We have an old cat door that we can’t use, because the slider opening in our house is about one inch too short for it to fit. We last used it in our old apartment, where the building had settled a bit and the slider opening wasn’t exactly rectangular, so we had to jury rig some weatherstripping for insulation. This involved taping a line of crumpled paper towels to the edge of the cat door. There is, or should be, a type of weatherstripping that would be ideal for that situation, but if there is I could never find it.
So I would like to sell this cat door.* It’s still perfectly functional, but it has a fair amount of tape residue on the metal frame. I’ve managed to get some of it cleaned off, but the rest is very stubborn. Can anyone suggest a way to get the rest of it off? I’m willing to consider anything up to and including small flames, if it will help.
*I don’t intend to offer it here in the Marketplace forum, as it has to be strictly local.
95-99% alcohol works well on glues/tape residue. It is pretty safe and pretty cheap when I buy it through Amazon. I use it for a lot of things including cleaning.
I have a bottle of 70% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol; that’s available almost everywhere for a dollar or two. I’d start with that, as it’s already in the house.
WD40 has kerosene in it, which is a good solvent. If it was duct tape and nothing else works, you can try gasoline BUT do it outside and be extremely careful there are no ignition sources nearby.
I thought Goo Gone was a citrus solvent/cleaner? I’ll have to look it up.
Not sure what’s in Goof Off, but my wife was using it once on some spilled paint and it gave me a tremendous headache.
What kind of tape residue? Sticky residues and skunge are easily removed with most any solvents. “Lighter fluid” is tough to beat and won’t damage paint or finishes.
Dried tape residue - masking tape in particular, is stubborn stuff. WD40 or similar works well, or commercial products with kerosene and oils because they don’t evaporate right away.
I’ve had luck getting tape residue off more delicate surfaces with just plain vegetable oil. You let the oil soak into the goo, then wipe it with a paper towel. If there’s any left, or if iwant to get the oil off, that’s when I break out the isopropol alcohol.
I have actually gotten tape residue off bare aluminium using isopropyl alcohol; it was 99.9%, though, not 70%. Worked great, though I suppose it depends exactly what kind of residue you are dealing with Does not leave an oily film (exposed aluminum should form a layer of alumina on it, anyway)
It’s likely either a cross-linked acrylic adhesive or hot melt adhesive. If hot melt, you can clean with toluene or mineral spirits (or WD40). If x-linked it won’t be soluble in much of anything, but acetone might be your best bet.
None of these adhesives are very soluble in polar solvents like alcohol.
Does not leave an oily film (exposed aluminum should form a layer of alumina on it, anyway)