What Gaff Tape Doesn’t Stick To

Before classes started, I worked a couple shifts for Cornell Productions, helping to set up sound equipment for orientation events. This, as usual, involved gaffing (taping) down wires in any areas that people would be walking through. During HEC weekend, I gaffed wires to wood, carpet, metal, and tile. We taped across floors, under tables, along moldings, and up doorframes into the ceiling. Throughout all this time, we had no trouble getting the wires to stay, because that’s what gaff tape does: it adheres to pretty much anything.

But not everything. On a Monday morning, I worked the load in shift for an outdoor event. We loaded up the truck, drove to the location, and had to haul all the equipment from the parking lot to the event location, which involved stairs. When moving heavy objects, stairs are an unwelcome sight. Very unwelcome. We managed it, however, and got to work. After all the wires had been laid out, I got the job of gaffing them down. Since we were outside, I ended up taping the wires down over concrete or stone. Guess what? Gaff tape sticks just fine to rock-like materials. Not as well as to carpet or tile, but it did passably well.

The next day, I worked an even earlier shift. Once again, we loaded up the truck, and drove to the location, this time Barton Hall. Barton, besides being the site of most large courses’ finals and the former home of the Big Red Bands, is popular for concerts and receptions because of its size. It also has an indoor track. The significance of this will become apparent.

We moved everything off the truck and into Barton, where we eventually got our instructions for setting up the speakers. We ran wiring across the floor to the outlets along the edge of the room. Then, as we were taping the wires down, I made my discovery: gaff tape does not stick to whatever it is indoor tracks are made of.

Correction: it sticks about as well as cheap dollar store sticky notes stick to anything. Further correction: it sticks if you very forcibly press it down and maybe walk up and down it for awhile, but even then it needs a much higher ratio of tape on floor to tape on wire than most surfaces.

After my shift, which ended before people were waking up, I took the rest of the day off. It will probably be my last day off until fall break.