A word on waterfall foam (in a can)…

[jeremy_mott]

I spent Saturday morning finalizing the waterfall feature on my small pond. I took the liberty of purchasing a can of “waterfall foam” to assist in my endeavor. Previous attempts at waterfall construction had lead to what I call “wrap-around”, where a portion of the water rides around the lip and back under the waterfall and on to parts unknown. Water can be very frustrating. For those that are interested, I added a picture of the finished product to JM’s DBT folder. Here’s a few highlights from my morning. 1. Waterfall foam is great. This stuff is amazing! You just point and shoot and it quickly fills every nook and cranny water can escape. 2. Waterfall foam is not for kids… In a word, it’s messy. It REALLY does expand to 2-3 times it’s size as it dries. It’s almost like a living breathing beast pushing itself out of every nook and cranny into bubbling globs of goo. 3. Waterfall foam is sticky. Man is it sticky! Turns out that the standard safety recommendations (i.e. wear safety glasses, and gloves, and clothes you don’t plan on wearing to church etc.) you always see on a can of every product these days were particularly appropriate in this situation. Once the foam is touching something, it’s not coming off. Don’t even bother trying to wipe it off… you’re too late. If you don’t want foam on it, do NOT let the foam touch it. Period. 4. Waterfall foam dries FAST. 5 minutes and you’re not moving it. Game over. Spray it, set it, done. The fast drying feature combined with the incredibly sticky feature makes for a looooong clean-up session. 5. Do NOT let waterfall foam dry on your skin. The can indicated that acetone (nail polish remover, which is found in abundance in my home) would remove waterfall foam. What I FAILED to decipher is that the can specifically said acetone will remove UNCURED waterfall foam. Once it dries, oh, it’s yours to keep! When the last stone was in place, I looked like some kind of swamp beast from the elbows down. NOT the look I wanted to promote at the pool party I was slated to attend later that evening. I’ve successfully left no doubt in my fiances mind that she’s destined to marry a fool. 6. Waterfall foam does not come off of human flesh once attached. This could possibly be the most significant lesson of the day, and the message I hope to convey to the group. A couple pairs of latex gloves could have saved me several hours of painful scrubbing, scraping, and peeling. I found steel wool and a good stiff wire brush to be the only things even remotely effective. Not completely effective, but capable to removing a layer of skin and thus the outer layer of waterfall foam. I HAVE latex gloves… in the garage!!! what was I thinking!?!? Bottom line – waterfall foam works great, just make sure you wear some gloves… and clothes you don’t plan on wearing again. Hopefully someone can learn from my bonehead mistake! Thanks for reading, Jeremy

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