I used to just slap duct tape on anything without thinking... now I actually prep the surface first

3 comments

3 Comments

Lol yeah I feel that so hard. I used to be that guy who just ripped off a piece of tape and stuck it on whatever without even wiping the dust off first. Then I'd get mad when it peeled off after a week. Total facepalm moment when I learned that cleaning with alcohol first makes it actually stick. Now I always rough up the surface a bit with sandpaper if I'm patching something serious. Makes a world of difference, honestly feels like cheating.

logan_mitchell1mo agoTop Commenter

Hold on, I gotta push back on this a little. All that sanding and cleaning just adds extra steps when half the time a good wrap of tape is gonna hold just fine on its own. I've got a shelf in my garage that's been held together with plain old duct tape for three years now, never wiped a thing. If you prep too much you're basically turning a quick fix into a whole project and that defeats the purpose of using tape in the first place. Plus roughing up the surface can damage whatever you're trying to patch, especially if it's plastic or painted. Sometimes you just gotta slap it on and move on with your day.

leo_black761mo ago

Yeah but that shelf is in a garage. Try that on something that sees actual use and you're gonna be picking tape off the floor in a week.