Tapes

There is a wide range of tapes, with many different uses. Most are self adhesive and pressure activated, but there also exist water activated tape, heat activated tapes and tapes with no adhesive at all.

Tapes

Insulating Tape

• PVC
• Electrical insulation
• Available in various colours
• Often misused
• Can sometimes fall off in time
• PVC tapes also exist that aren't intended for electrical insulation

Building Tape

• Fairly tough, easy rip general purpose tape
• Peelable
• For bundling materials
• Masking (but several times the price of paper masking tape)

Masking Tape

• Peelable flexible crepe paper tape
• Available in various widths
• Easily removed if not left on long.
• Masking tape is best removed within a day or 2
• Leave it a week or more and it can fail to be removable.
• Longer open time tapes are also available
• Outdoor duty masking tape also available
• Used to reduce chipping of laminate edges during sawing. Apply tape across the cut line.
• Masking woes & solutions
• Modern masking tape was invented in 1925, enabling clean paint lines.

Masking Roll

• Wide paper or polythene with peelable adhesive strip along one edge of one side
• Used similarly to masking tape, but giving much wider protection.
• Different widths available

Carpet Mask

• Giant plastic masking tape
• Sometimes applied to carpets, furniture etc during decoration

Cellophane Tape

• Eg Sellotape, Scotch tape, etc
• Very low cost, light duty, limited life
• All the adhesive tape defects in one tape type:
  • low strength.
  • adhesive fails in time
  • adhesive fails if wet
  • adhesive creeps & fails if heated
  • adhesive not peelable
  • old adhesive permanently marks the workpiece
  • tape goes brittle in time
  • tape discolours
  • tape vulnerable to UV
  • tape often shreds during use
• Sometimes useful to hold things temporarily while you fix them permanently.
• Sometimes used as a temporary fix if nothing else is to hand
• Cellulose tape with clear adhesive was invented in 1930, and proved an unexpected hit in the depression, with people using it to repair a wide range of items.

Duct Tape

• Tough cloth reinforced tape for most jobs
• Tearable by hand
• also called duck tape
• Not recommended for ducting, as ducting conditions cause premature failure
• Most popular tape for kidnap, abduction, armed robbery etc
• Reminding employees of that can be counterproductive

Foil Tape

• self adhesive aluminium tape
• For ductwork & HVAC

Window Foil

• Narrow conductive window tape, detects broken glass.
• Self adhesive aluminium tape around 1/4" wide
• Mostly superceded by PIR and ultrasonic glass break detectors.
• Window foil has a mix of advantages and disadvantages compared to its now more popular alternatives.

Amalgamating Tape

• Tape sticks permanently to itself.
• Temporary repairs to pipes & hoses
• Insulation tape substitute, especially where the tape must not fall off in time
• Waterproof
• Insulating
• Stretch it during application to ensure it bonds together

Friction Tape

2 types exist...

Obsolete electrical insulating tape

• Rubberised cloth insulating tape with very poor adhesion
• slightly tacky on both sides.

Grip enhancing tape:

• Modern friction tape has an effective adhesive on one side only
• Used to enhance grip on handles, especially of sports equipment

Wall Repair Tape

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• Crack repair tape
• Ultrathin cloth with tapered edge
• Put it over the crack & paint. Very quick, & hardly noticeable
• The painted tape has a non-smooth surface, so will soil faster than the surrounding flat smooth wall
• Its therefore a bit of a bodge.

Clear Waterproof Tape

• Repairs to plastic cracks.
• To repair plastics, align the plastic very accurately and apply tape to both sides of the crack. This prevents the break flexing and separating. The broken edges need to be aligned perfectly for this to work effectively. If done correctly with a tough tape, there will be no extra flexibility at the crack, and good usability is restored.
• Can be used as glass crack repair where the lost strength is acceptable, eg for some greenhouse glazing

Paper Tape

• Use to reinforce wet plaster on plasterboard joints
• Tape over ceiling plasterboard joints before painting for a cut price no-filler job.
• Can be used with wallpaper paste

Gummed Paper Tape

• Water activated, and sticks on drying
• Not often used in DIY now
• Formerly used as a peelable tape, the paper must be soaked to release the glue.

Corner Bead Tape

• Flexible paper tape

Plasterboard Joint Tape

• An open mesh tape applied to joints before filling.
• Reduces cracking & prevents cracked filler falling out

Hazard Tape

• Black/yellow & red/white striped tapes used to draw attention to hazards.
• Used to mark out machinery areas on factory floors
• PVC

Barrier Tape

• Non-adhesive tape used to cordon off hazardous areas
• Strung between fencing pins, traffic cones or fence posts
• Available in orange, red & white, black & yellow

PTFE Tape

• Slippery non-stick conformal tape used to seal plumbing joints
• Suitable for gas, water, oil, etc
• Suitable for high pressure gas as well
• White is used for water but not approved for gas
• PTFE on yellow reels is approved for gaswork
• Yellow reel PTFE is thicker than white
• PTFE is a relatively inert material, making it suitable for use with a wide range of chemicals.

