Frequently Asked Questions About Plastic Covers, Tarps & Liners

A mil is a unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch, or 0.0254 millimeters. It is the standard way thickness is described across plastic sheeting and film products. A mil is not the same as a millimeter, which is a frequent point of confusion when comparing specifications.

Reef Industries manufactures reinforced polyethylene laminates. Layers of polyethylene are bonded around an internal cord grid, which provides the material with tear and puncture resistance that single-layer sheeting lacks. Products are built in 3- to 7-ply constructions, depending on the strength the application requires.

Griffolyn® covers above-ground protection, including equipment covers, agricultural covers, curtains, and vapor retarders. Permalon® is a cross-laminated polyethylene geomembrane used for water containment, including pond, tank, lagoon, and aquaculture liners. Armorlon® handles heavier containment and surface protection work, such as concrete slab protection and containment tarps.

The terms overlap in everyday use, and we apply them to related products. A cover is usually fabricated to fit a specific item or structure, with finishing sized to the application. A tarp is more often a flat panel used for general protection or containment. Both are available in stock sizes or fabricated to your dimensions.

We stock plastic sheeting in 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-, 16-, and 18-mil thicknesses. Permalon® liner materials are available in 20-mil and 30-mil thicknesses. Because our laminates are internally reinforced, a thinner product can outperform a heavier, unreinforced film in tear and puncture resistance, so thickness alone is not the best guide when comparing materials.

Most Reef Industries products are designed for outdoor use, whether the exposure lasts a season or many years. UV stabilization protects the material from breaking down in sunlight, and cold-crack resistance keeps it flexible at low temperatures. Tell us how long the product needs to stay outside, and we will match a grade to it.

Fire-retardant grades are available across most of our product lines, from lightweight covers through heavy-duty tarps. Our fire-retardant vapor-retarder materials pass NFPA 701 Large-Scale and carry a Class 1/Class A flame-spread rating per UBC-42 and ASTM E-84. Required ratings vary by jurisdiction and application, so send us your specification, and we will confirm which grade meets your requirements.

Permalon® liners are used wherever water or waste needs to be contained. Common applications include ponds, pits, lagoons, tanks, raceways, ice rinks, and secondary containment. Liners can be supplied as flat sheets or fabricated into three-dimensional shapes that drop into an existing structure.

Yes. Permalon® is a non-toxic polyethylene membrane used in fish hatcheries, aquaculture ponds, brood tanks, and hydroponics systems. It comes in 20 mil and 30 mil, with custom drop-in configurations available for cylindrical or rectangular tanks.

Yes, and custom fabrication is a large part of what we do. We can work from exact dimensions, a rough sketch, a drawing, or a description of the problem, so a finished drawing package is not required to get started. If a stock size does not meet your requirements, we will fabricate one that does.

That depends on the project. Reef Industries carries stock sizes that ship quickly, and if none of them fit, we will custom fabricate to your dimensions. Our sales staff can help determine the right size based on your measurements or drawings.

Griffolyn® covers and vapor retarders can be manufactured up to 200' x 200' (61 m x 61 m). Permalon® liners are factory-fabricated up to an acre or more. Building large panels in the factory reduces the number of field seams, lowering the risk of failure and shortening installation time.

Covers, curtains, and liners can be fabricated with grommets, reinforced hems, rope-in-hem, pipe loops, and zipper access. Zippers are a standard option on plant dividers and dust partitions. We also stock bulkhead fittings, hose adapters, pipe boots, Griff Clips, and Griff Rope.

Send the specification to our sales staff, and they will identify which grade meets it. If you are working from a competitor's product name or an older spec, we can cross-reference that as well. Where nothing in stock fits the requirement, we will quote a custom fabrication.

No two projects are quite the same, and the right material depends on the exposure conditions and on any code or specification in play. We want you to have the chance to ask questions and get service that a website cannot provide on its own, so every account is handled by an experienced sales agent. Maybe it is old-fashioned, but we still believe in the personal touch.

Both. Reef Industries supplies large corporations, small businesses, government agencies, and individuals. Order size does not change the level of service you receive.

Yes, Reef Industries ships worldwide. Our export department has more than 30 years of experience handling international shipments and documentation.

Yes. Reef accepts Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

Contact us, because this comes up often and is usually straightforward to sort out. Reef Industries keeps copies of custom drawings for 10 years, so if the original order falls inside that window, we may already have what we need. If it does not, we can start from a new sketch or take measurements off the existing cover to reproduce it.

Reef Industries recommends replacement when a cover tears. A tear often means the material has reached the end of its service life in that application, or that the grade was not heavy enough for the conditions. If that is the case, we can recommend a product better matched to the exposure.