Appreciation post: That old-timer who showed me how to seam tape right

Last month I was fighting with a seam in a high-traffic hallway in Denver and this retired installer walked past, laughed, and showed me to heat the tape from underneath before pressing. Three years ago I would have done two patch jobs on that same spot, now it's holding clean.

3 comments

3 Comments

dylanward1mo ago

Bought an old roll of duct tape at a garage sale once and it peeled right off the floor after a month, never trusting that stuff again.

wren_rodriguez1mo ago

Yeah but I mean... it was garage sale duct tape, you know? That stuff could have been sitting in a hot shed for like 15 years before you bought it. Honestly that's on you for expecting top performance from mystery tape. Also, duct tape isn't really meant to stay stuck forever anyway, it's more of a temporary fix kind of thing. Idk, maybe I'm just not that pressed about it.

rayc381mo ago

The part about duct tape not being meant for long term is actually not quite true. Real duct tape, the good stuff with the cloth backing and rubber adhesive, was originally made during WWII to seal ammo cans and keep moisture out. It stuck to everything and stayed stuck. The problem is what they sell as "duct tape" these days is often cheap plastic tape with weak glue. The garage sale roll you got was probably that kind. If you find the real 3M stuff or the actual professional grade tape, it'll hold for years until the sun and heat break down the adhesive.