Wet and dry sandpaper A cultured marble vanity top is more likely to be found on remodeled or brand new houses. This surface material is considered a high quality upgrade that can make your home more valuable. Because cultured marbles is prone to scratches, you can find its surface marred with faults after time. Scratches can be caused by abrasive commercial cleaners or by beauty products that can cause the cultured marble to look faded and dull. It could also be stained by such products. If you want to maintain the glossy and brand dew look of the cultured marble top for your vanity, you have to make repair. Before undertaking any scratch removal, you should focus on cleaning the surface of your cultured marble. This will ensure that when you finally get to the removal of the scratches, there will be no dirt or grime that will mar your efforts. The cleaning will also make the scratches show up better, so you could easily identify the areas that have more damage. If you need to take out deep scratches that do not go all the way through the fiberglass, you can make use of wet and dry 800-grit sandpaper.

Finer repair could be facilitated with 1000-grit sandpaper. Use the appropriate sandpaper on the area where the scratches are located. Then attach a wool buffing pad to a high speed buffer and use the tool to polish the marble to a high gloss. An automotive car wax is ideal for scratched areas of a cultured marble. Beach Wedding Dresses In MauiUse a wax with carnauba among its ingredients. Prom Dresses Uk AffordableBring it up to a high shine with a wool buffing pad. Free Moving Boxes BaltimoreAlternatively, you can use a high speed buffer. For yellowed or faded cultured marble that has more extensive scratches that can already be classified as minor cracks, use specific marble solution products. Such solutions contain ingredients that fill up small and fine scratches while lightening up the color of the yellowed or faded cultured marble.

To prevent more scratches as well as other damages to your cultured marble vanity top, wax it regularly with marble specific products. These products are better because they have been manufactured for regular use on cultured marble tops like a vanity top. When applied on a regular basis, the wax will maintain the shine of the marble and protect its surface from being stained. Although regular cleaning is essential, the kind of cleanup that you do on cultured marble is essential in its appearance. Abrasive powder or gritty cleaners should be avoided if you have to clean your vanity top. Use only cleansers that have neutral pH, and are recommended for use on cultured marble. Use the cleanser with a white and soft nylon bristled brush. If you regularly use beauty products, avoid storing them on the vanity top as it can permanently stain the cultured marble.Cultured Marble Countertops - Should I replace or refinish my countertops? Cultured marble countertops are excellent candidates for refinishing instead of replacement.

Cultured marble is a blend of marble dust and polyester resin and is often used for bathroom vanities, sinks and shower pans and walls. Over time cultured marble can become scratched, chipped, stained, or simply out-dated. Miracle Method can repair any damage and refinish the surface eliminating the need for expensive replacement and re-plumbing. Miracle Method extends the life of your cultured marble sink or vanity and can update the color of your countertops at a fraction of the cost of removal and replacement. Cultured Marble countertops and vanities can easily be repaired. A man-made composite material, cultured marble is easily chipped, stained, or burned by cigarettes. Cultured marble sinks often develop cracks around the drain. Called thermal shock, it is caused by fast, repetitive changes in temperature from hot to cold. Fortunately, any damage you have to your cultured marble sink or vanity can be easily repaired prior to refinishing. With Miracle Method’s Natural Accents™, dozens of attractive colors and patterns are available to restore your cultured marble vanities and sinks to the most current look.

The amount of savings by refinishing cultured marble countertops and vanities over replacement depends largely on size and the complexity of your current countertop installation. Before you decide on a removal and replacement makeover, contact your Miracle Method professional for an estimate to refinish your cultured marble fixtures. For the finest in cultured marble refinishing, click on Find a Location and get a free estimate from your local Miracle Method franchise. Only Miracle Method can provide a factory finish that will provide years of trouble-free service. Tips to Repair Cracked or Chipped Bathroom Countertops Tips to Repair Cracked or Chipped Bathroom Countertops Bathroom countertops take a lot of abuse and heavy traffic. Even with the most careful cleaning and use, chips and cracks can form in the surfaces. Luckily, fixing these cracks and chips is a quick, easy, and cheap task. Regardless of the material, fix the problem as soon as you notice it to keep repairs simple and effective.

