How to Repair a Leaking Outdoor Fountain

LESLIE: Jack in Florida is on the line and has a question about a leak. What can we do for you?

JACK: Got an outdoor marble fountain, like an Italian travertine, natural-stone fountain? But the bowl has got – bowl is porous and it leaks out just slowly. And I wondered if – what kind of product I might skim that inner surface of the bowl with.

TOM: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. I would think, probably, an epoxy compound – an epoxy paint. Because, as you say, it’s very porous. We want something that’s going to last, perhaps be easy to clean so you can wipe it down at the end of the season. So I would think that if you drained it out and dried it really, really well and use an epoxy patching – an epoxy-paint compound – it’s basically two parts. It’s a chemical dry, so you have the base and then you have the hardener. And you mix them together and then you have an hour or two to work with it. And then once it dries, it really is quite solid and has very good adhesion.

JACK: OK. I guess I’ve never heard of that. What …?

TOM: You see it a lot for garage floors, basement floors and sidewalks. You’ll see it in home centers. QUIKRETE makes a version of it and there’s a number of other manufacturers, as well.

JACK: OK, excellent. And now, you think that would withstand the weather in the winter?

TOM: Yeah. No, I think it would.