the sink and the counter top!

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penny mitchell

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Hi !
We bought a sink with the counter and the 2 are GLUED together!
We would like to remove the sink and use a different one.
The counter is granite, the sink is procelain under counter mount. I am worried about breaking the counter.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Penny
 

Jadnashua

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Depends on whether it is glued with silicon or epoxy. If it is silicon, you should be able to get a knife blade in there and cut the thing off. If it is epoxy, I'd have to think about it some more.
 

penny mitchell

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the sink and the countertop!

looks like epoxy to me. pretty hard. silicon is a softer more flexible base, right?
 

hj

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sink

IF the two were preassembled, it will be a "permanent" installation, since any flexible material would allow the top to flex at the sink cutout and break.
 

penny mitchell

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the sink and the countertop

this isn't sounding good. any ideas on how to separate them? i have a tea green sink i'd like to use.
 

Jadnashua

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Got a grinder with a diamond blade? Cut it off. Very messy - get things caught and you'll crack the top, too.
 

Verdeboy

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If the new sink has a slightly larger "lip" than the old one, you can be a little more aggressive. You can try gently hammering a 5 in 1 Glazier Knife under the lip of the sink, or a little bit larger tool. like one of those hand-held floor scrapers, until (if you're lucky) you cut through the glue.
 

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Cass

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Granite top, porcelain sink. under mounted.

Of all the suggestions I would try Verdeboys suggestion. Don't try and get it done in 5 min. It may take some time. You will need to support the top right. If the weight is not supported right it doesn't take much pressure or movement to crack / break it.

I have removed sinks with a 5 in 1 as he suggested but not ones that had been epoxyed down.

You may want to contact a granite top Mfg. and ask them.

If they have been in buisness any length of time I am sure they have epoxyed the wrong sink onto a granite top and had to remove them.
 

Bob NH

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Is the sink porcelain on steel or iron, or china without metal?

If no iron or steel, and you aren't trying to save the sink, then you might break it with a SMALL steel hammer at the center, as far as possible from the granite. You could also use a punch or cold chisel with the hammer to start the crack with even less risk of breaking the granite.

If you do that, it will almost certainly crack toward the edge, and probably through the edge. That will make it easier to get the pieces off the granite.

If you now have trouble getting it separated, you could apply heat to the sink parts, with a propane torch. The heat transfer will be through the epoxy, which should weaken enough to separate the pieces before the granite gets hot enough to be damaged.

YOU SHOULD NEVER TRY TO COOL THE GRANITE WITH WATER. That could produce stresses that would crack it. Let it cool slowly.

True granite will not be damaged by moderate heat. In its earlier life it was igneous rock. However, if there are fillers, those could be damaged. You are not going to be able to put enough heat through the adhesive line to damage the granite, if you are working on pieces and you stop at the temperature that softens or destroys the epoxy.

If the sink contains metal, then you might need to take it apart in one piece. I would apply heat to the sink to see if I could soften the epoxy. The heat should be applied only to the sink that you don't care about.
 

Verdeboy

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I think using heat is a good idea, but I think a heat gun might be preferable to a torch in this instance. It might soften up the epoxy or caulk (we're still not totally sure what the adhesive is). But I would definitely try using a scraper of some kind first before taking a hammer to it.
 

Mikey

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Will you be working underneath the counter or can you turn it over?

I think you should determine the adhesive used before you go much further. Buy some cheap woodworking chisels and sacrifice them to scrape off some globs of adhesive that might have oozed out from between the sink and the granite. Them test them with heat and various nasty chemicals (e.g., Acetone, MEK) to see if they respond to anything.

If something like MEK does soften the stuff, then build a little putty dam around the countertop outside of the sink (I'm assuming it's upside down here) and fill the moat up with the chemical. Let it do its work. Be VERY careful of this stuff or any other chemical likely to do any good. Work outside if possible, do not breath the fumes, and keep away from any source of ignition. If heat seems to work, heat the sink aggressively and let the heat transfer to the adhesive. Once the adhesive is softened, slowly start to pry around the rim with a very slim tool -- I'd drive in single-edge razor blades all around.

Otherwise, I like the idea of breaking the sink up. That will allow you to apply more concentrated force to separate the smaller piece of sink from the countertop. If it's a pure porcelain sink, I'd use a diamond-blade wet saw to cut it off about an inch from the countertop, all around. Then slice it down through to the countertop in 1/2" slices all around. You might then be able to chisel out all the individual pieces. Chisel from the inside of the rim to minimize the chance of chipping off chinks of granite.

If it's a cast iron/porcelainized sink, it's a different ballgame. The upside is that heat might be more effective and easier to apply, but other than that, it's all downside :( .

Good luck. Cass's suggestion to contact an experienced installer is a good one. The guys that installed my vanity bowls used Alex caulk, which seals up pretty good, but isn't impossible to remove.
 
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