Guy at a supply house in Cleveland showed me something about seam tape I still think about

I was picking up some glue at a distributor in Cleveland maybe 6 years ago and this old installer, must have been 70, was telling me about how he used to have to heat his seam tape with a iron on job sites. He said he'd spend 20 minutes per seam just getting it to stick right back in the 80s. Does anyone else feel like we take stuff like pre-glued tapes for granted now?

2 comments

2 Comments

mary_kelly1d ago

Thing is, those old tapes actually had better adhesion once you got them hot enough. I've had pre-glued tape fail on me in cold weather more times than I can count. You gotta remember, that installer was working with materials that were meant to be heat activated, so the bond was chemical, not just sticky. The convenience of modern tape is great until you realize it's basically just fancy duct tape with a different backing. If I'm doing a serious job, I still keep a heat gun handy for the tricky spots.

casey8431d ago

Ain't that the truth though? I had a roll of that pre-glued stuff from the 90s that I found in my dad's old toolbox, and it still stuck like crazy after a quick hit with a hair dryer. Meanwhile, I just used a brand new roll of modern tape on a window seal last week and it peeled off by morning. You're right about the heat thing too... it's like the old stuff knew what it was supposed to do when you gave it a little warmth. Modern tape just feels lazy in comparison, like it expects you to do all the work.