a greater sense of mobility and safety. The EDAR is a compact portable housing unit on wheels. When it is not open, it folds into a cart for transport. Before Boland and Hanut got their hands on three units, they were only distributed in Los Angeles.

Due to the lack of alternative shelters located in Las Vegas for the homeless, Boland began to research solutions for the issue. It was then that she discovered EDAR and their mobile shelter units. The units were designed to provide a short-term, immediate shelter for homeless people who are reluctant to enter the shelter system. Each one costs around $500 to make. Boland reached out to the non-profit and found out that several outdated EDAR units were in storage. The nonprofit was willing to give up three of them to Boland.

Project Aqua currently has given away one EDAR unit away and is waiting to receive the other two. The first unit was given to 53-year old Erma Hernandez and she loves it.

Tarps for Kids Program Helping Local Schools

A tarp distributor out of Palmdale, California found a way to put its overstocked items to good use. Many companies are not sure what to do with their overstocked products, but this company is using theirs for a program called Tarps for Kids.

The California-based company, Tarps Plus, has created the Tarps for Kids program by donating their overstocked supply of untreated white canvas tarps, as well some portable building tarps to local schools. The company collaborates with the local schools to set up an event where Tarps Plus shows up with the tarps and painting supplies and the kids paint them with their teachers.

The Tarps Plus truck will arrive at a school and lay out a 30 x 30 foot white campus tarp. Then a 10 x 10’ white pop-up tent is set up on top of it. The Tarps Plus employees then lay out all of the painting supplies for the kids so they can create their masterpieces! The children dip their hands in the paint and imprint their hands onto the tent along with their teachers, symbolizing the unity of the school. The tarp on the ground is for the children to free paint anything they can imagine.

Tarps Plus CEO said this about the creation of the program;

“We were trying to think of a unique way to use our overstocked tarps and tents. What better way than donating them to schools and getting the children involved with painting them?”

After it is all said and done, the schools use the tarps and tents for fundraisers,
assemblies, and various outdoor functions. Tarps Plus hopes to do the program all throughout California, but for now they are starting with the Southern half. If your school is in the Southern California area and wants to participate in the Tarps for Kids program, you can contact the company at 1-800-838-3057.

The Oakland Raiders are taking a Page out of the Jaguars’ Playbook to Lower Capacity

The Oakland Raiders are planning on using tarps to block off a large section of their stadium in hopes to reduce seating and “sell out” more home games in the 2013 season. The team hopes that this strategy that was most recently used by the Jacksonville Jaguars will help them eliminate blackout games.

Jaguars Stadium — Jaguars Tarp off Section of their Stadium

The Raiders are not the only Oakland team to implement this strategy. In 2006 the Oakland A’s used tarps to eliminate 20,000 seats that were normally empty during games. The only downside in the NFL is that once the tarps are on, they have to stay on, the WHOLE season. So when the A’s miraculously made the playoffs, they ran into a similar problem. When the A’s faced off against Detroit in the Divisions Series, 20,000 seats were covered up. Sorry Raiders fans, but it is very unlikely that your team will face this same problem in 2013 after a dismal 4-12 season this year.

Placing the tarps over the 300 section, nicknamed Mount Davis, could still be a beneficial move for the Raiders. Eliminating around 11,000 seats and bringing the max seating down to 53,200 would help eliminate blackout games. The Raiders averaged a league worst attendance of 54,216, which is unimpressive at best with other teams boasting attendance numbers over 80,000 a game.

When games are not sold out 72 hours before kickoff, local televisions will blackout the game and show something else. This has been a problem that has frustrated Raiders fans for years now, and TV contracts can make a team big money. So by decreasing the amount of seats available, the team hopes to decrease the number of blackout games. One other thing working in the team’s favor is that in 2013 the NFL will allow teams to lift blackouts if they sell 85 percent of their tickets.

Hopefully, the tarps will help the Raiders sell out more games. The Mount Davis section was one of the reasons the team moved back to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1996, but they might want to think of re-locating once again. Unless the team does not mind the eyesore of the tarps, they should think about building a new, smaller stadium.

Oakland Raiders Opting for Stadium Tarps (tarpsandcanopies.info)
New 49ers Stadium to Come Equipped With Solar Power (isurvivalsupply.com)

Many Haitians Still Living in Tents Almost 3 Years After Earthquake

Canopy Tents

Almost three years ago, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake. Many Haitians were forced to live in tent camps because their homes were destroyed from the earthquake. Now many families were rendered homeless because of Hurricane Sandy.

