How to stick plastic on to fabric

Question

I am trying to stick a strip of LED lights under a bed base (which is covered with a bed base kind of sheet). The adhesive behind the LED strip has worn off. I have tried to get some cloth tape and wrapped it around trying to use it as a double sided tape which didnt work. Then I tried to just tape the LED to the bed base at equal spaces, which didnt work either. The tape just kept coming off after sometime.

All indoor/outdoor double sided hanging tapes specifically say not to use on porous material.

So how can I stick plastic on to cloth ?

Answer 1

I assume by "bed base" you are referring to the box spring?

Take some long strips of cardboard and staple it to the bottom of the box spring, over top of the fabric covering. Use some double-sided carpet tape or another type of adhesive to secure the strips to the cardboard.

This has the added benefit that it's easy to remove and doesn't damage the box spring.

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Alternatively, you could do something to the bed frame itself: add some slats (1-by material), or even use some small corner brackets to add a strip of wood around the inside perimeter, and then attach your lights to that, rather than the box spring.

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Also, either way, use some type of strain relief on the cord, so if it gets pulled (someone yanks on it, trips on it, or pulls out the bed without unplugging it) it doesn't tear everything down. This may be as simple as using a zip-tie around the cord and a leg, or a screw-in style ziptie to actually screw it into part of the frame.

Without knowing details about the bed frame it's hard to recommend something more specific.

Answer 2

If you don't mind it being permanent, 2 part epoxy should work. You just need to figure out a way to keep the strip clamped to the bed until the epoxy sets. (Maybe a 2x4 wedged below the light strip.)