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Revised question- Since duct tape cannot be legally used for fixing duct (in many places), and the quality (in general) of tape for making repairs is not as good as alternative methods, duct tape seems to have been relegated to emergency use only.

Duct tape has the benefit of being useful for temporarily fixing almost anything, but are there any uses where duct tape is the most suitable material for long term repair? Can anyone offer an example of where duct tape is the best choice or the permanent solution for a home improvement (the rationale may be required)?

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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Ben Welborn
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    Too general to be a good SE question, I'm afraid. Voting to close. – keshlam May 19 '16 at 12:45
  • Metallic foil tape should be used to seal duct joints. Environmental Energy Division concluded that you should never use Duct tape to seal ducts. Their tests showed that under typical duct conditions, duct tape becomes brittle and will fail quickly. Duct tape also can catch on fire or just smolder and produce toxic smoke. Because of this, it’s usage on ducts has been prohibited by the state of California as well as in building codes in most of the U.S. - Source: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/02/duct-tape-was-originally-named-duck-tape-and-came-in-green-not-silver/ – Ben Welborn May 19 '16 at 15:01
  • @Ben Welborn, just to add to the discussion, to say "duct tape" is prohibited for ducts is utterly false. Any tape approved for use on ducting regardless of name or composition, becomes "duct tape". If you were to say "lame cloth reinforced tape from the "big-box" is prohibited", or "Duck Tape" is prohibited, OK. But there are many UL approved duct tapes legal to use in Cal. – Jimmy Fix-it May 20 '16 at 01:21
  • http://www.shurtape.com/resources/article/make-every-job-code-compliant-dc-181-shurtape%C2%AE – Jimmy Fix-it May 20 '16 at 01:21

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Yes this question should be closed, but in the meantime, the quite-serious answer is: don't use Duc[k][t] tape for anything. Ever. It's only partially a joke that the only thing duck tape sticks to is itself. It ages very fast, with the cloth backing falling off and only a difficult-to-remove dried layer of goo remaining on whatever you thought was being held together.

Basically, duck tape is useful for very short-term emergency use only.

(For those who care, the original name was "duck," not "duct," as it was named for the class of sailcloth used to manufacture the tape.)

Edit: Johnson&Johnson's own history page says the original duck tape used duck cloth.

Carl Witthoft
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  • I agree about emergency usage... but I thought this would be of interest to many people. Do you think that I should change the title to why shouldn't I use duct tape? – Ben Welborn May 19 '16 at 13:05
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    Google Answers says: Duct tape was originally invented by Johnson & Johnson's Permacel division during WWII for the military. The military specifically needed a waterproof tape that could be used to keep moisture out of ammunition cases. I don't think that the sail cloth answer is correct. – Ben Welborn May 19 '16 at 13:20
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    Excuse me, I misunderstood... and also wanted to clarify: the history page says, "The tape was originally called duck tape, for its water-repelling properties. (Duck…water…get it?) And, as the story goes, the fabric used to make the tape was called cotton duck." – Ben Welborn May 19 '16 at 14:57
  • @BenWelborn I agree with your title edit proposal. Done. – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 19 '16 at 20:08
  • Alas dear @Harper, the question is dead! – Ben Welborn May 19 '16 at 20:26
  • I enjoyed some of the comments on duct tape. and feel it is still important to have out there, Many I did not know, one was duct tape is not allowed on ducts. –  May 26 '19 at 12:48