Sealing an Undermount Sink for Dummies

Undermount Sink

Along with "granite"¹ counter tops, the big kitchen and bath trend of the '90s-2000s was undermount sinks. Instead of having a lip that extends over the counter to support its weight, an undermount sink is fixed to the bottom of the counter with built-in clamps. The installer adds a bead of caulk between the sink and the countertop to keep water from slopping over the rim and into the base cabinet. eHow.com's Steven Symes (serial plumbing dumbass) once attempted to explain how to replenish that sealer in "Caulk to Reseal Undermount Sinks."

As readers with even a little common sense should notice, however, Symes labors under a misconception when offering his "advice"...

"Sink installers use silicone caulk to hold an undermount sink in place, as well as provide a waterproof seal. If the original installer did not attach the sink correctly in the first place, using any mounting hardware or allowing the caulk to fully cure, the silicone caulk seal will break and allow the sink to drop. You will need to reseal the break with more caulk."

First of all, we don't quite understand Steven's sentence, "If the original installer did not attach the sink correctly in the first place, using any mounting hardware or allowing the caulk to fully cure...": of course the installer used mounting hardware, otherwise the sink would just fall off since caulk is not an adhesive! Yet Symes continues to babble about how the caulk supports the weight of the sink: "If the installer rushes the job and takes certain shortcuts, the installation does not take as long. After the sink is loaded with dishes and water enough times, the sink starts to pull away from the counter, flexing the drainpipes and potentially leading to leaks in the pipes."

What a moron: is this the kind of "expertise" one wants when looking for DIY help? "If the installer rushes the job and takes certain shortcuts..."? Symes apparently thinks that someone would install an undermount sink by merely "gluing" it to the counter with caulk, since he concludes by "explaining" that

"If the sink has mounting hardware and it was not installed before, you need to drill holes for the hardware in the underside of the counter."

Really? he thinks that someone, anyone, would actually stick an undermount to the counter and not bother to install the mounting hardware? And that any ordinary DIYer would have the tools (and leftover hardware) to

"...apply a two-part construction epoxy to the holes [they] drilled before inserting the mounting hardware through the sink and into the counter..."?

Dear Lord, deliver us from the sort of bull that Steven Symes and his ilk post in their ongoing efforts to make dumbasses of us all, For yet another contribution to the stupidification of the internet, we of the Antisocial Network do award to Steven Symes his third Dumbass of the Day award – and his second of Plumbing Week. Let's just hope no one ever has to live in a house where he's bungled the repairs: you folks in the Salt Lake City area, be on the alert!

¹ To the counter top industry, granite is any natural stone that isn't marble or soapstone. These are the same people who brought us the Marble Slab Creamery, whose slabs are all quartz-rich igneous rocks, though marble is a metamorphic rock that's mostly calcium carbonate. Sigh.

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