Commercial High Tensile Steel Tent Stakes

Big Tents Need High Quality Commercial Tent Stakes

We’ve all been to an event where a  really big tent provided shelter from the elements. Heavy duty event tents for parties, weddings, and corporate events, require a lot of engineering to make sure they are set up correctly and safely. So, how many commercial high grade, high tensile steel tent stakes do you need to anchor your event tent? It depends.

Our first recommendation is “Check with the tent manufacturer.”

A tent stakes’ holding power is impacted by a number of factors. But, in general, the holding power of your tent stake depends on:

  1. Size of the tent
  2. Wind speed
  3. Soil conditions
  4. How your stakes are deployed

View a Variety of Event Tents

Using the International Fire Code (IFC), tents should hold up to a wind speed of 85 mph. We don’t know about you, but if the wind is blowing 85 mph, we’re not going to be in a tent.  To put it in perspective, according to the National Hurricane Center, a Class 1 hurricane has winds of 74 – 95 mph. Wind speed exerts force on a tent. The most important thing to remember is that pressure increases exponentially with wind speed.

The second element is soil conditions. Soil density changes by site. You need to know your soil density. The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) published a pocket guide “Pullout Capacity of Tent Stakes”. Per this guideline, the consistency of soils is hard, very stiff, stiff, medium, soft and very soft. Field identification is subjective, and is measured by soil resistance and stake penetration as measured by how far the stake penetrates into the soil per blow on the tent stake.

How your stakes are deployed is also important. Here are some rules of thumb:

  • The larger the tent stake diameter, the greater the holding power
    • The IFAI study benchmarked using 1” diameter tent stakes. We offer both 1” and 1 1/8” diameter commercial quality steel tent stakes.
  • The deeper the stake, the greater the holding power.
    • We offer tent stakes up to 48 inches long
    • Get good at driving in your stakes
  • Tent stake material
    • Hogan tent stakes are manufactured using high grade, high tensile steel. High-tensile steel is used for applications that require the use of materials capable of handling an immense amount of stretching and pulling without breaking.
  • Optimal guy rope angle provides optimal holding power.
  • Increasing the height of the stake knot above the ground decreases the holding power.
  • Holding power varies with anchor type.
  • Double staking or group staking can increase the effectiveness of your tent anchoring.

If you have any questions about commercial steel tent stakes for your event tents, please contact us.