Weighting Marquees

Holding down a marquee is a simple task that should not be taken lightly, especially with Melbourne's weather doing its best to batter any temporary structure. Harts has a perfect record for 20 years.

To combat the sometimes harsh winds that rock our state, Harts Party Hire stock a variety of marquees with high wind ratings. Depending on the style you select, your marquee could stand up to winds of 145 kph!

But even without this level of extreme wind, marquees still have to be secured. Recently, the HRIA released a document outlining the recommended weight to be used on each leg on different sized marquees.

You can download the HRIA Recommendations for Marquee Weights here.

Harts Party Hire endorses these standards.

All weights are available with white covers. Large concrete weights are available with high quality merbau covers to match our fencing. They also look fantastic with a splash of greenery.

Below is a list of methods we use to secure our marquees, ordered by cost:

Pegging / Stakes

The use of pegs and stakes is the most economical way to secure a marquee.

Pegging / Staking through the base plate
This is the easiest way to hold down a marquee. Harts Party Hire uses up to 1.2m deep stakes, which give the equivalent of 500kg of weight (under a normal soil environment). Staking through a base plate (think of a base plate as the 'foot' of a marquee, image to the left) means that there aren't any ropes pulled out to the side - always the safest option.

Pegging / Staking with ropes or ratchets
This is similar to staking through a base plate, except the stakes themselves are driven into the ground about a metre away from the marquee. Ropes or ratchets are then pulled from the marquee and secured to each stake.

Underground Services
It is your responsibility when contracting Harts to ensure that any underground services are avoided.

There are serious risks if a metal stake is put through a gas, water or electrical cable so don't take this task lightly. That said, it isn't difficult and it can save thousands on the cost of transport and hire of concrete weights.

Your first step for households should be to call 'Dial-Before-You-Dig' on 1100 and request maps be sent to you. You could also visit www.dialbeforeyoudig.com.au for more information about their services. You can forward these maps to Harts for help in interpreting them.

For Parks & Public Spaces, you should request that the services management company (ie Parks Victoria) to mark the underground services before we arrive on site. Always ensure you have written permission to use stakes and forward a copy to us.

Bitumen Repair

Bitumen Repair
Pegs and stakes can be used on a bitumen surface. Bitumen repairs are much more economical than the cost of wieghts.

Dynabolting

This is the most economical way of securing temporary structures to a hard surface for large marquees or if you intend to repeat the function.

Dynabolting
Bolts are the best way to avoid a cost blow-out on large scale marquees on concrete or bitumen. Harts can drill into your hard surface and install bolts as tie-off points. This is almost as efficient as staking, the only extra time taken up is the drilling itself. The bonus with this method is that we can leave the bolts in the ground after the event, or replace them with caps, which means that you can put the same sized marquee in the same spot for your next event without having to pay for any securing method at all!

Weighting

Small Concrete Weights
These can only be used on small marquees, often for festivals or for back yards. Harts use them often in locations that have concreted areas and especially on wooden decks. Each block weighs 45kg.

Large Concrete Weights
We stock 3 sizes of concrete weights - 300kg, 500kg and 1.2 Tonne. The size of the block required depends on your marquee size. A forklift on site is required to move these around and place them around the perimetre of your marquee (we can provide one if there isn't already one on site). Large blocks are often put in parks where staking is not allowed and where water drums cannot be emptied easily. Harts has an all terrain forklift with turf tyres and a telescopic boom - ideal for use in Melbourne's Parks and Reserves, or a 1 Tonne Forklift for concrete carparks etc.

Water Drums
Each of these drums when filled weigh 200kg. Ideally we would fill the drums from a water source on site if there is access to a tank or bore water. Otherwise we can contract in a bore water truck to fill them, although this can be costly and should only be used if no other methods are possible. Please note that under level 3A water restrictions it is illegal to fill water drums for the purposes of weighting marquees from a mains tap or fire hydrant. Please refer to item 24 of your local water retailer's 'drought response plan'.