Epoxy Stone Maintenance.

May 16, 2019
Picture of Epoxy.com stone
Epoxy.com Epoxy Stone

A customer asks, “I have a patio with Chattahoochee or Chattahoochee like stone glued together with epoxy. It is no longer shinny and the stone is starting to come loose. What is causing this and what should I do about it?”

It sounds like you have a stone that was installed with Epoxy.com Product #17 – www.epoxy.com/17.aspx – or some other brand of stone adhesive. We tell all of our customers that install epoxied stone that they need to maintain by re-glazing it periodically. Unfortunately, not everyone is as forthright as us in telling their customers this.

We recommend you take these steps every spring and fall so you can enjoy your epoxied stone year-round.

1. Look at you epoxy stone and look determine if it needs maintenance. If it is still shinny and you don’t have loose stone, then you are done. Come back and do this step again in 6 months.

2. Clean your stone to remove algae, mold, oil, grease and any other contaminants from it. Typically, contamination is just algae and mold and can be removed with a weak Clorox and water combination with a thorough rinse with a hose or gentle pressure wash. Allow your stone to dry completely before proceeding.

3. Determine if it has only lost its shine or if you have loose stone. Decide if sections of the stone are so loose that they need to be reinstalled with Product #17 (4 below) or if there are just a few to no loose stones and you just want to re-glaze it (5 below).

4. If stone needs to be picked up and reinstalled in areas do that with Epoxy.com Product #17. Contact Epoxy.com Technical support for the amount of product you need. We can also go over the reinstallation of these areas with you. If the stone is sound or has just a few stones that you are not worried about replacing you can proceed to 4 below.

5. Apply 1-2 coats of Epoxy.com Product #15 (depending on how bad the stone has weathered) to the top of your clean dry stone. This will give you back your original shine and strengthen the interface (bond line) between the stones. Product #15 is the best product to do this with as experience has shown it lasts 1.5 to 2 times longer than convention epoxies used for this application.

6. CAUTION: You can find single component so called “Chattahoochee” . These sealers add shine to your epoxy stone but do not strengthen the interface between the stone. Using this kind of sealer can ruin your epoxy stone. Once these inexpensive sealers are on they are difficult to impossible to remove. Making it optionally impossible to ever re-glaze the epoxy stone properly again.

As always when in doubt contact Epoxy.com Technical support at info@epoxy.com or by calling 352-533-2167.

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Posted by Norm Lambert

Epoxy River Simulation

November 16, 2016

How to Simulate a River Bed in Epoxy

A customer asks, “I recently saw what looks like a creek bed built out of epoxy with stones in it. How is this done in epoxy?”

Here are the steps to do it:

  1. Choose your stone. The stone that you choose can be uniform in size or a blend of stone sizes and shapes.  If bigger stone is going to be used, it is recommended that you use a blend of larger stone with smaller stone.  Variations in shape will also help to increase the amount of surface area holding the system together, making it stronger. Be sure the stone is clean and completely dry before attempting any of the steps below.
  2. Make a mock-up of the complete system below in a small box made out of plywood or similar material. This will verify everything from stone selection, to aesthetics, to stone durability. It is also gives you a chance to practice your procedure,and get additional phone tech support from us if required before you proceed with your project.
  3. Construct the recessed area that your river will “flow”. That could be a recessed area in a concrete floor, a wooded shadow box or some other “box” to hold your river. Be sure the box is watertight and that the surface is properly prepared before proceeding –www.epoxy.com/surfaceprep.aspx
  4. Prime the area created in step 3 with Epoxy.com Product #12 – www.epoxy.com/12.aspx at a rate of 250-300SF per gallon.  Allow to cure until hard to the touch, typically 6-8 hours
  5. After the Primer in Step 4 is hard to the touch and before 24 hours has passed, apply a coat of Epoxy.com Product #1 – http://www.epoxy.com/1.aspx – 100% solids General Purpose Epoxy Coating to the bottom of the box created in Step 3.  This will help to give you a consistent background color. Black helps give you the illusion of infinite depth.
    1. Optionally you can add a second coat of the #1 Pigmented Epoxy Coating to increase color intensity.
    2. On the other hand if the stone in Step 6 is so deep that you will not be able to see through it you can skip this step and proceed to step 6.
    3. Allow the epoxy in Step 5 to cure hard to the touch before proceeding, typically 10-12 hours.  Do not wait more than 24 hours before moving on to Step 6.
  6. Properly mix Epoxy.com Product #17 – www.epoxy.com/17.aspx – Epoxy Stone Adhesive Part A and Part B. Add your stone into the mixed stone adhesive.  The amount of stone that you will be able to add to it will vary depending on size and how clean the stone is.  100 lbs per 3 quart batch (2 QT “A” and 1 QT “B”) is a good starting point.  This ratio should be verified in a mockup before proceeding to this step. Mix in the stone until a uniform shine can be see on all the stone. Install this mix into your “box” at the desired thickness. Be sure to pack it in tightly and level to the desired surface.  Allow to harden overnight. Do not wait more than 24 hours before moving on to Step 7.
  7. Properly mix and pour Epoxy.com Product #214 – www.epoxy.com/214.aspx – Table Top and Casting Epoxy into the spaces between the rock in step 6. You typically will want to pour a minimum of 1/8 inch or not more than 1/2 inch at a time.  Take care to break any bubbles as you go early and often.  This is typically easy to do using a hair dryer and/or Isopropyl (rubbing alcohol mist). Allow each layer to harden and cool before adding another lift.  Never wait more than 24 hours in between coats and/or pours of epoxy.

