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I have an outdoor table with an inset area that currently has wood slats.
I am planning on removing the slats and replacing them with a single sheet of plywood/oriented strand board and am looking into finishes for the board, which will sit outside in the sun 24x7 in Arizona.
I am most interested in anyone who has experience with products like Enviro Tex Lite pour on epoxy, EX-74 or similar that forms a 1/4" thick coating AND has UV protection making it usable for outdoor/full sun applications?
Anyone have a product they have used and would recommend?
To be honest, all polymers will yellow over time no matter what. The UV inhibitors in polymers are not permanent and the performance will degrade over time as the inhibitor is used up. In the AZ sun, these would get eaten up quite quickly and the polymer would start to yellow.
If it were me, I'd put something on the table that is easier to remove than the poured epoxy so it's easier to refresh when the time comes. There are a lot of deck stains and protectants that would work quite well for your application. That's where I'd go.
Truthfully, I was planning on putting a layer or two of UV protection varnish over the top of the epoxy, but I see your point.
I was hoping for the look that the thick clear epoxy would provide, perhaps sealing the wood and then covering with a clear sheet of lexan or similar would be better... Really wanted that "bar top" look though...
Well go for it but just know that you will have to replace/refresh the top eventually. I can't say how long the resistance will last but it won't be forever. You can likely greatly extend the life by having the table in the shade and away from direct light.
Another option would be to have the top be removable and therefore make it easy to replace in the future.
It will be removable, just a drop in with a few screws to hold it in place around the edges so when the time comes to replace, we can easily repeat the process or go for a different look.
Now to get the wife to "like" the look of the oriented strand board versus some finely finished plywood.
It will be somewhere in between the two looks wise, but you may want to look at marine grade plywood. I don't know if it really has a finished side as I've only glued boat carpet to it, but it should wear well.
I left my Costco foldout table outside in the rain by accident and the MDF got warped... so I took the steel legs and rails off and will rebuild the table top next spring... initially I thought of pressure treated plywood, sanded and then sealed... but a good friend of mine who is in woodworking said to stay away... he told me to use a composite decking material like trex... my table is only 30"x70" so 6 planks of trex, tied together won't break the bank... it will last forever and not have to be sealed...
see if you can use this towards your application... i'll post pics of my DIY when I do it after winter...
OK, I am moving forward with this project with a few adjustments...
I plan on using a sheet of OSB because the wife likes the texture look. I am going to sand it smooth and then apply multiple coatings of spar urethane on all sides to seal it.
I cannot come up with a good way to get that deep clear pour-on acrylic look AND have it be longer lasting for outside. Maybe using something like Epifanes?
I am going to try to save my arms and do the OSB sanding with a random orbital sander. Any suggestions on initial and finish grit? 80 and 200?
Home Depot online prices are NOT the same as the in store prices and the store often does NOT match the online price. Ridiculous.
That is totally unacceptable. How do these retailers think they can compete with the likes of Amazon when they are forcing you to showroom within their own chain? It's like they are training you to buy from Amazon.
agreed, and apparently the manager in the store is sick of hearing about it, because when the clerk (who was as surprised as I was) called the manager to see if the store would price match the online price, the manager was angry and refused to come out and speak to me!
From the website FAQs:
What is your price matching policy between homedepot.com and the local stores?
Homedepot.com does not match store prices and stores do not match homedepot.com prices.
Last edited by stogie1020; 04-14-2015 at 03:18 PM.
Home Depot online prices are NOT the same as the in store prices and the store often does NOT match the online price. Ridiculous.
...
The spar varnish above is $30 online and $50 in store.
That's nuts! I cannot believe it doesn't price match its own site...
The only stuff I bought on-line from HD were refrigerators it didn't have in the stores, and were more expensive at other appliance dealers which carried them.
I've found that the two local hardware stores and other websites have more specific hardware and generally lower prices on the more common merchandise, FWIW.
10-25-2014, 08:18 PM
That's nuts! I cannot believe it doesn't price match its own site... 
