How To Repair Corian Countertops

A reader is looking to repair or at least disguise this large crack in a Corian countertop. (Reader photo)

Q: Our Corian countertop adult a crevice, I believe, afterwards the stove that abuts it was moved. We have a very big countertop and it is really out of the question to replace it, considering it is in good condition otherwise. Is there whatever fashion to repair or at least disguise the crack — which is, at its widest, near a sixteenth of an inch across?

College Park

A: A cracked countertop made of solid-surface material such equally Corian tin can exist repaired to look about as good as new by cutting a matching scrap piece into narrow strips and gluing them into a smooth channel that straddles the scissure.

Winkhel Sahagun, owner of the Countertop Guru in Sterling, Va. (703-430-0007; gurutops. com), said that finding matching cloth for the patch isn't as difficult as it might seem. Installers often give homeowners cutting-board-size pieces made from sections that were cut out for a sink or stove superlative. When a homeowner doesn't have that, Sahagun said, he often finds something that works stashed in his shop or the shops of several friends who install countertops. "Nosotros share when we demand a piece," he said. Or if the fashion is yet current, he orders samples or larger pieces every bit needed. As a last resort, he sometimes scavenges a section of backsplash from a side wall and the homeowner but paints there instead.

Sahagun uses a router to cut a polish channel along the crack, making it near one-half an inch wide and an eighth to a quarter of an inch deep. If he has access to the back of the counter, he glues reinforcing pieces underneath. Then he cuts strips of the scrap material to fit in the aqueduct and stuffs them into the gap along with a special gum made past DuPont, the maker of Corian. If the room temperature is about lxx degrees, the glue dries in about an hour. So he levels the surface with eighty-grit sandpaper and goes through vi progressively effectively grits — 100, 150, 180, 220, 280 and, finally, 320 — to create a smoothen matte finish that usually matches the surrounding countertop. If the countertop is shinier, he continues sanding with iv fifty-fifty finer levels of a different annoying, winding up with ane,000-grit. "When I'm done, information technology will look like the original piece," Sahagun said.

He estimated that repairing a curved crack like the 1 in the photo yous sent would price $300 to $400 and take well-nigh 3 hours or less.

Tom Jones, a technician who works at FixIt Countertop in Hanover, Md. (800-349-4877; fixitcountertop.com), also said that repairing a crack in Corian requires cutting out a polish groove and gluing in matching cloth, then sanding information technology smooth. He estimated the cost at $450 to $600.

Some handy homeowners tackle these repairs themselves. Besides using a router to cut the groove, information technology'southward also possible to apply a small rotary cutter, such as the ones made by Dremel. This cuts a narrower channel, which yous could stuff with slivers of matching countertop cloth and suitable glue. The website solidsurface.com sells adhesives matched to many Corian colors, as well equally in a clear formula, for $42 to $48 a tube.

If you don't take matching countertop material only do have a current fashion, y'all tin get upwardly to vi gratuitous sample pieces past visiting the DuPont website.

Q: I had a roof leak, which I fixed by having a new roof put on. Even though the ceiling beneath the leak didn't suffer a lot of impairment, a shadow shows up on it. It seems to look moisture, only the paint is non peeling. The shadow seems to come up and go. What is information technology and how do I get rid of it?

Herndon

A: If you're not sure whether the ceiling is damp, it'southward possible that it'southward simply stained in a way that's more noticeable when the light hits in a certain fashion. Test with a wet meter. Lowe's, for instance, sells General Tools & Instruments' Digital Moisture Meter for $30. When the ceiling looks wet, compare the reading you get there with one from a ceiling you know to be dry. Or press a canvass of paper to the troubled area and check whether the paper darkens, a sign of wet.

If there is moisture, ask the roofer to come back and check the flashing on all exhaust pipes, skylights, chimneys or other things that extend through the roof. If the roofer refuses and you're not up to crawling around in the attic, call a dwelling house inspector. (Then, insist that the roofer come dorsum if a leak is found; if necessary, you lot tin can check the roofer's license and file a complaint through the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.) Be aware that water leaking at a flashing doesn't ever drip directly downwards. It can travel along a rafter or the underside of the roof for some altitude beginning.

The attic inspection should as well include checking the insulation over the stained area of the ceiling. If the insulation is waterlogged, it obviously needs to be replaced. If it's black, whether dry or moist at the time, that's a sign that an air gap in the ceiling, perhaps around a light fixture or over cabinets where the infinite to a higher place wasn't boxed in, is letting warm indoor air leak into the common cold attic. Or at that place could be a vapor bulwark improperly installed. Warm air holds more moisture than cold air, so as this air cools in the attic, moisture condenses and allows mildew to abound, making the insulation black. Enough moisture could fifty-fifty be condensing to crusade the ceiling to become damp, especially when the indoor air is particularly humid. The wet could as well be activating stains that are water-soluble.

If there are air gaps, plug them with caulk or other materials, depending on how big they are, so run across if the dampness returns.

Once you are certain you lot have solved whatsoever moisture bug, press on the drywall or plaster to brand sure it all the same feels solid and tightly fastened to the ceiling joists. If it's spongy, y'all volition need to cut out the damaged expanse and patch. (Cut along the middle of the ceiling joists and then you can spike the patch to solid woods higher up.)

If the ceiling is still okay, paint information technology with a stain-blocking primer. Oil-based primers used to be the just reliable manner of blocking h2o-soluble stains, but today there are h2o-based primers that do the task, such every bit Kilz Max, $34 a gallon at Home Depot. (Regular primer won't do, because water-soluble stains can seep through.) When the primer dries, repaint the ceiling.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/how-to-repair-a-crack-in-a-corian-countertop/2017/02/03/e796f8f2-e4b4-11e6-a453-19ec4b3d09ba_story.html

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