Epoxy glue can easily be used to fill any cracks or chips on a counter top. The color will not match, but with a couple of bottles of finger nail polish, the color can easily be added. Finger nail polish comes in thousands of colors and will withstand the moisture of a bathroom. Dab it on in small amounts for maximum effect. Clean with acetone first, then fill small cracks or chips with super glue. The glue bonds with water to adhere, so it is perfect for a bathroom countertop. It works best on smaller cracks and chips along a horizontal surface. The glue fills in the crack and makes it virtually disappear. The same is true for a small chip. Be sure to smooth the glue over a chip so the surface remains flush. Bathroom Restyle: Mosaic CountertopGive your bathroom a dramatic makeover in one long weekend by replacing the vanity cabinet, sink and faucets. We'll show you how to remove the old cabinet and plumbing, choose and install a new vanity, sink, faucets and countertop. 

Changing a vanity is relatively easy. All you need are basic carpentry and plumbing skills. And if you paint the walls at the same time, you can achieve a stunning transformation. Give your bathroom a dramatic makeover in one long weekend by replacing the vanity cabinet, sink and faucets. Sinks and vanities get more use than any other fixture in your house. It’s no wonder they can look tired and run-down after five or 10 years. Fortunately, changing a vanity is relatively easy, and if you paint the walls at the same time, you can achieve a stunning transformation. In this article, we’ll show you how to remove your old vanity and install a new one. All you need are basic carpentry and plumbing skills and usually just one weekend. We wanted an elegant, fine-furniture look for our bath, so we went with a special-order multiple-piece vanity and matching solid-surface top from a local home center. You may decide to purchase a one-piece cabinet with a matching top, which is a bit easier to install, but the basic how-to will be the same.

Just follow our photos and read the text for buying information and additional tips. New vanities (4 ft. long) can cost anywhere from $150 for an off-the-shelf model at a home center up to $3,000 for a first-class piece of fine furniture. The top can be anything from cultured marble with a molded bowl starting at $140, a plastic laminate top for about the same price, or a solid marble or granite top costing as much as $2,000.While some of these prices might knock your socks off, keep in mind you’ll be able to find something in between to fit your budget and taste. Our setup was about $1,200 for the cabinets and about $950 for the solid-surface top with molded bowl. Removing your old vanity may be the toughest part of the job The first thing to do, of course, is to shut off the water supply (Photo 1).Next, disconnect the plumbing connections that supply water to the faucet and the waste trap below the sink. Both nuts on the trap unscrew counterclockwise. If you have shutoff valves under the vanity that supply the hot and cold water, be prepared for the possibility that they may leak even after you’ve turned them off (clockwise).

If they’ve been there for 20 years, the valves may be corroded just enough to let a little water trickle out. If this is the case, shut off the main water supply and then replace the shutoff valves. You can get replacements at any hardware store or home center. Instead of coming out through the wall as in our photos, sometimes your water supply comes up through the bottom of the vanity. In this case, you’ll have to shut off the main water supply and remove the shutoff valves so you can lift the old vanity away from the pipes. When you install your new vanity later, just cut matching holes in the bottom to make way for the pipes and then install new shutoff valves once the new vanity is in place. With the plumbing unhooked, see how your vanity top is fastened. If it’s a one-piece cultured top or solid-surface, stone-like top, it’s probably secured with a bead of silicone caulk. You can usually pry it loose a bit and slip a keyhole saw between the vanity and top and cut away the adhesive.

If you have a tiled top (Photo 4), there could be nails driven from the top into the vanity underneath the tile. These will usually come free with a pry bar. If you have a plastic laminate top, it could be fastened to the vanity with screws or caulk. Look for screws along the top edge of the vanity and remove them with a screw gun. If it seems nearly impossible to get the top free from the old vanity, you may have to take the whole thing out in one piece. This makes the job tougher, but with some clever maneuvering, you’ll be able to pull it free. Fix up and paint your wall before you install the new vanity While it’s not impossible to paint after you install your new vanity and top, it’s sure a lot easier to do it beforehand. First remove any caulk residue and then patch any wall damage (Photos 7 and 8).You may need a couple of coats of drywall compound if you have deep repairs. Wait for the patch to dry completely and then sand it smooth with the surrounding wall. Next, you can spot-prime the repaired areas and paint the entire wall.

