Construction Materials-Success with Construction Tapes

This post originally appeared in the August/September 2022 issue of Fine Homebuilding Magazine.  Choosing the Right Construction Tape for the Job – Fine Homebuilding

Walk through any modern construction project and you’re bound to see construction tape somewhere on the site.  Whether it’s taping the seams of a mechanically attached water resistive barrier (WRB), flashing a window or door opening, or making sure an air barrier is continuous, tapes have become a key part of many assemblies.  Mostly, we use tapes for two purposes, to keep something in, like the air we pay to condition, or keep something out, like water.  It’s important to use the right product for the right application.

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Construction Materials-Tape Test-Part 3

This is the final post on this round of construction tape testing.  As you might recall, the first tape test post was about cold temperature application of the tapes, and then trying to remove the tapes off various substrates while remaining cold.  (See the first tape test post here.)  Some performed better than others, but none had the tack of the second round of testing which was performed on plywood at room temperatures.  (See that post here.)   This final round of testing came about because I still had a question.  Will the tape bond increase if the tape is applied at cold temperatures and then warmed, much like a normal construction application might experience?

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