• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
go to homepage

Search by
Category
  • Cleaning Blog
  • Automotive
  • Bathroom Appliances and Fixtures
  • Carpets and Rugs
  • Cats
  • Closets and Organization
  • Dogs
  • Electronics
  • Fabrics
  • Floor & Carpet
  • Floors
  • Food
  • Furniture
  • General Housecleaning
  • House
  • Household Appliances and Fixtures
  • Jewelry
  • Kitchen Appliances and Fixtures
  • Kitchen and Bathroom Surfaces
  • Kitchenware
  • Metals
  • Outdoors
  • Other Pets, Animals and Pests
  • People
  • Stain Removal
  • Stuff
  • Surfaces
  • Things You Own
  • Tools and Techniques
  • Walls and Ceilings
  • Windows
  • Everything Else
  • Ask us your cleaning question

go to homepage

How To Clean Stuff.net

Search by
Category
  • Cleaning Blog
  • Automotive
  • Bathroom Appliances and Fixtures
  • Carpets and Rugs
  • Cats
  • Closets and Organization
  • Dogs
  • Electronics
  • Fabrics
  • Floor & Carpet
  • Floors
  • Food
  • Furniture
  • General Housecleaning
  • House
  • Household Appliances and Fixtures
  • Jewelry
  • Kitchen Appliances and Fixtures
  • Kitchen and Bathroom Surfaces
  • Kitchenware
  • Metals
  • Outdoors
  • Other Pets, Animals and Pests
  • People
  • Stain Removal
  • Stuff
  • Surfaces
  • Things You Own
  • Tools and Techniques
  • Walls and Ceilings
  • Windows
  • Everything Else
  • Ask us your cleaning question

Home / Cleaning Guides / Things You Own / Electronics / How to Remove Gaffer’s Tape Residue from Cables

How to Remove Gaffer’s Tape Residue from Cables

Table of Contents:
  1. You Will Need
  2. Steps to Remove the Residue
  3. Additional Tips and Advice

Anna asked: I would like to know if you have a cleaning tip for my specific problem too. My husband works as a sound engineer, and part of is equipment is a bunch of long, 65 foot, thick cables. To ensure that no one trips over these cables, he uses gaffer’s tape to fix the cables to the floor. But when the gig is over, and he removes the tape, the cables are all sticky. I’ve tried to clean them once with ethanol, but you have to scrub them really hard, and that’s not very fun after the first few feet. Also, I’m guessing it’s not too good for the cables either. So, do you have a tip on how to get the remainders of the gaffer’s tape off?

When any adhesive or tape is utilized to keep cables in place, they are likely to remain covered with sticky residue. Removing gaffer’s tape residue from cables is easy with the right product. You’ll be surprised by how effortless the task becomes when you give this method a try!

You Will Need:

  • WD-40
  • Clean rags

Steps to Remove the Residue:

  1. Wet the rag with WD-40. Generally, it’s less messy to spray the rag than it is the cable, but if the cables are really sticky, it might work better to apply directly to the cables.
  2. Run the soaked rag down a length of the cable. Don’t try to scrub yet. First, you want to get the WD-40 on the residue so it can begin to do the work for you.
  3. After a couple of minutes, begin wiping with the same WD-40 soaked rag, using pressure to remove the adhesive.
  4. Repeat with a fresh coat of WD-40 as needed. Heavy residue may require more than one application for the WD-40 to work through the entire mess.
  5. Once the adhesive is gone, wipe the entire cable with a clean, dry rag to remove any remaining residue.

Additional Tips and Advice

  • For particularly sticky situations, you can use a cloth scouring pad instead of a rag. It will provide more “oomph” without damaging the cables.
  • If the residue isn’t coming off, make sure to apply a good coat of WD-40 and allow 5-15 minutes for it to work before you try wiping the residue away.
  • There are other products to remove sticky residue including baby oil, rubbing alcohol and Goo Gone.
  • One of our site users (Thanks!) suggests using another piece of tape to remove the residue. Lightly press a small new piece of tape onto the residue and quickly pull it back off. Repeat this several times until all of the residue is removed.

Cleaning Guides, Electronics

Was This Guide Helpful?

+15
-2
Rating: 89%. From 17 votes.
Please wait...

Related Posts

  • How to Remove Tape Residue from Carpet
  • How to Remove Tape Residue from Cloth
  • How to Remove Tape Residue from Tile
  • How to Remove Tape Residue from a Refrigerator
  • How to Remove Tape Residue from Unfinished Wood
  • How to Remove Sticky Residue from Marble

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, conse ctetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit sed diam.


Thank you for subscribing!

Reader Interactions

About the Author

Avatar photo

Susan

I'm a stay-at-home mom who used to run a small housecleaning business. These days I consider myself more or a mad cleaning-scientist. I do most of the testing for our articles - as well as helping Mark & Melanie write them.

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Helpful comments include feedback on the recipe or changes you made.

show comments +

Comments

  1. John says

    September 27, 2011 at 7:26 am

    Don’t put tape on the cable. Put rubber matting over it and tape that to the floor.

    Never clean a cable again…

    Reply
  2. Dave says

    November 5, 2013 at 6:59 am

    Don’t use gaffa tape. There are tapes out there that are specially made to stick on fabric, carpets or wood to hold your cables down that don’t leave the tacky mess of gaffa tape. Any good photographic supplier should stock them; not camera shops or any companies supplying the TV industry. The tape is also only around £6,00.

    Reply
    • Vince says

      March 21, 2017 at 8:23 am

      Gaffer tape IS the product to hold down cables. Not all cloth backed tapes are gaffer tape.
      Gaffer – chief electrician on a film set.

      Reply
    • Nate says

      September 19, 2019 at 1:41 pm

      Yeah, you’re just talking about gaffer tape. That IS what they sell at photography supply stores.

      Reply

Primary Sidebar

Featured Guides

How to Clean a Hairbrush

How to Clean a Microwave Oven With ZERO Chemicals

How to Clean Every Dental Retainer

How to Clean your Macbook’s Screen

Join our mailing list.
Be the first to know about new arrivals, sales, and special events.
Thank you for subscribing!

Footer

Browse by Category

  • Automotive
  • Clothing & Fabrics
  • Floors & Carpets
  • Housecleaning
  • Kitchen & Bath
  • Outdoors
  • People & Pets
  • Household Stuff

Contact

  • Ask Us Your Cleaning Questions
  • Contact Form

Follow us on Social Media

Site Information

  • Cookie Policy
  • Guest Post Policy
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • XML Sitemap

Copyright © 2023 · HowToCleanStuff.net · All Rights Reserved · Website by Anchored Design