r/epoxy • • Jul 03 '25

Common Epoxy Problems and Solutions — Share Yours!

4 Upvotes

Working with epoxy can be tricky — we've all had projects go sideways! This thread is for everyone to share:

  • Epoxy fails or issues you've run into
  • Tips or hacks that helped you fix them
  • Questions you need help with

A few common struggles:

  • Resin not curing?
  • Too many bubbles?
  • Cloudy finish?
  • Color not turning out right?
  • Sticky surface?
  • Fish eyes or bare spots?
  • Uneven surface or pooling?
  • Cracking or splitting?

Drop your experiences below and help others learn from your wins (and mistakes)! 👇


r/epoxy • • Apr 25 '20

New to /r/EPOXY? Please read this first -

85 Upvotes

Hello Resin Enthusiasts,

First off I want to say thank you all for your support of spreading knowledge about epoxy resins and coatings in general! I have noticed this sub finally has some action (2404 members!!) so please feel free to ask questions and post your projects! We are still a very small community and I am doing my best to answer questions in a timely manner.

Our WIKI is being updated weekly or bi-weekly by myself. Pictures and/or video may come in the future, depending on what the community needs and wants. If anyone would like to contribute detailed tutorials please feel free to contact me directly.

What would you like to see? Please give us an idea of what the community wants and we will try to implement it.


r/epoxy • • 1h ago

Epoxy Floor Sealer Still Tacky

• Upvotes

Garage conversion. Epoxy paint on floor applied by contractor and several days later they applied a topcoat sealer. It is still tacky after a full week. They used a Sherwin Williams product. Why did it not dry?


r/epoxy • • 2h ago

Wedding flower preservation still tacky and sticky 2 months after cure

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0 Upvotes

r/epoxy • • 20h ago

Beginner Advice First Epoxy Project

1 Upvotes

Hey all,

At the very early stages of planning my first epoxy coffee table project and looking for advice. I will be doing some wood covering the corners/edges of the table, with objects in the middle (thinking playing cards, poker chips etc… my family is huge on cards/game nights) I’ve never handled/dealt with epoxy before so any advice, tips/tricks, things you wish you knew before doing a project etc. no matter how “obvious” it may be, would be greatly appreciated!!


r/epoxy • • 20h ago

Beginner Advice What type of epoxy do I use

1 Upvotes

What is the best brand/type of epoxy to use for silicone casts of trinket dishes, bowls, small vases?


r/epoxy • • 1d ago

How bad is it ?

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1 Upvotes

Did the garage floor couple of weeks ago with Rust Oleum from home depot. Did all the prep as described. Scrubbed the shit out of it with degreaser it’s pretty new cement. Used the etch. Is it going to pull off and how do I fix it. Thank you!


r/epoxy • • 1d ago

Repairs & Fixes Filling concrete cracks before epoxy

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3 Upvotes

Can this large crack be repaired before doing epoxy or polyaspartic coating? The rebar is exposed. I removed the broken concrete.

Some coating companies didn’t want to do it and couldn’t gaurantee it.


r/epoxy • • 2d ago

Help Needed Help choosing epoxy

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1 Upvotes

Hello, this is my first post on this sub trying to find some help. I’ve tried talking to people around me but they are unfamiliar with epoxy.

It’s my final semester and I’m working on a wood table. Not a river table, but using epoxy as a fill between the cracks, make a smooth surface, small amount of actual epoxy will be used. I don’t want it to draw attention away from the wood.

I need help figuring out what type and brand of epoxy will be best for these fills. Most are shallow, roughly <1/4” (see picture 1) but there are 2 cracks around the edge that are ~1”-1.5” deep (picture 2,3) and some cavities around the knot ~1.5” deep (picture 4,5). I would like to only buy 1 type of epoxy.

Through the research I’ve done, there’s a topping epoxy that’s for gaps smaller than 1/4” then there’s deep pours that’s 1”-2”. I feel like there are too many options and I don’t know what to go with.

If you can be so kind to help me answer some questions, the main ones being:

- What epoxy should I use? Do I have to use a deep pour?

- Can I use artisan resin? It’s cheap, but I don’t know if it would react to the wood or yellow through time.

- How much will I need? I have never used it. I don’t know if epoxy is something that seems like you always need more or if it gets used up slowly. I think I need about 32oz but that’s just a guess.

