I've EDCd a flat roll of duct tape for some months and liked it. However, recently it went... stale. It just refused to stick. Now, this has never happened to me before and I was very baffled. Does DT come with an expiration date??? Was it the humidity? I live in a hot climate and carried the roll in my change pocket. Is it the fact it was flattened out and somehow strained itself? This is very unfortunate, as by now I've gotten quite used to the utility.


P.S. I should note that the roll was very old even before it got my attention.

I've certainly seen duct tape applied to an object dry out and fall off after a few years. I think being kept on a roll can slow that down, since I haven't seen it happen to a roll. Maybe re-rolling into a flat roll provided more surface area for it to dry out?

Oh, I haven't re-rolled it. There was about half the initial roll remaining, so I just removed the inner ring, flattened it out and inserted it into my change pocket. The tape was pristine, so to speak.

I have seen 10-year old duct tape work fine, I have some here that’s that old.

I would guess that outside influences were the culprit in it going bad more then it’s age.

Heat, humidity, oxidation, they all mess with most adhesives. The duct is dead, long live the duct.

Just a thought: there's also a lot of lousy duct tape out there. Doesn't stick, doesn't stay, doesn't last, doesn't work. I've been "unstuck" a couple of times by bargains that weren't.

Duct tape uses a rubber compound as adhesive. This rubber is vulnerable to everything that attacks or weakens rubber. Heat, UV light, ozone, normal atmospheric oxygen and petroleum vapors destroy the adhesive. This is one of the reasons why one thing you never use duct tape on are ducts. When the heat kicks on it isn't long before it starts falling off. It is also why even in ideal storage situations it degrades in time.

All duct tape degrades with time. Good contractor and military grade duct tape degrades more slowly for any set level of abuse during storage. Cheaper stuff goes south much faster. The cheapest discount store stuff, that has been on the shelf for years, may be useless right out of the wrapper even if stored under ideal conditions.

The ideal storage conditions are cool, dry, away from strong light, heat, chemicals and their vapors and well away from electrical gear, like motors, that can create ozone. But even under ideal conditions high quality duct tape will deteriorate in time. Stocks need to be rotated and either used up while it still works or discarded.

I agree with Art..

You need to rotate/discard adhesive supplies at least annually. It's not just duct tape that loses adhesiveness either. First aid supplies are very succeptible as well. Especially those over a few years old that have been exposed to large temp/humidity changes ( like ones in cars/boats/ and aircraft ).

Half a roll, inner ring removed, will fit into your "change pocket"? You must have a big change pocket, 'cuz none of the rolls of duct tape I have would fit into a cargo pocket without overflowing it. Is yours a "standard" sized roll of duct tape, or something else???

"none of the rolls of duct tape I have would fit into a cargo pocket without overflowing it. Is yours a "standard" sized roll of duct tape, or something else?"

Some places sell duct tape in rolls about 3" across. I think those are the ones he means. The colored kind often comes in that size. The colored ones I've tried didn't have the good adhesive, maybe they were Scotch brand, but I'm not sure, as I tossed them all.

Sue