This Old #%&@*$ House

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I periodically feel the need to reach out to the collective for home repair and improvement discussion. I didn't see one central thread for this type of stuff, so I figured I'd start one. Bob Vila's got nothing on Goodjers.

and here's my question. Have a big porcelain sink in the kitchen. Flush with the counter top. LAst night my wife was draining pasta and it popped. Big crack up one side, all the way through.

I have some marine two part epoxy I'm planning on patching it with. I have seen one reference to drilling out the ends of the cracks to prevent further cracking, but am a little dubious about that.

Anybody have experience with something like this?

Did you try restarting it?

>.<

CrawlingChaos wrote:

Did you try restarting it?

>.<

Yeah, this isn't going to go well. Getting in before the firmware suggestions.

Porcelain sink cracked or counter top?

sink cracked.

If I find the power button I'll restart it.

Then unplug it, wait 30 seconds, and plug it back in.

But seriously. That's not one I've dealt with. Replacing the wax seal under a toilet? Unclogging the catch under the sink? Replacing a bad breaker in the main breaker box? Replacing a water pump in the heating system? Finding a loose connection in the wiring for a ceiling fan? Crawling through the roof crawlspace above a section of 12 foot angled ceiling to reconnect the vent piping above the microwave?

DONE ALL THAT and more.

Never had a sink break. So yeah, no idea. Good luck though! And if/when you fix it and it lasts speak up so if mine breaks I might have an idea of what the heck I'm doing

Oooh! Oooh! Hi!

I've recently bought my first house and it has unleashed a previously undiscovered interior design streak.

Anyone have any experience with indoor creepers*?

(* Go on, get the jokes out of the way)

Haven't dealt with that either. If you can find a place that refinishes sinks they might have suggestions. We had a company in earlier in the year and they knew A LOT about sinks.

Is it a smaller hairline crack, or large enough that the sink is leaking?

I have not had this issue with a sink (our kitchen sink is stainless) but I have dealt with cracks in a porcelain toilet tank. In that case, sealing it enough to prevent leaks was fine, the cracks didn't propagate any further. With a sink, I'd be a little more concerned if the crack was large enough to cause leaking. Sounds like it's due to thermal stress if the crack happened when draining pasta.

If it's a small enough hairline crack that no leakage is occurring, you're probably fine with the sealant approach. If it's large/deep enough that the sink leaks, I'd be inclined to just replace it. Once you have a crack it's only going to want to get bigger, and you don't want a situation where you load the sink basin with water/dishes and it shatters.

FlamingPeasant wrote:

and here's my question. Have a big porcelain sink in the kitchen. Flush with the counter top. LAst night my wife was draining pasta and it popped. Big crack up one side, all the way through.

I have some marine two part epoxy I'm planning on patching it with. I have seen one reference to drilling out the ends of the cracks to prevent further cracking, but am a little dubious about that.

Anybody have experience with something like this?

Drilling would work to ease the tension that could cause further cracking in that location, but you'd have to do a really smooth, careful job or you'd just be creating more spots that could lead to cracks. Depending on how big and/or forked the break is (and other stress factors wearing on the sink over time), you might want to get ready to just replace the thing later. Once those things lose a little structural integrity, it takes less force/stress to cause another, making a bit of a snowball effect.

It's big enough to leak. Really hoping I can avoid replacing, at least for awhile as it's integrated with the counter top and will not be an easy job to redo.

Are Sink Places in the phone book? Who the hell do I call for that?

You can fix it yourself, but the repair will be noticeable. Look into how to stop drill a ceramic sink, and then fill it out with marine epoxy.

If you're looking into paying someone to fix it, you might as well replace the sink. It'll cost more to pay someone to fix it than it will to just replace the sink.

FlamingPeasant wrote:

It's big enough to leak. Really hoping I can avoid replacing, at least for awhile as it's integrated with the counter top and will not be an easy job to redo.

Are Sink Places in the phone book? Who the hell do I call for that?

Any given remodeling or plumbing contractor should be able to handle it. And yeah, you don't have to replace it right away, but you do need to keep in mind once a crack like that forms, the clock is ticking. Keep it in place for now if that makes better financial sense, but don't let yourself ignore it and get surprised by the (not extremely far off) day it needs to be replaced.

So I have gone the patch route. Outlined the crack with masking tape to make it easier to find and to protect other areas of the sink. Drilled a 3/16th hole at the top end of the crack using a diamond bit. Didn't drill out the other end as it ran all the way to the drain and terminates there.

Patched the underside and topside of the sink using a marine epoxy. Used a small drywall knife to apply it. Underside is a mess as i had my head in a cabinet and I was working on the top part of the crack. Topside I was more careful on. Made sure to get epoxy forced into the crack. Cleaned up excess with the knife, removed the tape, then removed more using a razor.

