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working with epoxy indoors


Pete Birch

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I am considering building a CS 20 in my basement but I'm worried the smell of epoxy fumes could asphyxiate my marriage. I'm prepared to isolate and mechanically ventilate the work space but still wonder if that will prove sufficient to eliminate the odours? Anyone with experience in this regard, I'd appreciate your suggestions. I recall reading about one brave builder who I think built his CS 17 in his living room; but now can't find his note.

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Epoxy resin really doesn't have much smell ... not the real strong odor that you get with polyester resin that most people associate with fiberglassing. If you ventilate the basement, your wife may not even notice the odor.

My wife actually doesn't like the odor of epoxy; while I can barely smell it, her nose is more sensitive. She could smell it while she was in the garage, but not in the attached house.

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I'm building my boat in the basement, and SWIMBO has never mentioned any smell from the epoxy getting upstairs. I can barely smell it when I'm in the basement with it. The sawdust and noise is more annoying. (And the circuit breakers going off every now and then because I've got the microwave oven in the kitchen on the same circuit as my table saw. :? )

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I share a house with three other housemates. I have the walkout basement with Rec. room, bedroom and bathroom. I built my Spindrift in the Rec. Room and I slept in the bedroom next to it. I only noticed an odor when I was mixing it.

My housemates never noticed an odor upstairs. If you ventilate your basement separately, you should have no problem.

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I'm partway through building a Mini-Paw in my basement. In the past, I've found when painting or epoxying in the basement, the whole house tends to smell of the chemicals.

I had my Dad build a fume hood of sorts, which is described on this webpage:

http://sailing.guild.org/tanzer22/dinghy/minipaw.html

The 50 cfm bathroom fan is more than sufficient to keep the smell from migrating into the house while the epoxy cures.

Let me know if you have any questions about the design and construction of the tent, I'll be happy to clarify!

Michel

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