ingress of water into laminate worktop = new sink?

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January 21, 2008 at 2:05 pm #6666
robthomson	hi guys, good looking forum here, lots of useful info. however – haven’t been able to find anything specific to my current problem so can I run this one by you & ask for some advice. I had a kitchen fitted 4 years ago & was generally happy with the workmanship. We had a round sink & round drainer installed, and discovered shortly afterwards that the fitter hadn’t sealed the worktop properly after doing the cut outs, and water had started to seep into the chipboard. Situation I’m now in is that the laminate has started to bubble quite badly, so I’m hoping to install a larger sink / drainer unit (we’ve decided that while the round sinks are pretty, they just ain’t big enough!) Problem I have is that the current round sink / drainer are probably about 100 – 120mm apart, meaning that the new sink would require a cut-out of a minimum 1030mm x 50mm (to take in the existing holes and the knackered laminate) From what I’ve seen online, a standard 1.5 sink is only around 1000mm length, with a 980mm cut-out, so that’s too small. I’ve looked at 1.75 / 2.0 sinks but most of them state that they’re only suitable for mounting onto an 800mm base unit (ours is only a standard 600mm base) Should I just bite the bullet & contact a kitchen fitter for advice? (before anyone asks, no – I don’t have the original guy’s phone number any more!) And if the answer is yes, any recommendations for reliable fitters in the Edinburgh / West Lothian area? I’m looking to do this on a tight budget – couple of hundred quid at the very most. thanks for any advice
January 21, 2008 at 3:32 pm #6667
timfoley	Rob, Welcome to the forum. This problem is one that resurfaces over and over and correct fitting initially could have prevented it for sure. It’s one of the reasons we decided only to offer surfaces that will never present you with the same issue as Corian, Stainless Steel and Quartz are all waterproof surfaces. I have however written a popular article on the correct fitting of laminate tops and if sealed correctly there is no reason for them not to repel water left on the surface. although my advice would be to always wipe spillages as they occur. The solution, as I see it Rob, would be to fit a larger 1.75 or 2.0 bowl sink. The reason that the manufacturer states it is only suitable for fitting in an 800mm cabinet is that they would never expect that you cut into adjoining cabinets to accommodate the new sink. You can and this will allow you to seal the cut out and the sink underside correctly. I have to be honest and state that this isn’t the type of work that would be of interest to most competent kitchen installers who may earn anything upwards of £1200 per kitchen. The work isn’t beyond someone with good DIY skills and perhaps this is type of person to seek, unless of course you have a go yourself Rob.
January 21, 2008 at 4:24 pm #6668
robthomson	Thanks for the reply Tim, From the initial installation, there’s actually a shallow cut out in the walls of the units immediately under the sink to accomodate the drainer & associated plumbing, and I had considered just making this cut out a little deeper to allow me to fit a larger (1.75 or 2.0) unit. I just wasn’t sure if doing so would affect the integrity of the units, but presumably from your reply this shouldn’t cause too much of a problem. Think that might be the way to go, I’m relatively competent at DIY so I might have a go myself (last project was installing a new shower complete with pump & retiling the bathroom – surely a kitchen sink can’t be as difficult as that!) time to dust off the jigsaw… thanks again for the advice, I’ll let you know how I get on! Rob
January 29, 2008 at 10:59 am #6669
robthomson	hey Tim, I’ve bought the new sink, found a 1.5bowl unit thats 1060mm wide which is just big enough to take in the existing cut outs. Just wondering what’s the best thing to seal the raw edges of the new cut out with? I’m planning on running a bead of silicone round the sink / worktop once it’s in place, but presume it’s good policy to also seal the cut edges before dropping the sink into place – is silicone good enough for this as well? cheers Rob
January 31, 2008 at 11:30 am #6670
timfoley	Rob, Try sealing it thouroughly with a couple of coats of cascemite, a water resistant glue that will protect the cut out from water ingress, Tim
February 6, 2008 at 4:08 pm #6683
robthomson	bish bosh, job done! took a bit longer than anticipated, and required a bit more cutting of the units underneath the sink than first planned (the half bowl sat squarely on top of the 2 walls between the units) luckily I had a friendly plumber on board to do the difficult stuff thanks Tim for your advice, very much appreciated – saved me a small fortune doing it myself!