How to seal packages with tape. All the most effective techniques and methods
How can you seal packages with tape? This article is dedicated to those who need to seal boxes and packages with tape and be certain to have done a great job, to avoid jeopardizing their contents.
There are professionals who regularly carry out this activity, and every day they pack large and heavy boxes, often containing fragile products, creating real masterpieces of grip and stability.
Think, for example, of those who get boxes of bottles of fine wine ready to be sent off with a courier, those preparing boxes filled with delicate dishes or even glasses. In short, there are people working every day to close packages with double-sided tape in a highly effective way.
And then there are those who, instead, come across this activity only occasionally. Those who occasionally sell something on a second-hand marketplace online: a pair of shoes, an old collection of beer mugs, an old notebook, and so on.
There are also people preparing to move, and who are therefore emptying cabinets, shelves, and cellars of everything they own to put it inside dozens of boxes, which will have to be closed to perfection to deal with short or long trips safely.
How can you seal these packages with tape, then? Let’s have a look at where to start.
Choosing the right packaging tape
First, if you want to seal boxes in a durable and safe way, you must choose the right packaging tape. As you can discover with just a few clicks inside our online store, the category dedicated to double-sided adhesive tape for sealing packages is very wide and is populated by the most disparate types of tape.
Obviously, measurements vary, as does as the length of the tape (around 50 to 130 m or 164 to 426.5 ft, on average) and its width (from 15 to 50 mm, or 0.5 to 2.1 in). Not to mention the colours and materials used. And it is the latter that directly affects the grip of an adhesive tapes.
For example, there is polypropylene tape, the most common kind, but there are also PVC adhesive tape rolls, as well as paper ones. Do not forget the various models of strong double-sided adhesive tape meant for ecological sealing, designed for those who want to create packaging in a sustainable way, minimizing their environmental impact. Then the types of glue vary, which can be more or less strong each time.
In any case, different packaging tape rolls are designed to meet the most disparate needs. You might wish for silent adhesive tape, or you might easily use noisy one.
There are those who need to use super powerful tapes, with very high adhesive power, and those who must instead opt for very resistant tapes, such as those reinforced by internal textures. Those who want to guarantee maximum safety to the customer can then also use anti-burglary tapes, which then leave a clear print on the cardboard once detached.
Should you use a dispenser or not?
Those who regularly seal packages, or who have to seal several packages in a row for a move, will certainly do well to equip themselves with a dispenser, that is, a tool designed to make the application of tape faster and more effective.
The mechanism is simple: this tool makes it possible for you to apply adhesive tape using only one hand, without the need for scissors; just place the dispenser on the box, press and pull the right side, then at the end tilt the dispenser to cut the tape with the special blade. Simple and effective!
How to seal packages with tape
So, let’s see how to seal packages with industrial double-sided tape effectively and quickly. The complexity of the sealing pattern and the amount of adhesive tape to be used obviously depend on the type of box, its weight, and the stress which it will need to withstand (will it be transferred many times to different places, or will it simply be set aside? How long before it will be opened?).
That said, it is best to keep in mind that packages should always be sealed on both sides with industrial double-sided tape, and always after being completely filled up (to avoid deformation).
The simplest seal, for boxes of medium size and small weight, which will not face particularly difficult trips, is the one which only involves the use of two pieces of adhesive tape, both rather long.
Experts in the field call it C or U seal (depending on the point of view). All you need to do is start a strip of tape on the side of the box, pass it on the upper side to seal the two wings, and finish the journey on the other side, forming a U. The same must also be done on the other side.
In the case of heavier parcels, instead, you should proceed with the H seal, which has 4-sided reinforcement, to be applied on the edges. Looking at the lower side (just like the upper one) of the box, you will be able to see an “H” pattern of adhesive tape.
