Does anyone having any tips or thoughts on mounting a kitchen sink UNDERNEATH a formica countertop? My customer likes formica as a kitchen countertop (and the color choices available), but wants the sink mounted underneath for a clean effect which admitedly is also a lot simpler to maintain. I have always mounted sinks on formica tops. What I am worried about obviously is water and urp getting between the top of the sink and the relatively unprotected underside of the counter top. Are there any specialized formica counter top formers/makers who can form the product around a normal sized sink opening or does one have to patch pieces on the bottom and inner sides of the cutout?
Thanks much!
Replies
It sounds like you're asking if the formica can be formed in a quarter round fashion around the cutout for the sink. I don't think that's remotely possible ... although I'm not a formica installer.
Let's take a rectangular sink as an example. To get coverage, let's assume that the formica can be bent in a 90 degree fashion without breaking. We cut a rectangular opening, and lay the formica on top of the opening, with enough overlap to reach down the substrate. To get the left side all the way to the corner, you'd have to have the formica "cut" about an inch down the back side so that the part that folded down covered the complete side. Now there's not enough formica left to cover the back edge.
Bottom line, there's not enough material to cover everything that needs covering.
But, more importantly, this is a nightmare waiting to happen. Water can and will get between the countertop and the sink, and it'll start destroying the substrate.
But since this homeowner loves formica, she'll be able to get a new pattern every so often ... :)
John
One of the things I've wanted to try is to use solid surface material in a similar application. For this, the 'field' would be 1/4" sheet on some sort of underlayment. At the sink, a full-thickness section would be built up (with a rabbet for the underlayment). The built-up section would be a rectangle of a size to accommodate the sink. Once the sink dimensions are known, the sink opening would then be finished with whatever radii and edges needed.
In the 'real' world, 1/4" solid surface is probably ludicrously expensive. The solid surface manufacturers probably would not recommend installing over an underlayment. Probably some more objections I can't think of just now.
Seems like there would be some benefits to being able to "make up" the entire surface, from backsplash to counter edge in one seamless go. Until the next HO wanted it ripped out . . . :)
For undermount sinks, be sure to get a sink 1" shallower than desired. That 1 1/2" difference can be pretty critical working around the drains and disposal.
Its not doable..... The exposed substrate would take a beating and fall apart in no time.
I did something like this years ago. I used plywood as the substrate. In the area where the sink would go, I routed a quarter inch deep and put in sheet acrylic plastic, so that its top surface was at the plane of the top of the plywood. I found some adhesive that would bond to acrylic plastic and to the underside of the formica, and was completely waterproof. It was fairly expensive, so I used it only on the acrylic, and used my usual formica adhesive elsewhere. I used an undermount sink. I made support bars that screwed up to the underside of the plywood and caught the underside of the sink's mounting flange, and used caulk to seal the flange top to the underside of the acrylic. When you look at the sink, you see the cut edge of formica, then below it the quarter inch of acrylic, then the sink flange below that.
To continue the theme, I put the same layer of acrylic at the edge of the counter. I glued formica to the front of the counter. Then I put a 45 degree bevel on the edge, cutting through the top formica and the front formica to reveal the same colored stripe as around the sink.
This lavatory has been in daily use for over ten years, and shows no sign of deterioration.
The place where I get my laminate and tile has been showing me a product that's suppose to work in this application.
Haven't used it myself, as yet.
http://www.counter-seal.com/
View Image
I was gonna say before I saw your link that I've done only one laminate countertop with an undermount sink. What we did was we cut the opening where the sink goes 3/4 inch bigger all around and then lined the opening with 1 1/2 x 3/4 inch (actually, slightly higher) strips of Surell (solid surface). We then sanded the solid surface material flush with the plywood substrate. We then laminated white mica to the whole counter and used a 1/4" round over bit to trim the opening. After, we installed the undermount sink in the usual way.
I'm not really happy with the way the job came out. While it looked great when we first did it (4 years ago), I can see where it might start to delaminate soon at the laminate/Surell glue line.
It seems that CounterSeal product is based on the same principle I just described.
Boy, I could be wrong, but I think I remember my countertop fabricator guy telling me just a couple of months ago that Wilsonart has a new product/system/method for doing just this. As I remember, he was saying that it somehow involves using gibralter (solid surface) around the perimeter of the sink opening. I really don't remember any of the details, but you might want to contact Wilsonart and hit them up for ideas.
thank to all for the feed back
Try using West Systems Exopy resin I don't have their link, but most of all the boat building industry uses their product. Brother in law builds ice and sail boats using products. Even built a shower using oak veener sheets, walls and floor 10 years ago and hasn't ever had a problem.