Old tape is damaging my document: should I remove it?
Should you remove old tape from a document?
Adhesive tape is the first enemy of family papers. Why you should not peel it off yourself, and how it is removed without damage.
By Mégane Gimbret, conservator-restorer · 3 min read
Applied to mend a tear, adhesive tape becomes within a few years the main threat to the document.
What tape does to paper
- The adhesive migrates into the paper fibres and the inks.
- It yellows, then turns brown, leaving a stain that goes right through the sheet.
- The plastic carrier comes away, leaving a sticky surface that catches dust and sticks to neighbouring documents.
- The adhesive hardens. By then the stain is often permanent: it can be reduced, rarely erased.
The longer you wait, the harder removal becomes.
Why not peel it off
Pulling the tape tears away the surface fibres of the paper, and sometimes the ink or the image with them. Shop solvents push the adhesive further into the sheet.
Meanwhile
- Leave the tape in place.
- Put a clean sheet of paper on each side so it does not stick to other documents.
- Never add new tape, even “just to hold it”.
What I do at the studio
The carrier is lifted with a spatula, without pulling on the paper. The remaining adhesive is softened and removed with solvents chosen after testing, often as a gel so they do not spread. The stain can then be reduced. If the sheet was torn, the tear is repaired with Japanese paper and starch paste, both reversible. See tape removal.