Even though it has almost been three years since the earthquake that struck Haiti forced people into tent camps, over 370,000 people are still living in them. The communities made up of tarps are the only place they have to live. The tarps provide them with shelter and their own space, but after Hurricane Sandy, many people are left homeless once again.

The tarps had provided a way to protect the people from the outdoor elements, but were unable to withstand Hurricane Sandy. Many people’s tarps were ripped, destroyed, or blown away. The super storm flooded most of the living spaces and left many homeless again.

There is no drainage system in the camps, so the water sits stagnant
inside of everyone’s tents. Their beds, clothes, and belongings are all soaked. Many of the tarps are damaged and now they struggle to stay protected from the elements. It has been reported that 18,000 people are now homeless after Sandy came.

The conditions are horrible for those still living at the tent camps. It is hard for people to sleep because they do not have a dry place to rest. The ground is covered with more tarps to try and create dry places to walk. When they try to mop or sweep the water out, more water just pours in. With no real way to drain the water; it will cause the ground to be muddy and wet for a long time. Without help, the Haitian people will be living in a nightmare for some time. Wet and hungry, the people there are crying out for help.

Benefits of Portable Garages

Portable Garage

There are many reasons purchasing a portable garage is a great idea. The benefits of having one at your home are endless. They are easy to build, flexible, and portable. Whether you need a place for a vehicle to protect it from the elements or need some extra storage space, you could benefit from a portable garage.

One of the most obvious benefits of a portable garage is their portability. You can place it in different locations on your property, lend it to a friend, or bring it with you if you move to a new home. In the winter, you can store a vehicle in the backyard, and when the warm weather comes, you can move the garage to the front of the house for easy in and out access.

A second benefit of having a portable garage is the simplicity of its design. This makes them easy to set up and take down. They can be set up in one location and taken down and moved, if necessary. In an emergency situation, they can be erected in a short period of time. They do not require any drilling, digging, or cutting.

Another benefit of the portable garage is its cost. In comparison to having a full garage built, they are extremely inexpensive. You can get a portable garage for as little as a few hundred bucks, all the way up to a few thousand. The price depends on size and quality. Having a full permanent garage built will take time and will cost you at least 10 times what a portable garage would cost.

Lastly, portable garages come with heavy duty polyethylene tarps that will provide great protection for its contents. The repel water and Ultraviolet Rays that could damage the items you are storing. You can store anything from an RV to lawn equipment inside of a portable garage. There are so many different sizes that you can find the best portable garage for your needs.

If you need storage for a vehicle, equipment, or even some seasonal decorations, you should purchase a portable garage. Not only are they inexpensive and easy to build, but they are easily moved between locations. Know that your personal items are well protected inside of a portable garage.

What Features Should a Canopy Have?

Nearly all structures carried at Portable Garage Depot and Shelters of America are canopies, including both permanent canopies like carports and portable garages and temporary structures like pop-up canopies and party tents. But, what characteristics should a canopy have? As a canopy essentially protects your vehicle – or you – outdoors, it needs to meet certain expectations. For a permanent shelter like a carport, this includes:

• Being made from heavy-duty polyethylene. Medium-duty polyethylene and vinyl are generally considered too weak for repeated outdoor use and will become worn sooner. The only exception to this rule is an all-metal carport.
• Being waterproof. If water can seep through a canopy or rust the metal frame, the structure will not sufficiently protect your vehicle, be it daily protection or seasonal storage.
• Being UV resistant. UV rays can damage the surface of any vehicle left outdoors. On a minor level, this means the paint color may fade. More serious results include cracking any exterior or interior plastic parts.
• Being rot and mildew resistant. A canopy shouldn’t have mold and mildew building up on it, and, likewise, it should prevent mold, mildew, and dry rot from forming underneath on the vehicle.
• Being rip-stop or rip-proof. Both qualities are essentially the same thing, but the canopy shouldn’t rip unless hit by a severe natural disaster, like a tornado or hurricane. Ordinary rain and snow storms shouldn’t rip or damage the canopy material.
• Being fire resistant. Not all outdoor canopies are, but it’s a bonus if the canopy meets California fire codes for fire retardant properties.

As far as temporary canopies like pop-up and party tents are concerned, these generally have the waterproof and UV resistant properties, as they need to do these things temporarily. But, being made from polyester, the material is more prone to ripping, which is why the structure is temporary instead of permanent.

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