When you complete this project it will look like a stone riverbed filled with \ water.  You can also experiment with other objects in your stone mix.  Contact Epoxy.com Technical Support with your questions: info@epoxy.com or 352-533-2167

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Posted by Norm Lambert

Maintaining Epoxy Stone

May 17, 2016

Epoxy_Stone_Overlays

Product #17 Epoxy Stone Overlay, with mixed stone sizes

It is that time of year again. If you have Epoxy Stone Overlays you know it gives  beautiful natural look. The Epoxy Stone Overlay looks like wet shinny rock. It allows water to flow more naturally, giving you additional drainage in areas that you are walking where you feet might get wet if it is raining or near a water source like a pool.

As time goes by your stone will get less shinny.  This is not just an esthetic issue.  The

Epoxy stone overlays need to be reglazed from time to time. That is true about epoxy stone overlay systems available from us or from anyone else. In some parts of the country in the direct sunlight this could be every year. Other parts of the country with less sun might be 5 or more years. If you wait to long to reseal your stone it will start failing as the bond breaks down between the individual stones. The stones will then start becoming loose. If not resealed soon enough eventially the whole system will fail. Sealing at proper intervals with the right material is the only way to prevent this.

If you don’t want a system you need to maintain, we have other (non rock) systems that require little or no maintanance.

Resealing the Epoxy Stone Overlay.

Product #15 Chemical Resistant Epoxy Floor Resurfacing System is typically used for resealing epoxy bonded stone. Product #15 Chemical Resistant Resurfacing system oxidizes much slower than other epoxies, and usually last much longer than other epoxies used for reglazing epoxied stone pebbles. You don’t want to use other epoxies that oxidize excessively unless you are willing to reglaze 1.5 to 2 times more often than with Product #15.

The Product #15 Epoxy to reseal your stone not only adds shine back but actually reinforces the connections between the stone. Never use acrylic and other sealers commonly sold at big box stores to reseal your stone. These non-epoxy sealers add shine back to the stone, but doesn’t do anything to reinforce the bond between the individual stones. Worse yet unless the single component non-epoxy sealers have totally been warn away, they will act as a bond breaker preventing future epoxy resealing from getting to the surfaces they need to get to, in order to give you your original strenth back.

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Posted by Norm Lambert

Why Use Epoxy.com Products in “Green” Buildings?

August 20, 2012

110614_2044_EpoxyChipFl10.pngEpoxy.com’s 100% solid products (which are most of our product line) are included in many “Green” buildings. The logic for that is this:

1. Epoxy.com 100% solid products have  no VOCs. So you are reducing the carbon emissions.

2. Typical Epoxy.com 100% solid systems have done their job for decades, and there is no reason to believe they will not last for decades more. I personally have jobs that I installed with them that go back as much as a third of a century, that are not even starting to show signs that they will need replacement. That is the ultimate in reuse.

3. There is no need to recycle a product that can be reused for decades, but you can use recycled materials like glass aggregate in the epoxy matrix.

Epoxy.com encourages our customers to order material as they need it and to use all their materials before their expiration. That is why we do not require large stocking orders from new dealers, like most other companies. We want our customers to use up material they buy from us and not have any for it run out of shelf life. However, if Epoxy.com products do run out of shelf life, they are typically mixed and cured before disposal as is consitered in under most if not all local regulations as inert as common trash.

You can find more information about Epoxy.com Zero (0) VOC products at: https://www.epoxy.com/zero_voc.aspx

www.epoxy.com – Epoxy.com Home Page.

Please like our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/epoxy.com/

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Posted by Norm Lambert

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