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The Benefits of Recycling and Reusing Your Shrink Wrap
There may be holes in your shrink wrap application for many reasons. You might have accidentally punctured the material, the weather might have torn a hole, or you might have burned through it with the heat gun. You don’t need to reapply an entire sheet of the material, though. Use our quick guide on how to reseal and repair shrink wrap with holes.
Smaller holes are easier to patch because they don’t require excess material, only shrink wrap tape. Use the following steps to patch up minor holes and tears.
Take your shrink tape and cut off a piece that will completely cover the small hole. Begin applying the tape by adding light pressure along the material to ensure it adheres to the shrink wrap behind it. If the adhesive doesn’t stick immediately, you can fix that in the next step.
You can’t forget this step when repairing your shrink wrap with holes because this is what binds the two materials together. Take your heat gun and quickly pass over the tape to slightly warm the adhesive. The shrink wrap may wrinkle or bubble. Smooth these out with your hand—these will also go away as the material cools.
Larger holes in your shrink wrap are slightly trickier to repair, but with our guide, it can become much easier. You’ll need additional shrink wrap for this. Consider using excess from a different application.
Take the excess shrink wrap from a previous application and cut out a piece slightly larger than the existing hole. Don’t cut a section that’s just big enough for the hole because you’ll place more tape around the edges.
For the new scrap shrink wrap to adhere to the existing material, you need to tape all four sides. Cut pieces of tape that will completely cover the seams and overlap the material if necessary. If there are gaps, you could leave behind a smaller hole that will still need repairing.
Just as you did in the last step of repairing smaller holes, run a heat gun over the patch to completely adhere to the tape. Remember to take this process slowly so that you don’t burn through the tape.
Take your time throughout this shrink wrap repair process to avoid creating additional tears and holes. Be cautious when using the heat gun. The wrinkles will smooth out once the material cools. Also, be mindful around the shrink wrap to prevent holes from forming in the first place.
