There was a thread earlier this year about duct tape recommendations. In it, various brands of duct and gaffer's tape were mentioned.

But for use purely for sealing up the vents and windows during a shelter in place situation--hazmat from nearby train tracks, maybe just to keep smoke out from a wildfire, heaven forbid, a dirty bomb--is there any reason not to use painters-grade masking tape (aka painters tape)? Like gaffer's tape, it will peel off cleanly.

I ask because I just moved a box in my closet that had some duct tape on it that accidentally stuck to the wall sometime in the past. When I moved the box, it took some paint off. That's not the best thing when you rent a place.

I suppose, like gaffer's tape, there's an issue with long-term storage, though. I have a couple rolls of really dry masking tape somewhere around here.

Thoughts?

I am truthfully not trying to answer in a smart-alecky way, but if…

“hazmat from nearby train tracks, maybe just to keep smoke out from a wildfire, heaven forbid, a dirty bomb”

Are you really that worried if…

“it took some paint off. That's not the best thing when you rent a place”

Pete

OK, OK, you got me. Let's just call this a "mental exercise", shall we?

All right, people, dazzle me with your brilliant knowledge of tapes! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

All of the instructions I've read suggest "duct or masking tape." No preference is stated. Additionally, some also suggest using wet towels if no tape is available -- if you're not at your home or office with your precut plastic sheets and tape (although where you'll get wet towels is left as an exercise for the reader).

I don't think there's anything magic about duct tape; just be sure that whatever you use holds aggressively.

Coincidentally, I'm in mid-paint job as we speak, and using 3M Scotch-Blue Painter's Tape for Multi-Surfaces #2090, 1-in. wide.

My knee-jerk thought was that its easy-release feature would render it unsuitable for your intended use. But, grabbed my roll, and taped 6-ft. of plastic drop cloth vertically to door trim. Actually seems to hold OK. The 2-in. wide version would, of course, give you more grab.

Note that this particular version says "medium adhesion; 14-day removal; don't use on lacquer, wallpaper or unpainted wallboard." They make, as you may know, a version for delicate surfaces – less adhesion and 60-day removal. I've used it, but didn't like it. Adhesion was too delicate.

I'm not trying to be snotty, either, but I just don't get this plastic sheeting and duct tape idea at all.

I know it's for self-protection, but.... isn't sealing up a room with some breathing people inside it kind of counter-productive? It's supposed to be for 3 days, right? So, what happens when all the oxygen is used up & you're trying to live on carbon dioxide?

It just seems like some government-nitwit-inspired idea to me.

If I'm missing something here, I would certainly like someone to point it out and explain the benefits. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Sue

Well, some things could blow through quickly with the prevailing winds. A one-time discharge of chlorine gas from a plant, for example. But for something like the fallout from a dirty bomb--well, the masking tape would definitely get dry by the time it's totally safe to go outside again. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Sue-

Government forgot to mention, you need to install one of these NBC filters: "...provides 48 cubic meters per hour of safe, breathable air...keep up to 8 adults alive in the event of a Nuclear, Biological or Chemical event...features an automatic switching power supply that will trickle charge a user-supplied deep cycle battery and then automatically switch to drawing power from the battery if the power grid goes down."

I use painters tape all the time as my work remodeling my house never seems to end. Most painters tape says it comes off cleanly after 2,3, 4 whatever days. My problem is I left it on some projects for weeks and it left a very sticky residue and took some paint off.

If you have a place for it go to a welding shop, and get a bottle or two of oxygen. Cracking the valve open in a sealed room provides breatheable air, and produce a postive pressure interior to keep outside things form coming in.

I think the idea is that you make it dust-tight rather than air-tight. It would be quite hard to make a room so air-tight that you suffocated.

It probably doesn't need to be completely dust-tight, either. With radioactivity, more exposure is worse, and any reduction can help. A biological attack would be another matter.

Usually what gets you is not absence of oxygen but presence of carbon dioxide. Positive-pressure is a good thing, though, if you can keep it up.

I hope you are not going to startup your mini stove or light a candle in an oxygen rich environment. You probably won't have to worry much about the emergency after the explosion.

Another home filtration system is from Radius Defense at http://www.bombshelters.com/ . I don't have any connection with them, except to drool over their stuff, which has a reputation for being the best-engineered blast/fallout shelters.

As an aside, here is a link to a 2001 CBS News piece on the increased popularity of emergency shelters in general: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/12/08/archive/main320577.shtml

Steve

This is a good point. I have MRE's, and Chemlights for this setup. I should have mentioned that. NO FLAMES, FIRES, OR ANY OTHER SOURCE OF IGNITION UNDER THESE CONDITIONS!!!

I believe the idea of using duct tape, is it was designed (as it's name suggests) to seal air leaks in duct joints. Masking tape does not have the strength nor adhesion required to do that. Of course in an emergency grab whatever you can find. Another thing with duct tape is it's versitility. I have even used it as a fan belt on my truck to get back out of the woods. It can lay around almost forever and still be somewhat usable--other tapes such as masking tend to dry out and become unusable. I keep several types of tape handy and usually try to use the one designed for the job but if I was limited to only one to perform for all, I would choose the duct tape. Just an opinion for what it's worth.

Part of the problem is a misunderstanding of the duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal up a room. Yes you can seal it up well enough to die by using up the air inside and that is how the design is suppose to seal a room.

The errors come from the idea is this is for all situations. The original design was for shelter rooms in case of chemical attacks nothing else. The idea is that most military chemical attacks do not use what are called presistant agents. That means that they disipate in a short [a couple of hours] so your own troops can move in without the need of protection gear. The idea originated and has been most used in Israel speially during the gulf war.

The idea is for short term duration and being cheap enough for large masses of people. Even something like a dirty bomb it can allow the majority of the contamination to settle. Then you can would have time [such as an attack in the middle of the night] to don protective gear, plan an escape route out of the effected area. and then exicute it as quickly as possable. Thus minimizing exposure. The time such a shelter would provide will allow a more controlled and efficent escape over a grab and run situation.