Going to give it 24 hours to set up, then sand with superfine sandpaper. Fingers crossed.

Cracked down to the drain? Ouch I bet that was a real pain to glue up. Like someone else mentioned, I would be careful about putting a lot of weight in it now.

Has anyone refinished painted cabinets? We are moving into a house that has oak cabinets and sometime in their life they were painted a weird greenish blue color. We would like to strip the paint and stain to a nice light oak color. Any advice?

There's a tool on the market that my father swears by for paint removal called the Dremel Multi-Max. It's an oscillator, as opposed to the normal Dremel rotary tool, and there are tool heads that come with it and are intended for stripping finishes. It's light and maneuverable enough that you could probably strip the cupboards without having to remove them.

When you go to restain, I'd suggest you look into some of the stain/sealant combinations - I've had success with Minwax Polyshades on some of my woodworking projects. They're a little easier to work with over large surfaces because they're not as finicky as traditional stains, and you don't have to wipe them off - they dry like a paint to a consistent colour.

Nitromors is the business for stripping paint but it's proper hardcore: handle with care.

For stripping and restaining, if the paint isn't very thick, you can sand them down with a sanding wheel on an electric drill, I would use something like this. If the paint is on thick, I'd use a chemical stripper, then follow it up with that same wheel. As for a stain/sealant combo, I'm fairly traditional and wouldn't personally use one, as I don't really have issues with doing the extra work like sanding between coats to get a uniform finish.

Fire.

My wife and I have a 60 year-old house that's mostly been kept up with throughout the ages. Some of the things I liked when we moved in, I'm now starting to HATE WITH A PASSION OF A MILLION FIERY SUNS AHHHH!

So, anyone have experience painting wood paneling? Oh, the same room that has the wood paneling has a weird single sheet drop ceiling (Dining room) - it sucks, and I want to give it a makeover!!

The wood paneling seems to be varnished, and it isn't completely flat; there are little areas of scalloped molding in between the main boards.

Thanks everyone for the cabinet staining advice. We will probably start that project in 3-4 weeks.

Zoso1701 wrote:

My wife and I have a 60 year-old house that's mostly been kept up with throughout the ages. Some of the things I liked when we moved in, I'm now starting to HATE WITH A PASSION OF A MILLION FIERY SUNS AHHHH!

So, anyone have experience painting wood paneling? Oh, the same room that has the wood paneling has a weird single sheet drop ceiling (Dining room) - it sucks, and I want to give it a makeover!!

The wood paneling seems to be varnished, and it isn't completely flat; there are little areas of scalloped molding in between the main boards.

Give it a coat or two with a primer specifically for covering up stained wood. The varnish will bleed through regular stuff pretty quick. I have had good luck with Kilz primer. The scalloped stuff will be a pain, don't know of a good way around that.

Sink seems to be holding water. Still treading lightly though.

Kilz primer... Thanks, FlamingPeasant! Yea, I think I'm going to need a series of small brushes and patience for the scalloped trim stuff.

Kudos for fixing your sink. My method of repair would have been to call the handyman. Perhaps this thread will make me a better home-fixer-doer... guy. Yea.

Zoso1701 wrote:

Kilz primer... Thanks, FlamingPeasant! Yea, I think I'm going to need a series of small brushes and patience for the scalloped trim stuff.

I'll second the Kilz.

I'll third the Kilz. We once (when we were younger and much stupider) crack filled wood paneling smooth and painted it. What a waste of time. I think wood paneling looks pretty good painted without crack filling. I wish I'd known that before we crack filled it. This all assumes you're talking about 70's wood paneling with the stupid vertical indentations.

I'm partial to Zinsser myself. Water-based. Dries great. Covers great. Thick like paint.

I think the Kilz is too runny and doesn't cover all that well. The original is oil-based, which I hate working with (mostly because of the clean-up).

I straight-up painted and primed some of that '70s wood panelling (in my neck of the woods, we call it beaverboard, for reasons I've never been entirely clear on.). I'll take a picture of it and post it; it looks fine, and you don't even really notice the indents unless you're looking for them.

Feegle, I would love to see it!

Tear it out, put up proper drywall!

That's a big project though.

Feegle wrote:

There's a tool on the market that my father swears by for paint removal called the Dremel Multi-Max. It's an oscillator, as opposed to the normal Dremel rotary tool, and there are tool heads that come with it and are intended for stripping finishes. It's light and maneuverable enough that you could probably strip the cupboards without having to remove them.

I have an oscillating tool similar to the Multi Max. The blade is very thin and so makes very clean cuts in plastics. I've used it to cut formica countertops and corrugated plastic roofing to great effect. Also, with the way the blade is designed, you can cut things off basically flush with the surface they protrude from. For stripping... what scares me about those tasks is all the curved / concave parts. The Dremel would be great for the flats though.

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