Mytee Products is an Ohio company that sells a wide variety of truck tarps, cargo control supplies, rigging supplies, and more. If you take a look at their YouTube channel, you will find a bunch of great videos demonstrating how to use the products they sell. One such video explains using a demolition tarp as a snow removal tool.
Demolition tarps for snow removal? Absolutely. This growing trend among American businesses puts the demolition tarp to good use when it’s not being used to haul away roofing materials and other construction debris. Needless to say it is not the ideal snow removal solution for every situation. When it works though, it works well.
More About Demolition Tarps
A demolition tarp is more or less a vinyl tarp with a built-in sling and webbing straps at all four corners. You lay the tarp flat on the ground and then pile construction debris on top of it. You can then use a crane, forklift, or boom truck to lift the tarp for disposal.
If you have ever seen those fabric construction bags marketed as dumpster replacements, they are essentially the same thing. Demolition tarps have been used for decades as an alternative to dumpsters. They are cheap, easy to use, and can be reused multiple times.
The only thing about demolition tarps is that they have limited weight capacity. You have to be very careful to know what that capacity is as compared to the amount of construction debris you are piling on top. Otherwise the entire thing could break open while being lifted.
As a Snow Removal Tool
The particular tarp shown in the Mytee Products YouTube video has a capacity of 10,000 pounds. That is pretty significant. The question is, how much snow can it handle? There’s no way to answer that question easily. The weight of the snow in any given situation is subject to many factors.
Snow can be lighter or heavier depending on the air temperature when it falls. As a general rule, colder temperatures produce lighter snow with less moisture content. Warmer temperatures produce heavier snow. The more water content, the heavier it will be.
In order to use a demolition tarp as a snow removal tool, you would have to calculate the relative density of the snow being lifted. Then you would have to determine weight accordingly. You could obviously lift far more light, fluffy snow by volume as compared to dense, heavy snow.
Planning for Snowfall
The other concern about using a demolition tarp as a snow removal tool is planning. You can always lay the tarp out on the ground if you know a storm is coming. In fact, that’s what the Mytee Products video recommends. But what if you are not expecting snow? What if you wake up in the morning and discover several inches of the white stuff fell unexpectedly overnight?
You could still use a demo tarp to get rid of the snow, but now you’re left with laying it on the ground and somehow moving snow on top of it. A plow would be impractical for the simple fact that it would pull the tarp up. You could shovel it or use a snowblower, but then what would be the point of using the tarp? Just shovel or blow the snow wherever you want it to go.
Yes, using demolition tarps as snow removal tools is a real thing. It requires some advance planning and knowledge of working load limits, but it can be done. And when done right, you can clear an entire area of snow in just a few minutes.