Like many of the walls in the house, the sink had been beat on and had dimples around the edge. The faucet was a cheap one I had picked up last year just so we could have running water in the kitchen; the handles were broke off the old one.
The biggest fear about working with something which has continual exposure to water is how much hidden damage is there. Because the countertops were not standard width, the sink was right up against the wall and the caulking job wasn't all that great.
It was just nasty and I was afraid what I would find when I pulled the sink out, particularly since there was a perceptible sag in the middle of the back of the sink.
In the front of the sink cabinet, holes had actually been drilled in a cross piece so water wouldn't collect.
It actually wasn't as bad as I feared.
...with most of the damage limited to the particle board to which the laminate was attached. It was relatively easy to beef up the back support
...with a piece of 2x4 and 2x2 secured to solid wood in the wall and cabinet back.
Once I had the back bracing in place, I starting working on the tile surface for the old countertops. Originally, I had planned on using Bondera to attach the tiles directly to the laminate.
However, if you remember from my last post, I had to square the corner cabinet up against the spacer I had attached to the side of the old cabinets using a wedge. When I did that...
The new countertop, whose height I had measured several times, was now 1/4 inch higher than the old countertop. I was not happy.
But, all things considered, it was probably for the best. I was fortunate that it was exactly 1/4 of an inch so I planned on using 1/4 inch plyboard to get the entire counter surface on the same plane. This has the side benefit of providing a better surface for the Bondera Tilematset.
Off to Lowe's to get the 1/4 plyboard which I had ripped to the 22 inch width (about 3 inches less than standard) of the old countertop. With the sink out, I was able to mark the areas that had to be cut out.
First cut out marked was for the small drawers on the left side under the cabinets.
Once that was cut out, I slide the plyboard into place.
And I was able to crawl under the sink opening and scribe the opening on to the underside of the plyboard. (I planned on replacing the old sink with one of the same dimensions.)
Our mantra for the house has been, "Never pay full price. Recycle / Reuse whenever possible." So, for the past week, Robyn has been searching Craigslist for a kitchen sink in good shape that was 33" wide by 22" deep. She found a white cast iron one, in near perfect condition, for $100. Nine inches deep with the faucet and soap dispenser included. Her find saved us $300 or $400. The old one went into the back alley and Robyn posted on our neighborhood forum that it was available; it was gone in a couple of hours.
The next challenge that I had was fitting the new sink into the old hole. While the nominal dimensions were the same, the sink parts that would be under the counter weren't. The bowls on the new sink were bigger area-wise as well as deeper (9 inches versus 7 inches).
Here was my first attempt to fit the sink...
Out came the red felt pen and I marked the areas which were hanging up and went to work with the jig saw.
...and then with the sawsall.
...and again.
...and again.
...and again.
Two or three hours later, the old front of the cabinet was gone. A new front brace was in place. And I had a rough, very rough, opening.
... I had lots and lots of saw dust and small chunks of wood.
But the sink fit...
So, it was time for a break. After a shower, Robyn and I went over to Swede Holow Park to check out "Art in the Hollow."
And then had an awesome dinner at Yarusso Brother's Italian Restaurant
After a 2 or 3 hour break, I was back at it, cutting and fitting tile. First thing, I had to do was rebuild the front of the cabinet.
The front of the cabinet had to come out far enough so I would eventually be able to put a cover on the heater / ac vent. I plan on putting while 3" x 6" tile on the cabinet extension so that it will look like the apron on a country sink.
As soon as it was up, I started putting the sink rail and border around the sink opening. Rather than using small pieces of tile, I used 3"x 6" tile cut down to size. I wanted bigger pieces of tile to rest the sink on.
Day 1 of no kitchen sink ended around 8:00 pm. I had to wait for the adhesive to dry before I could cut and fit the rest of the tile which would go around the sink. Once I have the entire countertop set and grouted, I'll update my blog with that work.
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