Sink divot repair recommendations?

February 16, 2015 1:48 PM

My new farm sink has a small chip in the surface, about the size of a dime, it is a shallow chip.

I spoke to a few plumbers and a few people at the hardware store and no one had suggestions beyond "one step" porcelain repair paints such as the one I bought called Porc-a-Fix

They had the best selection of color and the little dab on the package matches my sink almost prefectly.

I spent some time applying this product and it seems pretty worthless, not only was the color very different when I used it on my sink, it also popped right off with my fingernail when I thought I was kinda done.

I contacted the company, which is very small and a nice person helped me, but gave no clues as to what I may have been doing wrong or why the color did not match. She claimed the dab on the package was taken directly from the bottle I purchased.

I returned the product and am starting over.

Meanwhile I have watched some more precise tutorials on youtube, that appear to be much more "professional", before plunking down the $35, can anyone vouch for this process?


Thats why I am here. again.

Henry

posted by silsurf to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

Yeah...porcelain repair is a PITA. Basically, it's just about plain impossible to get a perfect match. The original glaze on the porcelain is basically powdered glass applied all over and then fired so it all melts together and becomes solid glass. Fixing a hole in it is akin to patching a hole punched in a window. Your best bet is to try again, this time making sure it is ABSOLUTELY dry first and sanding or grinding the spot first so it can get a grip (if you want to get really fancy, etch it with acid too). After you apply the patch, put a piece of plastic over it (like heavy acetate) so that it dries smooth. Also, your best bet is to use a 2 part epoxy rather than a 1 step enamel.
posted by sexyrobot at 2:09 PM on February 16, 2015

I kind of think a dime sized gash on a new sink is too much to expect the consumer to bear and they should replace it for you.

I've had this happen with a cheap sink, and we dabbed at it with porcelain fixer and installed a dimmer switch on the lights. And I would ordinarily say that a chip gives it a true farm-housey feel and I sometimes think the sooner the new car gets scratched, the better, because otherwise it's sitting there like Chekhov's gun, but in this case...new $600 sink? Even I wouldn't make that argument. They should accept the return. If it chipped new, how many times is it going to chip in the next ten years of its life?

Unless you shot at it or something.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:43 PM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]