How many rolls of duct tape will hold my house up?
 

Even if the rubber based adhesive in duct tape would hold mup for 20
years without drying out (It won't), the tape itself is not rigid
enough to hold anything significant as a beam.

Stretch

Strength of materials has been a focus of study for many for a long
time. Wood is a very interesting composite material itself, with sawn
lumber having very different properties from the various laminates.
(Ever try to split a piece of plywood?) What is important here is the
orientation of the fibers in the layers and how they're bonded.

When done properly, you can build very stiff, strong structures like
the DeHavilland Mosquito or the "Spruce Goose." Or PT-Boats,
minesweepers, Skimmars.

Duct tape really doesn't even work very well for taping ducts.

Have you considered spaghetti? "Pasta post & beam" maybe? Certainly
better in compression or beam.

John

A quick set of calcs gives a beam depth of about 32".
I would reccommend against it though, I think you'd have a very hard
time getting it passed by the building dept or getting an engineer to
stamp your plans

Forget about a DT post unless you wrap a 6" diameter shipping tube with
many layers.

Duct tape has a lot of uses, some reasonable, many not. This set of
contemplated uses is not .

Stick with wood as basis material for you construction; either sawn or
engineered. Floor trusses might be an option.

cheers
Bob

According to BobK207 :
Duct tape has a lot of uses, some reasonable, many not. This set of
contemplated uses is not .

You've obviously never seen Red Green.

Have you ever seen a gadget that would allow you to change
tires on a car while the car is moving? Red
Green has done it with duct tape.

My favourite: an elevator built out of a hot water tank,
telephone booth, some rope, pulleys and duct tape.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

Strength of materials has been a focus of study for many for a long
time. Wood is a very interesting composite material itself, with sawn
lumber having very different properties from the various laminates.
(Ever try to split a piece of plywood?) What is important here is the
orientation of the fibers in the layers and how they're bonded.

When done properly, you can build very stiff, strong structures like
the DeHavilland Mosquito or the "Spruce Goose." Or PT-Boats,
minesweepers, Skimmars.

Duct tape really doesn't even work very well for taping ducts.

Have you considered spaghetti? "Pasta post & beam" maybe? Certainly
better in compression or beam.

Yeah, but you can fake compressive-strength by constraining things
that are strong in tension. That's how inflatables work.
So you make the top half of the "beam" out of long tubes of duct-tape
rammed full of more duct-tape with a mechanical press. Flip the thing
over to get a reverse camber, tape stub-outs made of complete rolls
to the (now upper) surface, and string duct-tape cables along that,
along the stub-outs.

So it's do-able, just stupid.

Chris Lewis wrote:

According to BobK207 :
Duct tape has a lot of uses, some reasonable, many not. This set of
contemplated uses is not .

You've obviously never seen Red Green.

Have you ever seen a gadget that would allow you to change
tires on a car while the car is moving? Red
Green has done it with duct tape.

My favourite: an elevator built out of a hot water tank,
telephone booth, some rope, pulleys and duct tape.

My take has always been there's virtually always far more to the
structure than is shown, but it is a hoot...

Obviously, if you are using the good stuff, it will take less. That
Home Depot 3-rolls-fer-a-buck junk is gonna take lots more, and you
will see significant delamination over time. My cousin used duct tape
as earthquake strapping for his So Cal home, and was real happy with
the results. It took him about 17 rolls cause it was a two story house
with a basement, and of course, he ran each strap under the foundation
and then up over the roof and all.

Good luck,
Neil

I heard this several years ago, but it seems appropriate with the recent
Star Wars release:

Duct tape is like the Jedi Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it
it can bind the universe together.

As a side note, my brother in law, who was involved with auto racing (his
dad worked for Champion) always referred to the stuff as "Racer's Tape"
since the drivers used it for quick repairs in the pit during the races.

Mike O.

One. If it's large enough.