The adhesive on old rolls of masking tape can dry out over time, making the tape stick together and hard to unwind.
To rejuvenate the adhesive on old rolls of masking tape, put the roll of tape on a paper towel in a microwave oven and turn the microwave on for 10 seconds or so.
This will warm up the old adhesive and make it easy to unroll.
Watch this video to find out more.
Further Information
- Homeowner’s Guide to Tape (article)
- How to Get Clean Paint Lines with Painter’s Tape (video)
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Joe Truini: This roll of masking tape has given me trouble all day long, and it’s because it’s an older roll of tape.
I’m trying to save it—it cost almost $5.00 to buy originally—but every time I try to peel off a piece, you can see it’s coming off in strands. And it eventually is trying to get to where it’s wide again, and it just keeps tearing. So I think it’s because the adhesive is really old. There it is. Then I finally got to—look at all the tape I’ve wasted already—then it keeps ripping on me.
So I think what I’m going to do—this is a trick I’ve tried a couple of times, it works probably about half the time I’ve tried it, so I’m going to try it with this old roll—is putting it in a microwave oven for a few seconds to heat it up.
I put a piece of paper towel down just so I don’t get any adhesive on the glass tray. I’m going to give it 10 seconds. That’s all you need, depending on how old it is, so there you go. If it’s an older roll and the glue is really hard, you might want to give it a few more seconds.
But I’ve done this maybe four or five times; and it’s worked, like I said, maybe two or three times—about half the time. But it’s worth it, because like I said, this masking tape gets pretty expensive. It’s just warm enough. You can feel it. And now look at that. All it took was 10 seconds and this roll is like good as new.
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