Marine Grade Tapes

Various different tapes come under this heading, but all are designed to be reliable in a harsh environment, and equivalent marine products have much longer life on land than products designed for land use.

They also come with much higher price tags, but where durability and reliability are important, marine grade adhesives are an excellent choice. Don't be surprised to see price tags starting at tens of pounds per roll, rising to over £100.

Parcel Tape

• Stronger, thicker and stickier than cellophane tape
• Packaging
• Parcel tape brands vary a lot in strength & adhesion
• Use as a better quality replacement for sellotape
• Repairs plastic items - see Repair plastics
• Cleans animal hair off sofas, chairs, clothes, & items to be painted
• Preprinted parcel tapes are available with phrases such as 'fragile' 'security seal' and so on.
• Printed parcel tapes are available to order with any (legal) phrase or picture on
• Dry wipe whiteboard pens may be used on parcel tape for an effective dry wipe shelf marking system.

Tack Roll

• Cleans clothes & upholstery of hairs & loose dirt
• Around 4" wide
• Used on a handle
• More effective & quicker than parcel tape
• More effective than silicone tack rollers at hair removal
• Widely used in the clothing industry.

Double Sided Tape

• Available in several types...

Foam

• Foam layer takes up gaps between uneven surfaces
• Light duty

Film

File:Ds tape film 2834-2.jpg

• Light duty
• Thin, no gap filling property

Cloth

• Heavy duty, for carpet

Marine

Some seriously heavy duty marine grade double sided tapes exist. The toughest contain 2 adhesives. A weak repositionable adhesive allows correct positioning, then when pressed hard the microbeads release adhesive tough enough to be used on the exterior of a supersonic aeroplane.

Video Tape

• Used to record security cameras
• Correct video formats should be used to avoid legal issues if used as evidence
• Digital evidence is now allowed in court cases

Anti-slip Tape

2 distinct types exist...

Rough Surface

• Coarse rough surface to prevent slip
• Used on stairs & other fall hazard areas
• This practice has been criticised for causing stair falls

Rubberised String

• Foam rubber coated string mesh
• Stick to underside of rugs etc to reduce slip risk

Lane Marking Tape

• 2" Coloured PVC tapes
• Available in various colours
• Can be used for colour coding areas on large business premises

Hook & Loop Tape

• Aka velcro
• Removable reusable fixing
• Holds items to walls, dashboard etc
• Sometimes used in clothing & footwear

Banding Tape

• High longitudinal strength tape
• For banding, packaging & bundling.

Carpet Tape

• Tough tacky cloth tape
• Double sided
• For laying carpets without underlay
• Single sided carpet tape is used for carpet jointing. Its applied then ironed no
• Removable (peelable) double sided carpet tapes are available for rugs etc.

Pipe Repair Tape

• Tapes especially designed for temporary plumbing repairs, featuring near zero stretchability and high strength adhesion.
• 2 part tape packs are available

Flashing Tape

• Self adhesive roof flashing tape
• aluminium
• Life expectancy far below that of lead flashing

Flexible Weatherproof Tape

• Weatherproof
• Remains flexible

Filament Tape

• Contains long glass fibres for very high longitudinal strength
• Used for packaging large & heavy items

High Bond Tape

• High adhesion long life tape

Melamine Edging Tape

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• Edging for melamine laminated chipboard sheet
• Available in white, brown and sometimes other colours
• Available in different widths
• Heat activated
• Iron it on to bond it in place.
• Trim carefully with a knife after ironing

Draught Excluder

• Self adhesive foam tape draught excluders are a very low cost way to save money & energy
• Draughtproofing tends to increase RH
• Budget types deteriorate fairly quickly
• Longer life foam tapes such as EPDM are higher priced

Glazing Tape

• For fitting glass to plastic frames
• Increases security of externally glazed plastic windows
• Very resilient adhesive

Closure Plate Tape

• Approved for gas work

Ridge vent Tape

• Wide finely corrugated aluminium tape
• Fits under ridge tiles providing ventilation

Breather Tape

• Used to seal ends of multilayer polycarbonate roofing sheet
• Ultrafine mesh tape
• Allows water vapour dispersal
• Keeps out insects
• Keeps out most dirt

Warning Tape

• Non-adhesive tapes with safety warnings printed on them
• Used over underground services such as electricity wires & gas pipes.
• Best fitted a short distance above the service to be protected, as tools are likely to go below the level of the tape before it is seen & read.

Fish Tape

• Flat spring steel tape for threading cable through inaccessible spaces
• Aka draw wire

Measuring Tapes

• Available in metal, cloth and fibreglass
• Metal tapes are accurate but can fracture
• Fibreglass is more durable, but less acurate due to very slight stretch
• cloth tapes are the least accurate, and are primarily used for tailoring
• Self retracting and open frame tapes available.

Dry Wipe tape

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• Adhesive tape used like a whiteboard surface
• For labelling shelves, containers etc
• Parcel tape makes an inferior substitute

Tapeworm

• This is one type of tape you don't want.
• Wash your hands at lunch time.

See Also

• Wiki Contents
• Wiki Subject Categories
• Fixings