Anne Burton wrote: > Thanks for the good advice. We are lucky to have a chemist > among us! Sometimes that goes the other way ... <g> > I've determined that my basement, at the present season, goes > down to 56 degrees at night, [snip] > There's not an openable window in the whole space, but there > are the Bilco doors, through which large objects may be > carried and large volumes of cold air may enter. Are there > concerns about ventilation when using epoxy, resin, varnish, > etc? Might it be sufficient to open only the fireplace flue for air > circulation, or would I have to open the doors? *Very rarely,* a person becomes sensitized to epoxy (resin? hardener? one or the other, anyway) -- so that they can not work around it. This is normally an acquired allergic response. Normally, this only happens to those who are sloppy and allow the epoxy to contact their skin repeatedly. Unless you become sensitized, you can work in a basement space which is vented as you describe. (I'm giving you the worst case scenario here -- I've worked with these resins for years, and not always been careful, and have never had a hint of a reaction. That's probably the norm for people who work casually with epoxy.) Bottom line for epoxy: has minimal volatiles, so it's OK in your basement. Bottom line for varnish: has lots of volatiles, and consequently should only be applied in an open, well ventilated space. Open all the doors and run a fan! But, you won't need varnish on your boat until a month or so after you have laid on the last coat of resin, because the resin has to be *really hard* so you can sand it well before you apply varnish. It will be summertime by then ... the birds will be singing, people will be wearing swimsuits, Gene Kelly will trip by your door ... -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Mar 14 1999 - 10:11:57 PST
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