We all know the miraculous DIY powers of duct tape. With an adhesive designed to stick to a variety of surfaces, duct tape also includes a waterproofed backing that can withstand moisture. Oh, and that layer of cloth that lies between the adhesive and the backing reinforces the tape’s tensile strength while also making it easy to tear by hand. In short, this well-known, gray-hued tape is one those quiet engineering marvels that runs the world.
Now, new research suggests that duct tape could even save your home in a low-depth flood.
On June 25th, 2007, English city Kingston upon Hull, located southeast of York, received 10 inches of rain in just a few hours. Within a day, a month’s worth of rain inundated the region, overwhelming the city’s pump-only drainage system. Some 10,000 properties were damaged, including every one of the region’s 98 schools, so it’s only fitting that, nearly 20 years later, scientists at the University of Hull found a cheap solution to prevent future damage as flooding becomes more and more of a concern in an era of climate change.
“For decades, sandbags have been portrayed as the go-to emergency response to flooding. But sandbags have practical limitations,” University of Hull’s Stuart McLelland, who worked on the study as part of the U.K. government’s FloodReady Review that called for practical flood prevention, writes for The Conversation. “They are heavy to transport, labour-intensive to deploy and difficult to dispose of after contact with contaminated floodwater. And of course people don’t keep a supply of sandbags ready to deploy.”
Duct tape, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite: It’s light, affordable, and likely sitting in your junk drawer right now. Similar to the floods that impacted the area two decades ago, the researchers focused on low-depth flooding with a maximum water level of roughly two feet. Testing sandbags (including synthetic versions) and various types of tape, including duct tape, aluminum tape, and flexible synthetic rubber, the researchers attached the materials to gaps around six doors made from commonly used materials (they also tested in-swing and out-swing doors). While flexible synthetic rubber performed the best by reducing water leakage by an incredible 99 percent, duct tape came in a close second at an impressive 97 to 98 percent. Sandbags, on the other hand, were outperformed by even the least effective taping strategy and provided only 70 percent leakage protection.
“Its effectiveness will depend on the condition of the door and frame, the surfaces to which the tape is applied, the quality of the seal and flood conditions,” McLelland writes. “For properties at significant flood risk, professionally assessed protection remains important.”
Of course, this protection only applies to low-depth flooding. For torrential disasters that have residents fleeing to their roofs for rescue, water leaking through the front door is the least of your worries. Intense floods will cause immense pressure on brickwork and masonry while water speeds through windowsills and drainage pipes.
Sandbags serve purposes beyond blocking a doorframe—they can also reinforce structures that redirect floodwater entirely. Still, as research from the University of Hull suggests, the cheapest and most easily deployed defense against an unexpected downpour may be the tried-and-true adhesive that’s served DIYers for decades: good old duct tape.
Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.