Oh No, I Forgot to Tape the Drain!
By: Sarah Boudreau
Not a great situation, but happens to the best of us. The primary force at work in pouring a tub with Ekopel 2k is gravity. Gravity pushes the thick material down the side walls across the bottom and if you forget to tape off the drain….It keeps on going.
First let’s discuss how to prevent this from happening to begin with. If possible, I would recommend that you remove the hardware from the drain. Here is our Demo Video on removing the drain hardware: https://youtu.be/0dNaug5EOpc. Next put a paper towel or a cloth inside the drain. Place two layers of making tape over the drain and cut out around the drain. If you cannot remove the hardware, simply double tapping the drain will suffice. An extra step that will save you some aggravation is to create a tape dam around the drain. This will prevent the material from getting to the drain altogether making it easier to pull up the tape after (versus cutting it out).
Pull the dam after 2 hours. Some product will run onto the masking tape. Check back hourly and wipe away material from the masked off drain. Once the product has stopped running (4-5 hours) the tape can be pulled. DON’T PULL THE TAPE UNTIL THE PRODUCT HAS SET. Keep in mind it is still wet, so take care not to touch. That’s it. See not too painful.
But the question remains. What if Ekopel goes down the drain? Tricky but fixable if you act quickly. We recommend you heat the area up with a heat gun and use acetone to try and wipe the product out. If it has hardened you may attempt to utilize a Dremel tool to grind out the product.
The best way to address Ekopel in the drain is to not let it get there in the first place. Save yourself the aggravation and plumbing bill and mask it off. It doesn’t take much to mask it off and keep it out. Ekopel 2k is super thick so you do not need to worry about it seeping under the tape. Tape it off and you are good to go.