A man in Daytona Beach, Florida, went viral after sharing that he successfully waterproofed his store against Hurricane Ian with spray foam and Flex Seal.
Eddie Kastrul, the owner of Midwest Motorcycle Sales & Rental, posted a video of his undamaged store on Facebook over the weekend. A woman named Cori Bosco (@eastcoastdiy) later re-posted Kastrul's video to TikTok, where it has gone viral with over 1 million views. You can watch the full video here.
Hurricane Ian moved through Florida and the Carolinas last week, causing tens of billions of dollars in damage, reported Reuters. Bosco—a Daytona Beach resident like Kastrul—attempted to waterproof her home by attaching panels to its windows and doors. Unfortunately, the attempt failed, and the storm flooded her home, as it did many others.
"This literally could have saved my home," Bosco said of Kastrul's spray foam idea.
Kastrul's Video
Of course, Kastrul didn't initially know if his waterproofing method would work.
"Let's see how bad we are," he said as he trudged through knee-deep water to the front of his store.
"Holy s**t, it's dry inside," he said as he peered through one of the store's windows. "The store is safe!"
Kastrul cheers as he walks from window to window and finds that his "waterproof seal" worked—his store and everything inside it survived.
"Unbelievable," he remarked.
The Technique
Kastrul told Newsweek that the idea to use spray foam as a seal first came to him during Hurricane Irma.
"I saw on the news the flooding in Puerto Rico and Cuba and knew I better prepare. I thought expandable spray foam could seal the doorways from the flooding and then I boarded up," he said.
However, the spray foam didn't work as well as he'd hoped. So this time around, he added Flex Seal to the mix.
"The expandable spray foam worked for a few hours [during Irma], but when the water sat on the expandable foam, the foam [soaked] up the water like a sponge, and I had a little leakage," Kastrul said. "So this time, after I applied the expandable spray foam, I let it dry for a few hours, and then I sprayed 'Flex Seal' liquid rubber on the expandable foam. When that dried, I had a good waterproof seal."
Kastrul said that he "sealed" his store on Tuesday, roughly a day before Hurricane Ian swept through Daytona Beach.
Viewers React
Bosco wasn't the only viewer impressed by Kastrul's seal—several Facebook commenters thought the idea was "brilliant."
"You're a smart mutha, Eddie! That foam is brilliant," Tim Davis said.
"That's awesome, and you were smart to seal the door," Debbie Mitchell Williams wrote.
"BOSS move, bro," Stevie Ray Evans commented.
Craig Lee added: "You are the water master, sir. It looks like everything is dry! Nice. Happy for you."
In a concluding statement, Kastrul said: "I hope my story helps others. I know it works and could help many people if they knew what I did and how I did it."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Sara Santora is a Newsweek reporter based in Florida. Her focus is reporting on viral social media posts and trends. ... Read more
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