Our friend Tony over PoundedThumb.net recently reviewed a batch of Scotch duct tape. Since I’m too lazy to duplicate his efforts, and it got cold outside here in San Diego (52 degrees. . . . brrrr), I’ll summarize his thoughts and testing here.
It turns out the days of strolling into your favorite home improvement store and simply grabbing a roll of duct tape are over. Scotch now has specialized tapes including No Residue, Extreme Hold, Heavy Duty All-Weather, Outdoor Painter’s Clean Removal, and, my personal favorite, Clear! Sometimes duct tape can look a little. . . how can I put this not delicately. . . . ghetto. Clear Scotch duct tape sounds like the ultimate stealth tape application. Ideal for when you don’t want your neighbors to know when you’ve stooped to using duct tape over some more permanent means of mechanical fastening.
Tony, not living in San Diego, apparently has had to contend with taping things in stuff called “snow” and “sub-zero” temperatures. He describes duct tape application environments I hope to never deal with: “This year, I used Extreme Hold to secure the cord to my garage floor and Transparent Tough tape to secure the extension cord to my siding and chimney exterior. Total install time – about 8 minutes. Two weeks after it went up, there’s 3 inches of snow on the ground, the temps have dipped down to the sub-zero level on a few nights and the tape is still holding.” Suffice it to say, if Scotch Tough duct tape can hold for 2 plus weeks in that environment, it would hold for at least 10 years here, when I do the unofficial San Diego vs. Cold Places time conversion.
So if you’re intrigued by special use duct tape, you can check out PoundedThumb.net’s full Scotch Tough Duct Tape review article directly. Scotch Tough Duct Tape is available for about $6-$10 at many Home Depots.
