How to Refinish a Porcelain Sink

Tired of scrubbing your sink for days without any change? Well, you don’t need to worry anymore. After using a sink for a long time, you may want to make it look better since spots, tints, and marks might discolor the surface. Buying another one could be an option, but refinishing saves a lot on cost.

In some instances, you might want to replace the sink if it is cracked and dripping water, but it is expensive, cumbersome, and at times, messy.

Understanding Refinishing

Refinishing a porcelain sink means cleaning, restoring, or applying another coat on the sink to make it more appealing and decorative enough to also blend with your current home décor.

The materials required to refinish the porcelain sink are user-friendly in terms of cost and also easily accessible; any individual can do the refinishing. In this article, we discuss the complete methodology of refinishing a porcelain sink

Clear the area that you are working on

When starting this procedure, you have to make sure that you remove all the items around the sink to give you enough room for you to work on your sink and to prevent breakage of the delicate details that are found around the tub.

Cleaning the sink

Use a soft cloth with trisodium phosphate to wash the sink. This chemical or its substitute that is friendly to the environment can be accessed from any hardware shop around your proximity. The trisodium phosphate will wash off all the dirt, spots, tints, and scratches from the sink’s surface.

Cleaning the sink’s surface will make sure that the epoxy primer sticks to the surface ideally and without any dirt being left behind.

Cover the area

Use painter’s tape to make sure that the paint doesn’t dribble on the edges and stain the whole area around the sink. If this happens, it can mess up your entire sink area making you have no other choice than to change the whole décor that you had worked on prior.

Detach the sink’s metal drain

First, remove the drain by loosening the huge nut that is just under the sink then carefully pull it down from the sink. Ensure that you handle it delicately because, at times, they break.

Remove the huge nut

It is placed under the sink, which makes sure that the drain to the sink and the metal flange are correctly working. To remove it without struggling and to avoid messing the sink up, turn it in an anti-clockwise direction slowly to make sure you don’t hurt yourself.

Set a bucket under the sink

After removing the draining pipe, it is advisable to put a bucket of any size, preferably small, to avoid any interference when working on the sink. Note that this will solely depend on the size of your sink area. It will prevent any water that had been left on the sink from dripping and messing with your floor. If the water remaining isn’t much, you can use a towel to wipe it off.

Use a putty knife

This knife is used to work on the edges and remove dirt that might have been clogging on the sink. Clasp the knife at an angle of 45 degrees if there is any object that requires removal. Throw away the trash.

Attaching the sandpaper

Fix the medium grit sandpaper ranging from 60-100 grit to the clamps or rather the band on a hand sander and rigorously smoothen or polish the sink surface. Do not forget to scrub the edges too. This will create a rough surface so that the paint can stick even better and also free the sink from small scratches and spots. Ensure that you use the right sandpaper to polish the sink.

Smoothen the surface

Make sure that you use rather fine sandpaper. Get rid of any dust particles or temporary spots that might have stuck on the sink’s surface while using the sandpaper with a clean dump piece of cloth.

Cover the items that are around the sink

You wouldn’t want to mess up your household items when refinishing the sink. So you have to make sure you cover the mirrors with tape and paint sheeting. Wear a mask that is ventilated to avoid breathing in the chemicals and make sure that the room is aerated when you are performing the task to prevent health risks

Applying a layer of bonding agent with a clean piece of cloth

This layer is used to cover the surface of the sink as it is designed to be used for sinks made of porcelain only. It is available at any hardware shop to your proximity. Ensure you wear protective gloves to make sure you don’t come into direct contact with the agent being used. One layer of the bonding agent is enough to lay a good foundation for the paint, then wait for up to ten minutes for the surface to dry up.

Apply the epoxy primer

The epoxy primer acts as a seal which is also waterproof that gives an appealing surface on the brushed layer of the sink. Use it to evenly and perfectly apply it all over the porcelain surface of the sink. Brush a light coat of the epoxy primer making sure that you paint in the same direction without stopping for a while to avoid seeing strokes of the brush after drying up. Give it about 15 minutes for it dry.

Use the fine grit paper

Gently and delicately brush the surface of the sink for a second time with the smooth sandpaper then wash off the dirt with a clean damp piece of cloth. Apply a second faint layer of the epoxy primer then let it dry for not less than 15 minutes. This is done gently to avoid the primer from coming off

Use a thin layer of the acrylic top layer

Brush a faint coat of acrylic to the surface of the sink with the recommended brush of high quality. Do not forget to apply the topcoat in the same direction to prevent the visibility of the strokes after the layer has dried up. Wait for the first coat of the acrylic to dry up for not less than 10 minutes, then add two more weak layers giving them time to dry up for the sink to look appealing after the whole process is done. Give the sink 20 hours or preferably an entire day without using it and don’t use it heavily for the next week. Wash off the sink using alcohol or spirit applied on a piece of cloth.

Polish the sink using a dry sponge

this should be done in a circular motion to make sure the shine is brought out, making it look appealing.

Materials needed include:

• A clean piece of cloth
• A clean sponge
• Acrylic top layer
• Epoxy primer
• A bucket
• A fine-grit sandpaper
• Trisodium phosphate

Refinishing is a cost-effective process that requires little workforce for it to be effective, make sure that every step is followed carefully, and the possible precautions are taken, for instance, wearing the protective mask. Make sure you don’t use harsh scrubbers on the porcelain sink. Refinishing makes your sink look as good as new.