Home Improvement

Xadion said:

menial oil

Click to expand...

Is that what they sneak over the border from Mexico?

I'm exploring the possibility of doing contracting/subcontracting for countertops and vanities and did my first proof of concept today. I only have two colors on hand, so this wasn't intended to be a color recipe test so much as a procedural/familiarization exercise.

I taped off a corner of the piece to show that this was all done on top of an existing formica countertop section. The backsplash looks pretty bad, so I'll either need to get better at applying the epoxy vertically or approach it differently. But I'm pretty happy with how the rest of it turned out. More color (or more color tones) would've made this a keeper. Looking forward to testing out more colors/combinations once the rest of my tints come in

Edit: I should mention that since it's epoxy, there's a depth that will never come through on a 2D photo. It's much more impressive in person.

I got that section of formica for $5 from the habitat for humanity "ReStore" down the street. I'd definitely check it out if you're nervous about doing something permanent to your current vanity.

That piece (it's 2ft x 3ft) took less than 20 minutes to clean (with TSP), sand the formica (only to rough it up, not to remove anything), and apply a coat of bonding primer. I let the primer dry over night then mixed and spread the epoxy and color this morning. With this epoxy you've got about 45 minutes working time but if you go into it having a good idea of where you want to run veins and colors, you can do it in 15-20 minutes. I had plenty of time to blend and finesse.

This is how the piece above looks after curing for 48 hours:

Not home improvement per se, but I can see people using this at home.

I put 8 bags (400lbs) of this in a good sized pothole at work. It's Quikrete brand blacktop repair. I only used this because the local Home Depot didn't carry a single alternative product.



They say to cut out or square off the edges of the pothole, and for good reason. If it tapers upwards until it's very thin, it won't adhere very well at the edges. We tried it without chipping the pothole sides square anyways, because frankly while we made time to do this, we had more important things to do.

The reviews are hit and miss, with some really, REALLY negative ones out there. The wording on the instructions has some...interesting...legalese (my favorite being "...
produces a virtually permanent repair". FFS, I don't want "virtually" permanent, I want completely permanent).

This shit is sticky as fuck right out the gate. After tamping it in stages and leveling it as best I could, I tried putting plywood over it and driving over the plywood. It didn't stick to the plywood in huge amounts, but it was covered in a lot of specks and small pieces of whatever black, tarry binder is in this. Supposedly you can drive on this immediately (they say you should, in fact, to tamp it down further) but on Day 1 I tested it with my finger and not only was it the consistency of oatmeal, it stuck to my finger pretty well. The morning of Day 2, when it was still cold, it seemed SLIGHTLY firm, but as soon as the sun came out...completely gooey. On Day 3 someone insisted on driving over it, and left a noticeable depression about 1/8" deep.

The literal best tip in regards to this was to brush some fine sand over the top, so it wouldn't stick so badly. I was worried someone would drive over it while it was still sticky, and flick small amounts up onto their car. Once I brushed some sand over the top, the stickiness was eliminated and we started driving on it.

After 4-5 days we asked one of our local freight drivers to drive over it to see what would happen. He wasn't fully loaded but he had a couple tons at the front of his trailer, above the fifth wheel/drive axle. We watched as this stuff smooshed a little, but it actually took the weight.

From all of the reviews, it seems like the first 2-3 days freaks people out because it's so soft and sticky, especially in the summer heat. It did harden up, but I don't know if I trust it enough to drive on it immediately like they say, without putting sand over the top.

Xadion said:

I have an asphalt driveway that I have used that or whatever the generic stuff they had was - for that, yes you need well defined "sides" - it does not have to be perfectly square, that just looks better.

I live in FL so it dried out quickly - it will take longer in cold places because the cold does not "dry it out" it just "makes it hard(er)" that is why once the sun came out it was sticky again - it has to go through that process.

Also - you /should/ use the smooth crack fill stuff to make a nice top flat layer - then do a seal coat layer. But yes, it is a bunch of little asphalt rocks in tar that you stamp down...it works...lol

I will take a picture of my two repairs I did with them...after they have weathered they do not look bad - I have not given them a sealing coat as I was just going to do the entire thing again - but I may be getting pavers - because, screw asphalt.

Click to expand...

This past week someone went to back into a parking space and turned one of their front wheels while sitting right on top of the patch. I was kind of irritated to see that it rolled a lot of the rock in a hand-sized spot 'out' and left an easy-to-see black spot with rolled tar about 1/16" deep. Not even sure if I'll have time to look at it this week (surgery and numerous service calls coming up) but I'm hoping the rock and filler will tamp back down.

I have a bucket of sealer I've been wanting to put over it but the instructions say to wait at least 30 days, if not 90 days. Not sure I have that much patience, LOL