How long to leave a knock-off Command strip to test it?
March 16, 2025 7:17 AM Subscribe
My condo is held together largely with 3M command strips. But now given *gestures vaguely* I am not buying command strips. I bought some knock-offs on Temu. There are different versions and I bought some that say they're good for walls with latex paint (most say explicitly no painted walls). I have put one up in an invisible place in a closet wall painted with the same paint as the intended location. How long do I leave it there before pulling it off to see if the paint comes with it? 24 hours? 48 hours? A week?
Does it matter that there's no weight on it? There will be very little weight on the others, too, but a little is still more than one. Also, my heat pump is in the same room as the test strip, which means that room is usually warmer than the other rooms. Does that affect the validity of my test strip?
Does it matter that there's no weight on it? There will be very little weight on the others, too, but a little is still more than one. Also, my heat pump is in the same room as the test strip, which means that room is usually warmer than the other rooms. Does that affect the validity of my test strip?
Exactly--who knows what glue is in the knock-offs, and who knows how long it will hold and what weight. It may be exactly the same stuff as Command Strips, but...?
The apartments I maintained were occupied by elderly folks who kept their heat tropical in the winter. After the Strips were on a couple years, they were just welded to the walls, but the first year the glue was soft, and if you're going to hang a five pound picture, I'd use twenty pound Strip weight to be sure.
Let me give you my take as someone who was a building maintenance supervisor for 5 years. I dealt with trying to remove Command Strips that were on walls anywhere from 5 years to probably 1996 when they first came out, and they never come off the wall properly. They may pull off OK but there always seems to be a rough or shiny spot. Yes, you can clean the heck out of it, and it will eventually all come off, but it doesn't do the original paint any good. After new paint is applied, you can see a bit of a shadow behind it. I hated the stinkin' things and would rather deal with nails or pins. Pin holes are almost invisible, and pins can hold a surprising amount of weight. If you hang your picture with two nails a the top, one on either side, and then put two or three nails right under the bottom edge, it can support a goodly sized picture in a light frame. Nail holes can be patched and touched up with a small amount of paint you can match by taking a paint chip to the hardware store and are nearly invisible afterwards.
If you're tenant more than three years, the expectation is that the walls are going to painted when you leave. Expectations are fair and reasonable use will not be held against you if the place is clean and there's no damage. After three years, patching and touching up is fine. Just don't leave holes.
posted by BlueHorse at 1:31 PM on March 16 [3 favorites]
The apartments I maintained were occupied by elderly folks who kept their heat tropical in the winter. After the Strips were on a couple years, they were just welded to the walls, but the first year the glue was soft, and if you're going to hang a five pound picture, I'd use twenty pound Strip weight to be sure.
Let me give you my take as someone who was a building maintenance supervisor for 5 years. I dealt with trying to remove Command Strips that were on walls anywhere from 5 years to probably 1996 when they first came out, and they never come off the wall properly. They may pull off OK but there always seems to be a rough or shiny spot. Yes, you can clean the heck out of it, and it will eventually all come off, but it doesn't do the original paint any good. After new paint is applied, you can see a bit of a shadow behind it. I hated the stinkin' things and would rather deal with nails or pins. Pin holes are almost invisible, and pins can hold a surprising amount of weight. If you hang your picture with two nails a the top, one on either side, and then put two or three nails right under the bottom edge, it can support a goodly sized picture in a light frame. Nail holes can be patched and touched up with a small amount of paint you can match by taking a paint chip to the hardware store and are nearly invisible afterwards.
If you're tenant more than three years, the expectation is that the walls are going to painted when you leave. Expectations are fair and reasonable use will not be held against you if the place is clean and there's no damage. After three years, patching and touching up is fine. Just don't leave holes.
posted by BlueHorse at 1:31 PM on March 16 [3 favorites]
As someone who thrifts a lot of games, with goodwill price tags on them, some advice.
Hair Dryer.
Maybe some goo gone.
Pull diagonally, never straight, and very slowly... Very slowly.