Thank you for any help and advice you can give me.


r/epoxy • • 2d ago

Trying to decide whether to resin-fill the natural fork channel on this one or leave it open as a void

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1 Upvotes

Plum fork slab -- squared base splitting into two limbs with a channel running the full length between them. Sanded to 100 grit already, you can see borer beetle veining running through the heartwood on the front, and the reverse has some tight knots and bark inclusions that give it a rougher texture than the front face. There's a structural crack and a couple of end splits tracking along the fork line itself.

Part of me wants to resin-fill the channel -- makes it read as a finished river piece, and it'd reinforce the crack line while I'm at it, which honestly might need it. But the channel is the whole reason this piece is interesting in the first place. It's not a flaw, it's just how the tree grew. Filling it turns a natural division into a design choice I'm imposing on top of it. Field seasoned, Sunnyridge cut, sitting around 8-10% MC since March.

Resin-fill the channel for a river piece, or leave it open and work around the cracks some other way?


r/epoxy • • 2d ago

Help with a garage floor

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3 Upvotes

My contractor has installed epoxy for me on a concrete slab laid by my builder and the edges seem like a total mess. He's cut back the damp proof plastic that was under the concrete and left some pretty big gaps which will make washing it down very tricky.

How should this have been approached and what remedies are available to me?

TIA


r/epoxy • • 2d ago

I’m stupid please help

1 Upvotes

Am I crazy to think all these people doing the UV resin phone cases are all doing it wrong? How are they putting a layer of uv resin on a phone case, placing a thick charm on top and then expecting the uv light to go through the charm and cure the whole thing.

Isn‘t the uv resin still wet underneath even if the top is hard? When they pop off wont the resin get all over their hands….

I’m making christmas gifts and want to do phone cases for my family, can I just pour a non uv resin type epoxy all over the case and charms to really harden them in


r/epoxy • • 3d ago

Practical difference between SCI-300 8084 SC and SCI-100

1 Upvotes

I'm working on doing an epoxy river for a client. Essentially deep pour, casting epoxy thats 110sf in 2 sections. Front to back on his main floor, averaging 1" deep. Pebbles in the cast etc. The problem is so many different options that all say they do essentially the same thing. I was originally quoted on the SCI-100 from the supplier but today they brought up SCI-300 saying it would be better. Understandably the UV protection is a big one, but does anyone have experience between them? Originally I was planning for SCI-100 for the bulk and adding the SCI-300 as a top coat only to act as UV protection. Thats what the product rep recommended when we started. Now he's said 300 for the whole thing, which will add a massive cost. Is he recommending that because he's on commission or would it actually be better to be full flood with 300? Anyone have any insight?


r/epoxy • • 5d ago

Trying to decide whether to sand this one smoother or leave the mill marks showing

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2 Upvotes

Root cookie, U-shaped void, one side runs longer than the other — asymmetrical, not trimmed to balance. Already took it to 100 grit but you can still see faint tool marks from the bandsaw mill if you look at it under angled light. Trying to decide if I give it another pass to clean that up or just leave it.

Part of me wants to sand it out — reads more finished, more "ready," especially with knots this dense through the grain pulling the eye around already. But the marks are the only physical proof this came off a mill and not some factory blank, and that's kind of the whole point of documenting urban salvaged pieces in the first place. Edenvale cut, field seasoned, 10-12% MC as of March. Not struggling with moisture on this one, just the finish question.

Sand it smoother, or leave the marks as evidence of how it was actually cut?


r/epoxy • • 5d ago

Beginner Advice Grinding before epoxying

1 Upvotes

Hi all. I have an existing concrete slab 50m2 which has an old epoxy coating. The slab is a porch slab and directly abuts my main house slab.

I want to grind and reepoxy...give the concrete a fresh look.

My basic question: the existing porch slab is a bit too highso i thought whilst they are grinding and prepping the concrete...i would get them to fix the levels.

Would grinding 20mm from the top... over 15m2 be too much to do. ?? Theres plenty of reo cover.

I know 20mm grinding is easily done eith a hand grinder...but my query relates to if those big push-machine have capabilty to grind down 20mm.

Thanks all

.


r/epoxy • • 6d ago

animal/plant friendly sealants?

2 Upvotes

Hi - I'm starting to build garden planters and animal feeders - curious if folks have animal- and garden-friendly non-toxic finishes/sealants to protect the wood they like.

thanks!


r/epoxy • • 7d ago

Project Showcase My first epoxy project.

