Tried two different seam sealing methods back to back and one was clearly a waste of time

Last week I had a job in a bedroom where I needed to seal two seams. I used the old latex method on the first one and the hot melt tape on the second. The latex took forever to dry and left a sticky mess that kept picking up lint. The hot melt tape was done in about 90 seconds and looks invisible. Has anyone else had similar results switching from latex to tape?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew_chen6d ago

Had a buddy try the latex method on a camper roof seam and ended up with a gooey mess that took half the day to fix with tape afterwards. He swore off latex completely after that.

baker.simon6d ago

Did you let the latex dry completely between coats? I've been using latex for years and I think a lot of people rush it. You gotta do thin layers and give each one plenty of time to set up, like maybe a few hours depending on humidity. It's a pain waiting around but you get a way more flexible seal that moves with the wood or whatever you're sealing. Tape can look clean at first but I've seen it lift in hot attics or on rough surfaces where latex just bonds to everything. I'm not saying your tape job won't hold up, but don't count latex out just because you had one bad batch.