I'm dealing with printed boxes, with paper overlays, but, go slow enough, at an angle, and it is usually a good outcome. Or, buy a can of paint and fix the bad spots. Have things failed and fallen?
posted by Windopaene at 1:50 PM on March 16
Hair Dryer.
Maybe some goo gone.
Pull diagonally, never straight, and very slowly... Very slowly.
I'm dealing with printed boxes, with paper overlays, but, go slow enough, at an angle, and it is usually a good outcome. Or, buy a can of paint and fix the bad spots. Have things failed and fallen?
posted by Windopaene at 1:50 PM on March 16
Response by poster: Oh I'm not worried about adhesive being left on the wall, I'm worried about the paint coming off with the strip when I pull it off (or when it comes off). I've been using command strips for years and though I've had some fail under too much weight, I've never had the brand name ones take any paint off. I haven't noticed any residue, though I will look now (I should really take down the hooks for our christmas stockings!).
I'm going to be hanging little hat-holder thingies for hanging baseball caps and then baseball caps on the hat hanging thingies. So the weight will be a small piece of plastic and a baseball cap. There would be a bunch of them so I'm not sure I want to do pins and also one wall where I might put some is concrete, which would probably be hard to get a pin into. Another is a bulkhead with a vent running through it which I assume wouldn't be very pin friendly?
I'm actually painting the whole place this summer, so it's not the absolute end of the world if the paint comes off, but it would probably require some spackling and sanding before painting. And if it happened like a bunch of times then the contractor might not just wave it off and include it.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 3:41 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]
I'm going to be hanging little hat-holder thingies for hanging baseball caps and then baseball caps on the hat hanging thingies. So the weight will be a small piece of plastic and a baseball cap. There would be a bunch of them so I'm not sure I want to do pins and also one wall where I might put some is concrete, which would probably be hard to get a pin into. Another is a bulkhead with a vent running through it which I assume wouldn't be very pin friendly?
I'm actually painting the whole place this summer, so it's not the absolute end of the world if the paint comes off, but it would probably require some spackling and sanding before painting. And if it happened like a bunch of times then the contractor might not just wave it off and include it.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 3:41 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]
But now given *gestures vaguely* I am not buying command strips
(Sorry to not answer the question but is there something specific going on with 3M? Or is this a tariff thing?)
posted by trig at 5:20 PM on March 16
(Sorry to not answer the question but is there something specific going on with 3M? Or is this a tariff thing?)
posted by trig at 5:20 PM on March 16
Response by poster: It's a U.S.-owned company thing and a made-in-the-U.S. thing. I want as little of my money as possible to emd up in the U.S. And despite what the U.S. media is saying, this is not about tariffs ;it's about national sovereignty.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:57 PM on March 16
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:57 PM on March 16
Command strips are fairly amazing. I rented a place for nine years, and when I left, I took down the Command strips and had no residue.
In my new place, I tried a 'nanotape' that I bought from Temu, as Command strips are pricey for what they are. However, the 'nanotape' fell down within a week and I had to scrap the residue off. So, no answers for you, except don't buy cheap 'nanotape'.
posted by moiraine at 10:11 PM on March 16
In my new place, I tried a 'nanotape' that I bought from Temu, as Command strips are pricey for what they are. However, the 'nanotape' fell down within a week and I had to scrap the residue off. So, no answers for you, except don't buy cheap 'nanotape'.
posted by moiraine at 10:11 PM on March 16
Makes sense! (I didn't know where you live and hadn't seen any news about 3M on quick googling but these days...)
For what it's worth I've bought a few no-name things that are mounted on the wall with some generic command-strip equivalent and I have no idea how well they'll come off - not holding my breath - but they've certainly held the weight so far, with quite a bit of weight in one case.
posted by trig at 12:14 AM on March 17 [1 favorite]
For what it's worth I've bought a few no-name things that are mounted on the wall with some generic command-strip equivalent and I have no idea how well they'll come off - not holding my breath - but they've certainly held the weight so far, with quite a bit of weight in one case.
posted by trig at 12:14 AM on March 17 [1 favorite]
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Place some load on it and leave as long as you can but you may not learn much about years in situ.
posted by epo at 8:49 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]