Epoxy troubleshooting

Causes and fixes for common pour problems, based on what resin manufacturers publish about their own products.

• Why deep epoxy pours crack, smoke or overheat

  The exotherm mechanism behind cracked, yellowed and smoking deep pours, and the limits and precautions resin manufacturers publish to prevent them.

• Bubbles in epoxy: where they come from and how to stop them

  The three sources of bubbles in epoxy pours and coatings (mixing, porous wood, cold resin) and the fixes resin manufacturers publish for each.

• Why epoxy stays soft, sticky or tacky, and how to fix it

  Off-ratio mixing, unmixed resin from the container walls, cold shops and amine blush explained, with the causes and fixes manufacturers publish.

• Why epoxy turns yellow, and what the data sheets say about UV

  UV light, heat, over-torching and aged hardener all yellow epoxy. See what manufacturers publish about UV stabilizers and outdoor use for the products in our database.

• Why epoxy turns cloudy or milky

  Cold resin, moisture, amine blush, poor mixing and sanding haze all make clear epoxy look cloudy. How to tell them apart, and what manufacturers say to do.

• Amine blush: the greasy film on cured epoxy

  What amine blush is, why it forms in humid or cold conditions and near fuel-burning heaters, how manufacturers say to remove it, and why it matters before recoating.

• Bare spots, fish eyes and craters in an epoxy coat

  Why epoxy pulls away from spots on a surface, which contaminants cause it, and the clean, sand and recoat repair manufacturers describe.

• River table leaks and blowouts

  Why river table forms leak, how manufacturers build forms that do not, and how to spot a leak early enough to deal with it.