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The directions say to clean off the belly board before applying the tape. What should I clean it with? Oh, and how long should I hold the hair dryer on it? Thanks.

Hi Pat,

I would just clean it off with a dry rag and maybe one quick hit with a slightly damp rag. You want to remove any dust and dirt so the tape will stick well. With the poly type belly board you may need to heat a section for 10-20 seconds. You can pick at the edge of the tape to be sure it stuck well. On the black fibered type board, you may have to heat it quite a bit longer. I found that the Flex-mend did not stick to that stuff very well. I used Flex-mend for a little while, but was not all that pleased with the stuff. I use Sta-put or the heavy duty 3-M adhesive spray or mechanical fasteners. I will use strips of paneling (used when I have some) and roll the vapor barrier material edges with it and then fasten that to the joists.

Hope this helps,

JD

Ut oh. I think I may have the black board kind. It's not really a board though. More like a heavy paper with strings in it. Well, I tried it out tonight anyway. I wiped it off good with a dry rag but didn't even try a wet rag because it doesn't seem like a real good idea to get it wet at all. Used some spray glue as well as holding the hair dryer on there a good long while and smoothing it out and rubbing the edges. It seems to be stuck pretty good so I hope it will last. Can you tell from these pictures if I have what you are calling the "black" board? What are mechanical fasteners?

This is not the "buffalo board" black fibered board I was referring to. You are right, it is an asphalt impregnated paper with a polyester scrim. I use the spray adhesive on this type of material. We used to get this material years ago. It came in 13' long rolls about 24" - 30" diameter. Weighs a "ton" (not literally) on the roll. We had to make special rolling boxes to handle it in the shop.

JD