I will tell you something. This is really pretty boring. By the way, it is not. Masking tape, I know what you are thinking, Tim, masking tapes, masking tape. Well, up until about six years ago, I would have agreed with you. You would have been right. But now, it is completely different.
What manufacturers discovered is that one masking tape cannot do all things. Because now, we have got all kinds, any things we deal with, for example, full painting, or maybe you are putting two different colors on a room just hours apart, and you cannot use a traditional masking tape. It is too sticky. I mean, it will just pull the paint right off the walls. So now, we have got all different types of tapes.
What is the difference? Traditional masking tape, the adhesive bottom is actually made from rubber, and it is very sticky. It is typically got a solvent base to it. And what happens is that sunlight actually activates it, and if you leave masking tape traditional stuff on a surface for too long, you cannot get it off. That is the problem.
So what manufacturers did, they came up with new tapes. They are made with different adhesives. They are light-weight; very gentle acrylic or water-based adhesives. You can actually put them on very delicate surfaces, and they will peel off without harming them. But they still also have time bombs. Some of these tapes can only be left on surfaces for so many days. And how do you know which that is? Simple, look at the label frequently on the inside roll of the tape. It will tell you what the tapes to be used for, and how long the tape could stay the surface?
Here is a really unique tape. This one is actually a masking tape, but it is a ruler at the same time. It has got that really friendly acrylic adhesive on the back, so that you can peel it off without damaging the surface. You might use this incase you are creating vertical paint stripes in a room, and you want to make sure that the width of the stripes is the same. So, you put a strip with this top and bottom, and use it to chalk your lines and make your marks really a good idea.
I really like this measuring masking tape. I am Tim Carter on tape, for AskTheBuilder. If you want to discover more home-improvement tips, go to AskTheBuilder.com.
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