If you’re applying a darker paint over a light color as we did, prime all the drywall with a medium gray primer first (ask for this from your paint supplier) so you’ll get good coverage with the new paint (Photo 9). Lay out your vanity dimensions on the wall If your finished flooring doesn’t continue under the vanity, it’s best to lay out your vanity dimensions on the wall to help position it accurately. Measuring vanity cabinets can be tricky, especially if you have a multiple-piece vanity like ours. Just measuring the backs of the cabinets won’t do. If the cabinet has a face frame, the rear width of each cabinet is about 1/2 in. narrower than the front width because the face frame sticks out beyond the side panels about 1/4 in. on each side. Keep this in mind when you add up the dimensions for multiple cabinets. We ordered a filler strip to install on the right side of our cabinet where it met the wall. We also allowed for this extra width when we ordered our vanity top.

These strips are typically 3 in. wide, so we ripped the strip to 3/8 in. wide and nailed it (Photo 11) to the edge of our first cabinet that adjoined the wall. This shifted the layout to the left just far enough to cover the edge of the old floor and meet our tile baseboard. Doing this also gave us a nice, comfortable overhang for the vanity top on the left side of the completed cabinet. Adding a 3/8-in. filler strip also allows room for a standard vanity top (3/8-in. overhang). Remember, you can also hide small problems where the vanity meets the floor by adding a molding strip to the edge. You’ll also notice in Photo 11 that we built up the floor underneath the vanity with strips of plywood so the vanity would be flush with the level of the floor. Building up the floor does two things: It allows you to slide the vanity into position without its falling into the old recess, and it keeps it up slightly so you don’t lose height (an inch can make a difference to your lower back).

Mark the stud layout before you fasten your vanity to the wall Screw your cabinets together before you fasten them to the walls (Photo 12). Slide them into position and use a level to make sure they’re level from front to back (Photo 13).You may need to use a tapered wood shim at the wall or floor to get it just right before you screw the cabinets to the walls. Align the cabinets with the level line you made on the back wall earlier. Be sure you’re sending your mounting screws into the studs. A missed screw into a water pipe at this point will add tons of time to your project! Next fit the finished kick panel to the front of the cabinet. The kick panel is usually cut extra long, so you’ll have room to scribe it as we did (Photo 14) to fit against the tile base. If you need to cover a bit more flooring in front of the kick panel, shim behind the front panel with thin pieces of wood before you install the panel. Install your faucets and drain assembly before you mount the top

Before I mount and permanently fasten the sink top, I like to set it onto the vanity and dry-fit it to the walls. Our side wall wasn’t quite 90 degrees to the back wall, so we had to sand (Photo 16) a little off the edge of the top to get it to fit tight into the corner. (Cutting a solid-surface top like ours can void your warranty, but minor sanding on one edge like we did won’t damage anything.) Be sure to install your overflow tube (Photo 19) if you have a special molded sink. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Now you can attach the faucets and drain assembly to the sink. Read your manufacturer’s instructions carefully. The biggest mistake installers make is tightening retaining nuts too tightly, which can crack the sink. Be sure to attach your supply tubes to the faucet before you set the top onto the vanity because it’s really hard to fit your hand—let alone a wrench— underneath to install the faucet later. Now you’re ready to set the top onto the vanity.

First, apply a bead of silicone caulk to the topside of the vanity along the front and sides. Get someone to help you lift the top and gently drop it onto the cabinet. You’ll need to lift it high enough to allow the drain assembly to clear the cabinet. Ease it down and slide it into position. Connect the drain to the trap (use a new trap if necessary, and if you stuffed the drain line with a wet rag, pull it out first). Next, thread the new supply lines to the shutoff valves. We used braided stainless flex supply lines because they’re easy to apply and maneuver. Get them hand-tight and then use a wrench for a final half turn. Now look back up at your top to make sure it didn’t slide out of position while you were hooking up the plumbing. If it shifted slightly, nudge it back into position. To finish the job, add your side splash panel along the adjoining wall (Photo 20) and run a smooth bead of caulk along the backsplash. To prevent shifting, let the caulk set for a couple of hours before using the sink.