Can You Use Hot Glue on Walls and Furniture?

Hot glue is one form of glue adhesive that you might be familiar with.

Unlike common belief, you can use it for innumerable kinds of projects, including your room walls decorating purposes.

In fact, I have used hot glue many times to glue various decorative craft pieces to my walls, stairs, and wood furniture.

My wife uses it frequently to glue recipes and ideas on the kitchen walls. And my kids use it to hang several wall hangings in their room.

Regardless of the paint finish (whether flat, semi-gloss, or glossy), you have on your walls; you can put a dab of hot glue on your craft item and then stick it gently on the walls.

And the good thing is that you can pull it off slowly from the wall whenever you want without peeling away the paint.

In this article, you’ll find out more about hot glue, including what it is, when it was developed, how it works, its strength, its curing process, and a lot more.

So, let’s get into…

What is Hot Glue?

So, just what is hot glue? Hot glue is also known as hot melt adhesive, abbreviated HMA.

In technical terms, this is a sort of thermoplastic adhesive.

As the name implies, hot glue, a thermoplastic, is related to temperature, so the term “thermo” is used.

Hot glue contains ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), polyolefins, polyamides and polyesters, styrene block copolymers, polyethylene, ethylene-methyl acrylate (EMA), and/or ethylene n-butyl acrylate as the primary constituents (EnBA).

As technically how the glue is like an adhesive; it differs from other glues as it does not employ specific components to stick to objects but rather relies on cooling and solidifying from hot and melted form to establish a bond.

Furthermore, unlike other forms of adhesive that are liquid and must be poured from a tube or container before getting cured on the materials, hot glue in its usual condition is completely solid.

This glue comes in the shape of transparent and solid cylindrical sticks, which are simply bits of plastic that are melted using a specific instrument that we will discuss later.

What is Hot Glue Used for? 

Now that we know hot glue, its composition, and its strength, let’s find out what it’s used for.

First, let’s go over some of the materials that hot glue may adhere to, and then we’ll go over some of its most common uses of it with real-world scenarios and illustrations.

Now that we know what hot glue can and cannot attach to let’s look at some real-world instances of hot glue’s principal applications.

Here you’re going to find out several purposes of hot glue, but none of them are structural. They’re all rather simple duties.

So, what is hot glue used for?

• When it comes to generic uses in homes and schools, the most typical application of hot glue is for crafting. It’s incredibly simple to use. You can make some creative craft pieces and attach them to the walls with hot glue.

• It forms bonds fast. It’s quite safe and works great for gluing many kinds of arts and crafts together. Materials such as papers, belts, plastic, imitation jewels, and other such items.

• Another popular application for hot glue is to stick folded cartoon boxes. In other words, hot glue is used in the box business. The hard spines of books are also the result of hot glue.

• Hot glue is also utilized in manufacturing low-cost wood furniture, such as gluing MDF boards together. It isn’t the best form of glue for furniture, but it is a choice.

• They can also be used to secure cables and other components inside phones and other electrical gadgets.

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How Does a Hot Glue Gun Work? 

What’s amazing about hot glue is that it works differently than almost every other adhesive on the market.

All adhesives are either water-based or non-water-based, but they all have one thing in common, they are all liquid in their usual condition.

But it’s not the case with hot glue, as it remains in a solid state at ambient temperature.

This is why it is referred to as hot glue; it must be heated to melt into a liquid state that can then be applied to a surface.

To heat this, a device with a powerful heating element is utilized, and the device is nothing but a hot glue gun. 

When the hot glue gun’s trigger is pushed, the melted thermoplastic adhesive is dispensed.

What is crucial to note here is the evaporation cure of the water-based glue. As the moisture evaporates, they harden. When non-water-based sealants come into touch with moisture or UV radiation, they frequently cure.

Hot glue, on the other hand, is not like this at all, and it does not cure.

Curing is commonly done by the process of hardening as a result of a chemical reaction.

Although it may appear that cooling down from a high temperature is a chemical process, it is not.

By simply cooling down, hot glue joins things together. When hot glue cools, it solidifies into a solid and extremely durable substance known as plastic.

How long does hot glue take to cure?

As previously stated, hot glue does not cure at all but hardens it completely, and you should allow at least 24 hours.

Keep in mind that curing is defined as a chemical interaction between agents that results in material hardening.

Although cooling and heating are scientific and may be interpreted as chemical processes, they are not.

And the solidifying of hot glue when cooling down is due to the qualities of the components as well as the difference between materials in liquid and solid phases. 

Curing is not the process of cooling and solidifying from the melted state. So, while hot glue does the same, it does not cure.

Please make a mental note that if you look for this online, items and instructional articles will discuss hot glue curing timeframes, but this is just because “curing” is the general word for the process of glue hardening.

Hot glue, in reality, cools, dries, and hardens but does not cure.

This is, of course, a narrow line that most people would avoid discussing that cooling and curing are technically distinct.