I’m considering a tile kitchen counter [14×28 porcelan tile]. Wife likes the undermount sink and we are thinking that we could make an epoxy edge on the inside of the sink cutout to give a waterproof sink instalation. [I saw an article in FHB where this was done for a laminate counter top]
So the questions are:
Thanks,
Roger <><
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Replies
BUMP! anyone with advice on the above question?
Thanks all for your advice.
Now the debate with Dear Wife is:
Soapstone (approx. $1000)
Granite (approx. $2500)
Porcelan tile w/ tile-in sink (about $500)
(for about 35 sq.ft. counter w/one sink cutout)
I'm leaning toward soapstone but turn around time is 8 weeks.
I think you can get some granite for around $40. per, and I aint doing that top for $500.00. It's two trips no matter what. You would have to pay me $1000.00 min. to do that counter WITHOUT the undermount detail.
You better check that price or the installer before you go ahead.
Eric[email protected]
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
I've seen it alot, You can use your router to recess the sink in plywood and tile right up to the opening. The real trick is cutting a curve in your porcelin.Look into concrete counters, I've done them, they're labor intensive but the material cost is almost nothing. You can do the undermount the same way as slab.
You can get soapstone for $28/sqft - fabricated and installed? With a sink cutout?Depending on type, I buy it for $21 - $45/ sqft - raw. Then I have to fabricate. FrankieThere he goes—one of God's own prototypes—a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live and too rare to die.—Hunter S. Thompson
from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
I did one once and that was it.
I cut the tiles into 1" peices and thinsetted them on. i have no idea how it held up. I did this against my own best judgement at the insistence of the ho.
You ae trying to put a square peg in a round hole.
Good luck.
E
[email protected]
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
Anything can be done.
The question is, when you're done will you wish you ponied up for granite?
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.
- Fyodor Dostoyevski
Materials have inherent limitations. You can't (shouldn't) cut on granite or tile. You can't (shouldn't) put a hot pot on butcherblock or laminate surfaces. This concept of limitations extends to what other materials or components with which they are compatible.
Undermount sinks are not compatible with undermount sinks. Sure you can make modifications, research materials to bridge the incompatibility, but for what? $ savings - unlikely. Time savings - certainly not. Aesthetics - your kidding.
One thing that makes a tile counter top different from a laminate counter top is its uneven surface. This make applying the epoxy evenly - or unevenly just right - almost impossible.
Regardless, I don't understand why anyone would like a tiled countertop. Tiled countertops also mean grouted counter tops. Grout grabs - anything. Dirt, sauce, gravy, soup and sugar are just a few things that are difficult to wash away from grout.
Sure you can make a car float, but there are so many comprimises, adjustments and modifications - why would you want to?
Frankie
There he goes—one of God's own prototypes—a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live and too rare to die.
—Hunter S. Thompson
from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Regardless, I don't understand why anyone would like a tiled countertop. Tiled countertops also mean grouted counter tops. Grout grabs - anything. Dirt, sauce, gravy, soup and sugar are just a few things that are difficult to wash away from grout.
Well, you have my vote for sure![email protected]
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
Many people have made undermount sink installs with tile using bullnose edges to make the transisition. That works, but it still looks funny to me and doesn't work with curves.
A better method is using a solid stone such as granite and have the rounded corners cut by a granite countertop installer/mfg.
I've never seen one that looks decent, and any epoxy edge on a tile will look terrible since it won't match either the sink or tile.
To see for yourself just how hard this is, buy one piece of tile and try to mix a batch of epoxy that will match it. Try to cut a smooth curve with anything short of a diamond drum on a wet grinder and it will be a long day indeed with little to show for it.
Very hard to do. Very hard indeed.
search the net,someone makes a plastic filler you order for your sink. i checked into it a couple years back,seems like 200.00 for one larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Can you get your sink in a "tile in" model that you set flush with the countertop surface. It still gives you an uninterrupted surface to push debris across and into the sink. I have only seen these sinks in Kohlers cast iron sink line up.
It seems like in older homes with laminate countertops there was a stainless ring that bridged the transition from sink to countertop. An old carpenter told me they were called "hoodee rings" (spelling ???) It isn't quite flush but a pretty effective alternative that might work with a stainless steel sink if that is what you are after. Unfortunately I haven't seen this type of sink in the past twenty years that I have been paying attention. I tear plenty out but never see them for sale.
Karl