LED strip installation tips #3 : How to Mount your LED strips

In our new series of LED installation tips, we’ll touch on both well known and less well known installation tips, helping you make sure that your installation will be the best that it can be. Today’s post, the third in this series, discusses installation and mounting options.

1) Just stick it!

If your installation is simple, then the blue Heat Induction Tape on our strips does a great job. It’s designed for most household surfaces, but there are a few situations when it might not be ideal. If you’re sticking to rough or porous surfaces, such as stone, masonry, or unfinished woods, you might consider some of our other options. The same goes for if you’re installing the tape upside down, like on the bottom of a cabinet.

2) Foam Tape

The heavy duty foam tape we sell is - you guessed it, for ‘heavy duty’ applications (it’s actually designed for both interior and exterior automotive work, so you know it’s good). The heavy duty foam tape does everything the regular HIT tape does, but it does it a little better. It’s easy to install, and comes in rolls of up to a hundred feet if you’re using it regularly.

3) Mounting Straps

If the strip absolutely has to stay up, then our mounting straps are the way to go. You can install them every couple of feet to help the tape do its job, or you can use it just on problem areas, such as where the surface changes, or where you’re attaching wiring that can pull down on your strip lights. These only work on surfaces you can screw into, which usually means wood only (but they can sometimes work on metals and plastics).

4) Glues and adhesives

We don’t sell or stock any glues or adhesives, but we definitely do recommend them in many situations. In particular, they’re useful when attaching to a surface that you can’t screw a mounting strap or a channel into (such as stone) or when you have a surface that will be exposed to extreme heat, cold, or moisture that can cause either of the tape options to fail. As a rule of thumb, our strips will happily stick to most adhesives - so pick one that is most suitable for your mounting surface (eg wood glue for wood) and environment (eg outdoor for outdoor) for a permanent solution.