Best Upkeep Practices For Maintaining Epoxy Resin Projects
In this week’s tutorial, Steve with Upstart Epoxy walks you through everything you need to know about to achieve a perfect shine and also offers the best upkeep tips for your epoxy projects, little known epoxy resin facts, and why flood coats offer the BEST epoxy finish! Read along below!
Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate/Expert
Estimated Working Time: N/A
What You’ll Need:
- Space Heater
- Sander
- Glass Cleaner
How to Achieve the Perfect Epoxy Finish
Nearly every epoxy enthusiast is looking for that glossy, glasslike finish for their projects, but do you know the best tips to obtain it? When polishing epoxy resin, the first thing we recommend you do is to prepare your environment properly. Make sure the temperature of your workspace is between 70 and 80°F, the ideal room temperature for a smooth curing process.
Next, preheat your epoxy, especially during the colder months. You can do this by placing your epoxy in front of a space heater for about 30 to 40 minutes, just to make sure that that epoxy loosens up and is easy to work with.
For perfect epoxy finishes, It's imperative that you're working with a perfectly level surface. Of course, our epoxy is self leveling, but if you have a surface that is level, it makes it much easier for the epoxy to do its job, which also prevents wasting your epoxy.
Another pro-tip for epoxy finishes is to mix your epoxy slowly by hand. This method produces less bubbles, which means less work for you and a better outcome. It takes a little more work than using a tool, but the finished result will come out so much nicer! If you see any bubbles after mixing by hand, all you’ll have to do is use a heat gun to pop any bubbles afterward.
The Benefits of a Flood Coat for Your Epoxy Finish
Why are flood coats so popular? A lot of people want the glossy epoxy finish so that’s the number one reason, but also because if you’re using wood, that wood will be preserved for life. Also, flood coats keep the project intact so that you never have to re-sand or re-finish the project, unless you keep the project outside year round. If you are creating a project that will stay outside, we recommend sanding it down and re-flooding it every other year to polish the epoxy resin and keep it shining. Also, flood coats are super easy to clean, which we’ll get to shortly!
How to Clean Your Finished Epoxy Resin Project
Let's talk about maintaining and cleaning your finished epoxy project. Here’s a little known epoxy fact- it takes 30 days for a project to cure from the inside out- and before then, avoid placing something hot on top of your work. Yes, table top epoxy will cure to the touch way sooner than 30 days, but to be fully cured with no issues, wait that month out for best results!
Here’s how to keep the project clean post-cure. Grab an ultra microfiber towel, household glass cleaner, and wipe it down. To get it extra clean, you can even use soap and water first, then go over it with that glass cleaner. That’s really it! A good flood coat has a glasslike finish, with no debris, bubbles, or residue, so there’s nothing more than that that you need to use. Avoid using any oil-based projects, which will dull your projects' shine quickly.
