Corian sinks--need advice! Asap! Please!

donnatella

About 18 months ago, 3 custom made Corian sinks were installed in my bathrooms. I noticed immediately that all 3 sinks have a seam, inside the bowls, and on the outer lower edge on the countertops. After a few days, the seams turned yellow. The installer sanded the area, and the yellow went away, but the seam was still there. It wasn't as wide as before, but you could see a straight line from one end to the other.

The installer replaced one of the sinks. Same problem! He came to the conclusion that my water must be too hard and causing this problem. The hard water test came out fine. A Dupont representative came and saw the lines. After many emails, I realized the rep is incompetent. All she did was take photos and sent it to other representatives, and get their opinions. I never saw the photos, so I'm not sure how clear and visible the seams were.

To make this long story short, the installer and this rep now claim the yellowing and seams are from cleaning products. I use soft scrub and wipe up any standing water.

My parents have Corian sinks, installed by Home Depot 15 years ago. They have no seams at all. I've never seen a Corian sink that have these seams.

I'm at a loss as to what to do. Has this happened to anyone? Any advice??

Termite

The seams are where the sink joins to the underside of the countertop, right?

donnatella

I'm going to take photos of the yellow seams now, and try to post. Can I post pictures here?

donnatella

Here are a couple of photso. A bit blurry due to close up. The seams are about an inch down inside the bowls, and the outer edge of sinks. There are also yellow visible seams at the bottom/inside the bowls. It looks a square thin yellow line going around. The corners of the sinks have a different shade of white to it. It looks like someone used the white-out ink and brushed in those corners. I hope this makes sense.

donnatella

Yuck, the pictures are very blurry! I'll try again.

donnatella

I hope these images are better. Thank you in advance!

Termite

Hard to tell from those pics but it does appear to be the seam where the undermount sink is glued to the underside of the countertop. Corian counters aren't molded with the sinks, they're seprate peices. After gluing the two together they then use a router and a pattern bit to make the two match up nicely and to ease the bowl edge transition from counter to sink. What you're seeing appears to be the glueline. Perhaps the glue is causing the yellowing or is turning yellow itself. Not something I've seen happen before but I'm not a Corian expert either.

The thing that seems squirelly to me is that the sink appears to have square edges and therefore might have seams at those edges. Was that a one piece sink or something that might have been site-built by the installer?

Your beef should probably be with the installer and his choice of adhesives, not with DuPont.

donnatella

I believe it's the adhesive too. How do I prove it's the adhesive though? The installer claimed he had the adhesive tested, and it was fine.

Termite

You've got me...
I'd say that you need to have a lawyer send the installer a letter or go to small claims court.

Ron6519

Have him send you a copy of the test results if he actually had it tested.
Which is doubtful. These guys need to be certified to work with this stuff. Tell him if he can't get it right, you'll complain to Dupont about his work.
Ron

Elody21

I know this a really old post but does anyone know what happen? Corian adhesive should not Yellow for any reason! Corian adhesive is actually liquid corian and no seam at all should ever show! This looks like the installers mistake. I would be willing to bet they used an adhesive other than corian brand. example A polyester based adhesive such as one for some Avonite is not compatible with an acrylic material such as corian. Maybe an off white was used?
I have pieces of corian that are literally 30 years old, white and has not yellowed.
If someone knows how this turned out, please let me know. Just curious.
Elody21