Harbor Freight Reviews

Link: http://HarborFreightReviews.com/HFRreviews.html

Item: 4 Ft. x 12 Ft. Canvas Dropcloth
Item number: 38108
Retail price: $9.99
Frequent sale price: $5.99 (with coupon)
Best price: $4.99 (with coupon)
Target price: $5.99
Item Link

After years of tramping on newspapers, plastic, and miscellaneous other materials that I've used for spatter control, I finally broke down and bought a real painter's dropcloth. Wow, what a difference. The canvas lays nicely on the floor and provides a much more solid, dependable layer of protection between you (the potential disaster) and your finished floor (the potential problem spot; pun intended ). Its heavy canvas is tear resistant, most everything proof, and adds a touch of class to your project. The current sale price is a dollar less than our target price. It's such a good deal that it makes one temped to bring the spouse along to Harbor Freight so that they can go in and redeem their own coupon with you ending up with two (There's a limit of one per coupon at this low price.). Fortunately, I bought my first one a couple of years ago so I can add a second one myself now without bothering the spouse.

Harbor Freight sells this in two sizes: 4' x 12' and 9' x 12'. My personal preference is for the smaller size. It's easier to manage, both folding it up when done and also laying it out on the floor. If I were working in a large, open area such as painting a ceiling, I would give some serious thought to also purchasing the large size. But for me, smaller is better. Many of my projects involve spreading it out on a small space where the larger canvas would be messy.

Hint: We leave our dropcloth down for awhile after we've finished the project. Paint, plaster, mortar, and other spills are better controlled after they've been allowed to dry.

There are a lot of other potential uses for this heavy canvas dropcloth. People apparently use them as runners and for floor protection in other places where heavy traffic could inflict some serious wear. I suppose some use them to protect equipment and even outside. Remember that these are interior "dropcloths," so no complaints please if they start to deteriorate after a year or two of outside use.

Bottom line: Everybody needs one, they're a great time saver and much easier to work on than newspaper and plastic. Buy it right at our target price or lower and it's as cheap as some disposable plastic dropcloths.