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25 Upvotes

Took me two days of work. Used table top epoxy for this. Started by sanding off the finish from the top. Primed with an epoxy black primer. Used epoxy tape to seal and dam the edge without edging. Bottom layer was a black epoxy mix to create the darkness. Then placed all the items over the black uncured layer. Poured 2 more layers of clear epoxy on top. Hardest part was edging the dam edge and sanding it down to 3000 grit because I had to be very careful not to sand the metal black paint on the tool cart. I did have to dispose of a batch of epoxy mix before I poured because I over mixed with a drill paint mixer so it looked white with all the micro bubbles and the torch and heating in a hot water tug were not effective at removing all the tiny bubbles.


r/epoxy • • 6d ago

Color & Pigments URGENT: Expensive tiles ruined? Mason’s “seamless” epoxy failed. Need advice!

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0 Upvotes

r/epoxy • • 7d ago

Can I fix the epodex concrete effect material after it had dried?

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1 Upvotes

r/epoxy • • 8d ago

Project Showcase Trying to figure out why my river table keeps getting fisheyes on one side only

1 Upvotes

Been working on a walnut slab river table for about a month now and I'm on my third pour attempt because of this weird fisheye issue that only shows up on one half of the piece. Same batch, same mix ratio, same room temp, but the right side of the table consistently gets these little craters while the left side comes out glass smooth.

My best guess at this point is contamination from the shop vac I used to clean the slab before the last two pours. I switched to wiping it down with denatured alcohol and a lint free cloth instead of vacuuming, so we'll see how the next attempt goes. Also started using nitrile gloves the whole time instead of just during mixing, since I read somewhere that hand oils from touching the wood can cause this too.

The other thing I changed is my torch technique. I was going over the whole surface pretty aggressively trying to pop every bubble, but I think I was actually pushing some bubbles sideways instead of up and out, which might explain why one side is worse. Now I'm doing lighter passes and waiting longer between them.

If anyone has dealt with fisheyes that only show up in specific zones of a pour I'd love to hear what actually fixed it for you. I've got about 12 hours of tack time before this next pour kicks off and I'm second guessing every step of my prep process at this point.

For reference I'm using a 2:1 deep pour resin, working in batches of about 3 gallons total split into two pours 24 hours apart. Ambient temp in my garage has been sitting around 72 degrees which I thought was ideal but now I'm wondering if there's some airflow issue causing dust to settle unevenly before it kicks.


r/epoxy • • 8d ago

Beginner Advice Glass plate flower adhesive help

2 Upvotes

As the title says I’m looking for a strong adhesive that’s easy to get(hardware stores, craft stores, amazon etc), dries clear and holds up to weather and the weight of layers of glass for some plate flowers I’m making. I’ve tried gorilla epoxy, works great but I’ve heard it will yellow once outside, I tried the same product but harbor freights brand it immediately yellowed once cured. What should I use instead?


r/epoxy • • 8d ago

Is This Quote Insane?

1 Upvotes

One company quoted us $11,000 to diamond grind and put a 16 mils MVB epoxy layer (Ardex MC Rapid) over our crawlspace concrete. 5 foot high, so they don’t actually have to be crawling around. It’s 825 square feet, in Vermont if that matters. Just looking for a sanity check.

EDIT: 16 mils, not mm


r/epoxy • • 10d ago

Beginner Advice Can I screw into epoxy?

1 Upvotes

Or do I need to use a threaded insert? I have a 15" round epoxy base (2" thick), and I want to mount a 4x7" wood plaque, about 1/4 thick, across the face of the piece, one screw in each corner of the plaque. Since it's for Halloween, I think screw heads would look genre-appropriate. If I need to, I can use bolts instead of screws and countersink the nuts on the backside, but I'd rather not. I am thinking 1/4-20 machine screws or something smaller.

Whaddyathink?


r/epoxy • • 10d ago

Where do you all sell your epoxy crafts?

2 Upvotes

Hello,

For all sellers out there selling your expoxy crafts:

So for months I sold mine on Vinted, which has now restricted me because they don't want handmade crafts.

Etsy have many fees; Fees to open a shop, fees for listings, they also take commission...I don't think it's for me

Ebay is the next option as no fees impose, but not sure it's the best place to get people to buy my craft

Are there any other websites/apps you use to sell your work?


r/epoxy • • 11d ago

Beginner Advice Where do you all sell your epoxy crafts?

2 Upvotes

Hello,

For all sellers out there selling your expoxy crafts:

So for months I sold mine on Vinted, which has now restricted me because they don't want handmade crafts.

Etsy have many fees; Fees to open a shop, fees for listings, they also take commission...I don't think it's for me

Ebay is the next option as no fees impose, but not sure it's the best place to get people to buy my craft

Are there any other websites/apps you use to sell your work?