This is something we learnt over the years.

It’s very difficult keeping marquee linings clean, especially when you’re flat out and they’re going up and down every weekend. To start with we used a commercial cleaning company who turned round the linings within 2 days, the only problem with that is the linings came back crinkled, we’d often get comments from customers that they needed an iron -we even hired a steamer for one particular wedding as the wrinkled linings were so bad.

Most linings fit into a domestic washing machine -all of our DIY Marquees are designed that way intentionally. Pleated linings up to 9mx3m can fit but you need a commercial washing machine for 12m and 15m.

So here’s my recommendation -wash the marquee linings at home in your domestic washing machine but only do it just before putting your marquee up the next time it’s out. Don’t put the linings in a dryer, put them up damp:

• The linings dry very quickly
• The linings dry in place, so no creases
• You avoid having to use dryers – our biggest cause of small tears and damage
• Make sure your hands are clean, damp linings will pick up any dirt (we used to keep a pack of baby wipes in the van for this)

If your linings are really bad (if they’ve been stored damp for a long time for example) and have mould on then simple washing won’t get it out, it needs something more drastic. High-Spec Ltd offer a mould away spray that’s useful to keep in your van but only really good for small patches, if the area affected is large you have to soak the linings in bleach, just make sure you wash them thoroughly afterwards and don’t leave them soaking for too long as it damages the velcro etc.

I hope that’s helped some people out there, thanks for reading.

Spencer

Some new satin linings have been making their way into the industry, I’m not keen and think people should be very wary before buying them. Here’s why:

 

We’ve been making marquee linings for 15-20 years -it’s how I originally got in to the marquee hire industry. We’re certainly nowhere near the biggest manufacturer but we do a good job and everything’s made by us in the UK. Basically, when it comes to marquee linings we like to think we know what we’re talking about.

 

For those who don’t know most marquee linings manufactured in the UK use an ivory polyester, although there’s seemingly 101 different shades of ivory an industry standard is slowly filtering through so they all match. Linings made in China use satin material and with the quantities made in China probably outnumber the polyester ones in the world.

 

But you’re not reading this for facts, you’re reading this for my opinion. And my opinion is satin marquee linings are crap. Shiny satin linings look cheap and just lack the class of their polyester counterparts.

 

Satin linings:

• Are made from cheaper inferior material
• Reflect the light (not a good thing appearance-wise)
• Are made in the cheapest method possible, this generally means the walls are attached to the roofs and no finishing pelmet or swag is used.

 

If you do buy satin linings make make sure they satisfy BS 7837: 1996 for flammability, you should receive a certificate with any new marquee linings. A lot of marquees and linings made in China are intended for the US market, unfortunately their flammability test requirements are lower than British Standards.

If you take nothing else away from reading this blog take this:

Just because something states it’s flame rertardant doesn’t mean it satisfies british standards -always insist on a copy of the test report satisfying BS 7837: 1996

As always, thanks for reading

Spencer