How To Repair A Hairline Crack In Corian Countertop

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

Q: Our Corian countertop developed a crack, I believe, after the stove that abuts it was moved. We have a very large countertop and it is really out of the question to replace information technology, because it is in skillful condition otherwise. Is there any fashion to repair or at least disguise the crack — which is, at its widest, virtually a sixteenth of an inch across?

College Park

A: A croaky countertop made of solid-surface cloth such every bit Corian can be repaired to wait virtually equally good as new by cutting a matching scrap piece into narrow strips and gluing them into a smooth channel that straddles the crack.

Winkhel Sahagun, owner of the Countertop Guru in Sterling, Va. (703-430-0007; gurutops. com), said that finding matching textile for the patch isn't as difficult as it might seem. Installers oftentimes requite homeowners cutting-lath-size pieces made from sections that were cut out for a sink or stove top. When a homeowner doesn't have that, Sahagun said, he oft finds something that works stashed in his shop or the shops of several friends who install countertops. "Nosotros share when we need a piece," he said. Or if the style is yet electric current, he orders samples or larger pieces equally needed. As a terminal 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 smoothen channel along the fissure, making it virtually 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 chip material to fit in the aqueduct and stuffs them into the gap along with a special glue made past DuPont, the maker of Corian. If the room temperature is about 70 degrees, the mucilage dries in about an hour. Then he levels the surface with 80-grit sandpaper and goes through half dozen progressively finer grits — 100, 150, 180, 220, 280 and, finally, 320 — to create a smooth matte finish that usually matches the surrounding countertop. If the countertop is shinier, he continues sanding with four even finer levels of a different abrasive, winding up with ane,000-grit. "When I'yard done, it will expect similar the original piece," Sahagun said.

He estimated that repairing a curved crack like the one in the photo you sent would toll $300 to $400 and accept about three hours or less.

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

Some handy homeowners tackle these repairs themselves. Besides using a router to cutting the groove, it's likewise possible to use a small rotary cutter, such equally the ones fabricated by Dremel. This cuts a narrower channel, which you lot could stuff with slivers of matching countertop material and suitable mucilage. The website solidsurface.com sells adhesives matched to many Corian colors, too as in a clear formula, for $42 to $48 a tube.

If you don't have matching countertop material simply do have a current style, you tin get up to 6 free sample pieces by visiting the DuPont website.

Q: I had a roof leak, which I fixed past having a new roof put on. Even though the ceiling below the leak didn't suffer a lot of damage, a shadow shows upward on it. It seems to look wet, but the paint is non peeling. The shadow seems to come and go. What is it and how practice I become rid of it?

Herndon

A: If you're not certain whether the ceiling is damp, it's possible that information technology's simply stained in a mode that's more noticeable when the light hits in a sure way. Examination with a moisture meter. Lowe's, for example, sells General Tools & Instruments' Digital Moisture Meter for $thirty. When the ceiling looks wet, compare the reading y'all get in that location with one from a ceiling you know to exist dry. Or printing a sheet of newspaper to the troubled area and check whether the paper darkens, a sign of moisture.

If in that location is moisture, ask the roofer to come up 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, telephone call a abode inspector. (Then, insist that the roofer come dorsum if a leak is found; if necessary, you can cheque the roofer's license and file a complaint through the Virginia Section of Professional and Occupational Regulation.) Exist aware that water leaking at a flashing doesn't always drip straight downwardly. It can travel along a rafter or the underside of the roof for some distance first.

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 exist replaced. If information technology's blackness, whether dry or moist at the fourth dimension, that's a sign that an air gap in the ceiling, maybe around a light fixture or over cabinets where the space above wasn't boxed in, is letting warm indoor air leak into the cold attic. Or there could be a vapor bulwark improperly installed. Warm air holds more wet than cold air, and then as this air cools in the attic, wet condenses and allows mildew to grow, making the insulation blackness. Enough wet could even be condensing to crusade the ceiling to go damp, peculiarly when the indoor air is especially boiling. The wet could also be activating stains that are h2o-soluble.

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

One time you are sure you have solved any moisture issues, press on the drywall or plaster to brand sure it still feels solid and tightly fastened to the ceiling joists. If it's spongy, yous will demand to cut out the damaged surface area and patch. (Cut along the center of the ceiling joists so you tin can fasten the patch to solid forest above.)

If the ceiling is withal okay, pigment it with a stain-blocking primer. Oil-based primers used to be the only reliable way of blocking h2o-soluble stains, merely today at that place are water-based primers that do the chore, such equally 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.

How To Repair A Hairline Crack In Corian Countertop,

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