Adhesive fixing exists because drilling is the objection that stops a job. In a furnished room, a rented office or a hotel corridor, the argument about making holes takes longer than the installation, and tape removes the argument entirely.

It works when the surface is sound, clean and non-porous. Painted plaster in good condition, tiles, glass and finished joinery all hold. What does not hold is a dusty or chalky surface, fresh emulsion that has not fully cured, or textured wallpaper, where the tape bonds to a layer that is itself not attached to anything.

Weight matters more than length. A small profile carrying a data drop stays up indefinitely; a large section filled with power cable is a screw-fixed job, and using tape on it is how a run ends up hanging off a wall six months later.

Where a run is mostly light but crosses one heavy section, mix the methods. Tape the light part, screw the heavy part, and the installation looks the same from a metre away.