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NYC on Hurricane Lockdown, Part 2: Taping Windows is Probably a Waste of Time. Now We Need a Video Demonstrating Why

By Rain Noe - October 29, 2012

in Object Culture | Events

Are you kidding me?

Are you kidding me?

Heading over this morning to the high-end shopping strip of West Broadway, where every store seems to have huge windows, we see what's in the photo above. I have a hard time believing a few lousy strips of blue painter's tape can hold a window together. In fact meteorologist Chris Landsea, who is the Science and Operations Officer at the National Hurricane Center, writes "[taping windows] is a waste of effort, time, and tape. It offers little strength to the glass and NO protection against flying debris."

While I think whomever did the blue tape job was wasting their time, I think Landsea might be misguided—not in his stating of what tape won't do, but in his understanding of why people tape their windows. I'd always assumed people taped their windows—with sturdier duct or gaffer's tape, that is—in an effort to keep the glass itself from disintegrating into shard-like projectiles upon shattering. I never understood it to make the glass stronger or somehow serve as a protective net from flying debris impacting the glass.

That being said, I still suspect tape doesn't work at all; the paragraph above is my interpretation of what window-tapers think they're accomplishing.

So the question is, how did window-taping start? Clever marketing from 3M or a local retailer? Interestingly enough, the taping of windows was done by the Brits in World War II as part of ARP (Air Raid Precautions) measures during the German bombing Blitz. As you can see from the images below, the taping was rather more thorough than the half-assery pictured up top.

Explains a gent named Peter Johnson writing on a UK website about life in the 1900s,

[During the Blitz] each house was given some rolls of gummed brown sticky paper about 3 inches wide. These were for sticking to the inside of all the windows from corner to corner in a diagonal pattern to prevent shards of glass from flying into the rooms in a bomb blast.

What no one mentions, however, was whether this actually worked.To keep windows from completely shattering by using an adhesive, it seems a full-sized laminate would do a better job. Over on Crosby Street, the local All-Saints Spitalfields store has covered their windows (months ago, unrelated to the hurricane) with these promotional images adhered to the glass:

Assuming the film is sturdy, I'd think it would help keep the shattered pieces together, even if it won't stop the window from breaking. And of course, many modern windows are already constructed with layers of laminate for insulation purposes.

I think part of the reason people continue misguidedly taping their windows is because those against the practice do such a poor job of explaining why it's not effective. For example an organization called the Great Hurricane Blowout is running a "Go Tapeless" campaign, where they state:

[Get] families to go tapless this hurricane season! Taping your windows in preparation for a hurrican does nothing to keep your windows intact. In fact, the tape may create larger, potentially deadly shards of broken glass.

However, the organization doesn't list a single reason explaining why this is so. Nor does the following video, where a representative from the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes discusses, between minutes three and five, that taping is a waste of time:

You'll notice she states 70% of people still think taping windows is effective. If you really want to convince people otherwise, I think a single YouTube or MythBusters video illustrating the difference (or lack thereof) between taped and non-taped windows would do the trick.

The best solution is probably to cover fragile glass altogether. Balthazar is a popular French bistro on Spring Street that has chosen to remain (at press time) open for business. They're doing what hurricane survivors from the Gulf states already recommend, on online forums, is a good way to go:

Staring at a sheet of CDX while drinking your café au lait isn't necessarily charming, but it's probably a good way not to get sued.

* * *

See all of our Hurricane Sandy coverage

NYC on Hurricane Lockdown:
» First Impressions
» Taping Windows is Probably a Waste of Time. Now We Need a Video Demonstrating Why
» Three Types of Flood Barriers, from Sad to Serious

Hipstomp's Dispatches from the Dark:
» Good Objects, Bad Preparation
» Public Behavior, during the Blackout, in Traffic & Communications
» What Came in Handy During Sandy?
» What Are Your Go-To Disaster Prep Items

Plus:
» AT&T Sending Mobile Hotspot "Satellite COLT" Trucks into NYC
» Two Versions of the Manhattan Blackout
» Hurricane Sandy vs. NYC Cyclists

Last but not least, check out our list of ways to help

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Boyd Hathaway

12 years ago

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I work for Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH), and over the past 10 years or so we have teamed up with Engineers, Hurricane Directors, and researchers and rolled out our Go Tapeless campaign at the National Hurricane Conference this year. Taping windows is a terrible idea because it creates a false sense of security and larger shards of glass that can be more dangerous than not taping at all. We recommend boarding up windows and preparing your home in advance of the storm or hurricane and not at the last minute. See Flash.org or http://www.greathurricaneblowout.org/ for more information of safeguarding your home and family.
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Ken J

12 years ago

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No mention of plywood eh? I would've thought it to be ubiquitous.
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Antti

12 years ago

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As Conn Clark stated, I believe also that the taping is for preventing the glass shattering in million tiny sharp pieces when it breaks. As they do with (i know, a bad example) race cars headlights.
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guest

12 years ago

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I don't know about the building regulations in the US but reading this article makes me think 70% of people are absolute morons.
At least in Europe all this glass would be laminated tempered glass with PVB foil in between the 2 glass layers.
So taping it is like thinking you could support a concrete wall by adding a single dots of super glue here and there in any kind of pattern....
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Andrew

12 years ago

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As stated above, lamination works best. I know from first hand experience and a monster sheet of tempered glass, but on a small scale; taping does keep the glass more or less together when it breaks. In the case shown, I'd think there is too much open space for it to have any real effect.

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Conn Clark

12 years ago

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Hooray for you!! Finally a voice of reason in the media rather than someone just regurgitating some groups opinion.

I do engineering work for a living and do think tape will provide some limited degree of protection from flying shards of glass. A shattered window will still have some glass around the edges that will still be attached to the window frame. Tape connecting theses shards to other wise free shards of glass will slow them down and pull them to the side or down where they will be less of a danger.
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Joe

12 years ago

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As an ex-employee of a major window/door manufacturing company, I can confirm that this kind of taping is useless. I've watched many impact tests of very large windows and doors where we would shoot a 2x4 out of an air cannon, straight into a product at hurricane speed. Pretty fun to watch. Code requires windows over a certain square footage to be made of tempered glass, which means that if it breaks, you won't get large sheets of solid glass, but small pieces (like a car window breaking). This is a big improvement in safety, but the next level would be installing hurricane/impact glass. This is offered by every major manufacturer for a premium price. This glass features a laminated film on top of the tempered glass so that when it breaks, it will still hold together. This is the only glass that has any kind of structurally beneficial film. Other Lo-E coatings have no effect on the strength of the glass.
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