burn in vanity top

[brettcmirl]

I just recently renovated my bathroom which included a custom Lowe's vanity top (corian?) which I'm sure I overpaid but that's beside the point.

It's been less than a month and my daughters curling iron put a burn mark on the top. After some research i decided to sand the mark with 1000 grit sand paper and it did a decent job lightening the mark.

But it left the area scuffed (obviously) and is quite noticable in sunlight at an angle. Here's the question:

Is there a product that can restore the shine to the sanded area? Kind of like a clearcoat you would use on a car finish?

Thanks for any advice!

[jadnashua]

YOu may need to go even higher in grit...you can buy it quite high, I've seen up to 3500. Once you've gotten there, if that isn't enough, you can buy buffing compound and a cotton buffing pad and go from there. When using power tools, make sure to move around and not stay in one place since the heat generated can soften the surface and make it worse.

[geniescience]

Corian is like acrylic, but a bit higher quality. What you bought is probably more like acrylic. Search on how to work on a scratch in an acrylic bathtub.

David

[statjunk]

I wouldn't have thought that would be possible.

Tom

[Mort]

I've used an automotive product called PlastX (Meguiars makes it) on acrylic headlights that were scratched and pitted and had them come out looking almost new. It takes a lot of elbow grease and a few applications but it works. If you're going to use a power tool, applying the stuff to a foam polishing pad and working it into the surface with a random orbital polisher would make the job go much faster....and less elbow grease.

Mort

[frenchie]

I used to polish boat hulls for a living - 1000 grit is pretty noticeable to the naked eye, yeah.

If you sand with 1200, then 1500, then 2200... then polishing compound, you should be okay.

Boat supply stores, or aeronautic supply (if you have a small airfield nearby) will have all of that.

All of these are wet papers: use plenty of water to flush away the dust as you go. 1200 dust will scratch 1500 finish, etc.

It's also a good idea to seal the sanded area, as it's now porous from the sanding. Car wax works fine for this.

[jimbo]

If it is truly a solid surface material, like corian, then one of the great advantages of that material is that color and grain go all the way through, and the surface can be restored by polishing with sucessively finer grits. If you check with your installer, they should be able to give you the procedure, and may even prodide you with a few sanding discs.


If it is an acrylic material, then sanding destroys the acrylic finish, and it must be re-topcoated.

[hj]

It is probably a cultured marble product and sanding it has damaged the thin gel coat.

[master plumber mark]

HJ....is probably 100% right about that

if you got it from lowes its most likely some cheap
immitatioin marble top .....

they use some sort of baked on laquer when it is
in the mold to get the finish on it.....

so you are most likely screwed.

[frenchie]

I have to disagree with your alarmism, guys - if that was the case, he'd be talking about how the sanded area didn't match at all - not talking about how it's scuffed, and "quite noticable in sunlight at an angle".

[brettcmirl]

Thanks for the replies. I have sanded the mark out with 1500 grit wet sandpaper and it acutally doesn't look bad, but the sheen is still somewhat dull. A few applications of Gel Gloss helped a little (not much really).

So a call to the manufacturer and I find the the top is made of "solid surface material".....do they import this stuff???:rolleyes:

They suggested 3M polishing compound #05991 should restore the finish.
I guess that's my next move.

I just wanted to thank Terry and all of you that post on this site.

You have all been an excellent resource througout my remodel project.

I feel kind of foolish that, after learning about cutting out cast iron DWV and replacing with ABS, replacing the old rusted galv plumbing with pex, replacing the subfloor and surrounding walls etc.......that my first post is about a burn mark on the vanity top......oh well.

Thanks again. I'll post back with results of the 3M compound. I'm not holding out a lot of hope.

[geniescience]

solid surface is good stuff, the best of the various types of surfaces mentioned above before you told us.

Continue with the plan frenchie outlined. You didn't go far enough.

David