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Correcting Second Coat Failure (Sanding & Cleaning)

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A bad Epoxy Job on Our DIY Live Edge Kitchen countertop ... how to do Epoxy repair Pt3

What happens here

The second epoxy coat experienced a severe exothermic reaction during mixing, heating to 235°F (112°C) in the bucket and resulting in an uneven, rippled surface on the countertops ('alligatoring'). To rectify this, the failed epoxy layer must be completely sanded off. Begin with an 80-grit sandpaper using a random orbital sander (Milwaukee M18) for aggressive removal, then progress through finer grits such as 120, 220, 400, and finally 600. Between each grit change, the surface is meticulously wiped down with isopropyl alcohol and a clean white cloth to remove all sanding dust and residue. This is a labor-intensive process, described as 'nasty' due to the mess created.

Goal: Remove the failed, uneven epoxy layer and prepare the surface for a successful final application

Tools and materials

  • Clean white cloth — Wiping the surface with isopropyl alcohol
  • Infrared Thermometer Extech IR250 — Measuring the temperature of the epoxy during mixing to detect exothermic reactions
  • Random Orbital Sander Milwaukee M18 — Aggressively removing the failed epoxy and smoothing the surface
  • Sandpaper — Sanding the epoxy (80-grit for aggressive removal, up to 600-grit for fine finishing)
  • Isopropyl Alcohol Good Sense — Cleaning the surface between sanding stages

What they say

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[Music] So, the first coat is down and before we can do the second coat, we got to do a little bit of prep work. And that means going over the surface with a 600 grit sandpaper to remove any imperfections. Now, after we've done that, we're going to want to clean up that surface using isopropanol alcohol or what's the other compound, Frankie? Do you remember? Nope. That's all I used. Acetone. Was it acetone? I think you could. It could have said. Yeah. Okay. So, the some of the issues that we have here now, you can see it while Frankie's working on it is a little bit of alligatoring where the um compound came down and over the side. It didn't get even coverage. And that's always the vertical surfaces are always a little tougher to get good coverage on. We also had a few spots actually in the flat surfaces here. You can see that uh it just we didn't get perfection on the first coat. And that's kind of just goes without saying. You probably are not going to get a perfect first coat. Here's another example where you can see just a little bit of the flaws. Now, because it's dusty, you can see them better or you got to hold a light over them to see them. But after we use the 600 grit sandpaper, we're ready to go for a second coat. Oh, good. Look at the So, can see it's steaming. That is just the chemicals. Let's see what is the temp on this reading. Oh, no. No. No. It never got that hot the first day. No, something is going on. I don't know if it's the that's having a reaction with the bucket. Like if you touch that bucket, that's it off the stove in case that bucket melts. You know what I'm saying? So we don't just have it all over the place cuz then we'll be in a disaster. It'll be in the stove everywhere. Why is that doing that? Right from the beginning, it didn't want to work right. But it's hot. Yeah. It's not working quite the same as it did the first time. No. And all the other times we used it, is it? No. No. It's cuz look at I mean, we got this funky. You can actually see that on camera, which is bad. Yeah. When you can see it on camera, you know that it's not working quite the way you want it to. [Applause] [Music] We had a bad chemical reaction in our glaze coat which made it lay uneven on our second coat during our second coat application process. So instead of lying flat like it was supposed to, it kind of created kind of a riv a ripply river effect. The high spots and lows. Yeah. And so it didn't work right. In fact, the batch heated up on us in…

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