Corian Questions Answered Here

Raymond in MA

I have a customer who placed a hot pot on her Corian countertop in a couple of places. What has resulted is a white ring that seems impossible to remove. Homeowner has tried several different cleaning solutions with no avail, and I tried sanding without any results either. It seems that the stain is really embedded in the Corian and I am afraid to sand too much. I called Corian three time and got three different people with three different answers. Homeowner is ready to ditch the counter all together and get Granite, but it seems such a shame as it is in perfect condition with the exception of these two white rings. Can you offer advice? Thanks
Ray C.

Ken Dolph

For the scorch marks. They are milions of micro fractures. Since the customer is ready to dispose of the countertop there is no reason that you cannot try to sand it out. If yu have not sanded Corian before I would recomencd hand sanding with 100 or even 60 grit until the scorch is gone then sandwith 220 until the scratches are gone. Finish with 400 grit and buff with a grey scotch brite.

The difficulty with power sanding is that the acrylic will soften at about 250 degrees and sanding becomes much more difficult. Yes you can generate some high heats with the friction of the sander. Hand sanding cuts faster than you would think.

cbfx3

If you have not done anything yet there is a product that will repair that without cutting out the piece. It has been used by thousands of home owners with great results for over 15 years.

The process seams strange. You lay a bag of ice on the crack for about 45 minutes. This will widen the crack for cleaning. You clean the crack with a tooth brush and hydrogen peroxide. Then you heat up the crack with a hair dryer not a heat gun. This will close the crack even if you could get 4 pieces of paper in it. Once the crack is closed you apply the adhesive from Art Specialties International (1-800-724-4008) Ths will wick through the closed crack and bond it closed. It is 3 times as strong as seam adhesive. Do not allow any impacts to the countertop for 24 hours (full cure time). Repair is permanent and usually invisible. The adhesive they sell is the same as the first choice of the duPont labs 40 years ago.

I hope this helps.
Ken

mics_54

I answered an ad a few days ago on CL that was seeking a trim carpenter and "certified" solid surface installer. I spoke on the phone with some guy in anchorage about a remote job he had in Cordova. He said it only paid 20 bucks :/ Anyway...I told him I wasn't "certified" but have done solid surface installs in institutional and labs. These tops were epoxy resin. I told him I didn't think there would be a big difference. He assured me they were totally different. I guess it's rocket science.

Should I go get certified?

man your dumb

yup. i do this for a living also.

CorianVanityTop

Ray,

As Ken D. explained well, what you are seeing is a ring of tiny cracks that go deep into the Corian material...... exactly how deep is the question! When the hot pan sat on the surface, that small area started to expand dramatically and had no place to go. The surrounding area of counter was still cold and caused the hot material to bow upward creating a little 'hill' until it was eventually able to cool. The crack occurred during these extreme changes.

Sanding the area may remove many of the tiny cracks, thereby improving the appearance. But I expect much of the damage will remain visible as many of the cracks are deeper than a sander will go. Hiring an expert to come in and replace that damaged area with matching material is the sure way of getting those surfaces back to looking like new.

The way I personally would repair these areas is as follows: I would program and CNC machine 12+-" circular pieces of matching material, face-down, using a cutter with a 75 degree angle. These 'male' pieces would be replacing the damaged area. I would then cut a matching circular pattern out of scrap that would later be used on site for the hand held router. The router, fitted with a 75 degree cutter w/bearing guide, would be adjusted to make the 'female' cut-out for the new material to drop in. The 75 degree angle used keeps the new piece from falling through and results in a tighter fit as downward pressure is applied. The Corian color matched adhesive hardens in less then 45 minutes. If done correctly, the repair will be difficult if not impossible to detect.

What city/town is the jobsite located? I may be able to do the repair work or recommend someone in your area.

Troy

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Semi-Custom Corian vanity tops at www.NantucketVanityTops.com

CorianVanityTop

Different manufactures of surfacing material handle certification in a variety of ways. For example: Dupont Corian Certification is only given to businesses that meet all of the criteria including minimum shop square footage, printed price catalogs, a sales person and a key employee that has gone through official DuPont training. Any individual employee that says he/she is a Dupont Corian Certified Fabricator/Installer is confused or not being truthful.

As for other brands, I'd check with the local distributor for info. There may not be any certification at all. By the way, epoxy tops are not usually considered solid surface.

I hope this helps.

Troy

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Semi-Custom Corian vanity tops at www.NantucketVanityTops.com

WFD41

I have a question, I have a white corian sink. I wish to change the color. is there a stin or paint I can use to tint it dark? Thanks

mics_54

What criteria, exactly, designates a material as a "solid surface"?

Ken Dolph

I met the man who invented the term Solid Surface. He did it off the cuff when asked, in an interview, "what would be the generic catagory that Corian would fall into." The term has com to mean a material made of a polymer binder with a filler. For some solid surface that means a polyester binder with styrene filler.

100% acrylic Solid Surface refers to 100% acrylic binder. All sorts fillers have been tried. Most are just that, fillers.

When Dr Slocum invented Corian ATH was chosen to provide many advantavges to a pure acrylic. This made a uniquely tough material that was originally envisioned as an industrial wear surface.

Ken

bwalley

Not that I am aware of.

jhammer7

Is there a touch up process or buffer recommended for a 12 yr old vanity top that is otherwise in good shape?

CorianVanityTop

Yes, there is a process of finish sanding that can be used to get the surface looking like new again. That's one of the advantages of solid surface. (Just make sure that this is Corian or a comparable solid surface material. Attempting to refinish a Swanstone or cultured marble vanity top would result in permanent damage!)

THE PROCESS:
Where to begin with the sanding stages depend upon the condition of the counter top. Using coarse sand papers unnecessarily just creates more work for yourself.... when you consider that each stage of sanding to follow, has the job of removing the scratches created by the previous stage. Most vanity tops do not get the wear and tear that kitchen tops would, so I expect a 2 stage process is likely all you'll need. First protect the faucet, backsplash and any other adjacent surfaces with 3 layers of masking tape in case you get to close to them with the sander.

Stage 1 - Start with 220 grit or even 320 grit sand paper on a random orbital sander. Begin sanding the areas most in need since the paper is sharpest at first. Blend in sanding the entire surface with several passes to produce a consistant finish. To acheive this, the final passes should be done with the least amount of pressure.

Stage 2 - Using the same random orbital sander, sand the entire surface with a 3M Scotch Brite (#7447) pad to remove most of the finish marks left by Stage 1 sanding. (This product can be found at some hardware stores or online. If you have trouble finding Scotch Brite, send me a private message.) This stage brings the surface to the standard matte finish which is most often used.

Since you are in Southern New Hampshire, my company could do the refinishing process if you do not want to do this yourself. Send a personal message to me regarding this if you wish.

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Semi-Custom Corian vanity tops at www.NantucketVanityTops.com