kwch.com

Handyman Larry Keyser is used to fixing things, but usually it’s with a screwdriver or another tool . He’s not likely to reach for a roll of tape.

“I don’t know how professional it would be if I walked into your house and said I’m just going to tape it up and we’re out of here!”

But that’s what we hand him to work with this week: Mighty Fixit tape.It stretches and it sticks to itself. The directions say that’s the key to fixing all those leaks and breaks around your house. We start with a garden hose.

The commercials show the tape sealing pipes as they leak, but  Larry doesn’t have much luck on a hose that’s doing the same. It leaks before, during and after the repair.

So Larry switches to dry-mode.  He puts a double lay of tape over the hose while the water is not running. But when he turns on the faucet, the hose leaks just as much as before.

Next we move to an air compressor.  Larry creates a small hole in its hose with a drill and grabs the Mighty FixIt. When he gradually turns on the air, though, it only reaches 30 pounds before the tape gives out.

The only luck we had with Mighty Fixit: repairing frayed cords.

“I think it does what it’s supposed to for a temporary fix, ” says Bradley Ragland, a local electrician, about the cord repairs. “The key word is ‘temporary’?” I ask.

“Temporary.”

We contacted the company that sells Mighty Fixit.  A spokesperson tells us all the claims on the commercials are tested by an independent company. That same person says he has used the tape at home to repair his garden hose. And he says the commercial never showed the tape being used on an air compressor.

Larry, though, stands by his results, and his tried-and-true solutions.

“I thought I might get some of this. But I have duct tape, electrical tape and metal tape that will hold better than this.”