Solid Surface Countertops. How Not To Remove Scratches. Part 2

Okay here we go with part 2 of Solid Surface Countertops. How Not To Remove Scratches. How Not To Remove Scratches Part 1.

I have to apologize for my photography again. I don't know whether it is me or my camera or what but my pics seem to be blurrier and blurrier lately. I'm getting a new camera soon so we'll see.

This is a Corian countertop. The color is Hot. The people have had these countertops for about 10 years and they wanted to get the fine scratches out of the countertop. They were a little nervous about trying to do it themselves even though they had directions on how to clean it and remove scratches that were provided at the time of their installation.

They called around to some K&B places and to a couple of fabricators and asked for advice on removing the scratches. Every single place told them to break out the sandpaper and Scotch Brite pads and start scrubbing. They did it. In a flash they realized that was definitely one of the worst things that they could have done. The marks left by the 320 grit sandpaper and the maroon Scotch Brite pad were way more noticeable than the fine scratches that they were trying to remove.

Here is the island before I did a complete refinish or scratch removal.


In this next series of pics, there is a particular patch of scratches on this top but I was not sure if the scratches would show up on camera. For this reason I used a black marker to symbolize an actual scratch.


As you can see, the patch that I rubbed on with a Scotch Brite pad really stands out. Who wants that?



This is what the scratch patch looks like after I wipe off the white dust that I made while rubbing with the pad.


With the sunlight coming through this window, even in a poor quality picture you can really tell how the homeowner had tried to get the scratches out himself.


This is after I did a refinish on it. The Scotch Brite pad scratches are all gone. I see I left a little dust in the ogee edge before I took the picture. Oops, I should have used my
Countertop Magic before taking the picture.


This is the island after refinishing.


The whole lesson behind this article is this. Your countertops were expensive, they are high quality, elegant and beautiful. Even so, from time to time they may need some maintenance type of attention. It's no different than your automobile, when it needs maintenance, sometimes it is just better left to a professional that has all of the proper equipment and experience to do the job for you.

It isn't something that a normal homeowner with moderate experience with a sander could not do themselves but most homeowners do not have the proper sander, abrasives, and dust extraction equipment like a vacuum tool system. Here is a good sander and vaccum system if you are interested in trying it yourself.

Solid Surface Countertops. How NOT to Remove Scratches. Part 1

You have read it on the internet. You have seen it in the literature that came with your countertops. You have heard it from friends and from your fabricators and your sales people and all the home improvement gurus and the manufacturers. What is it?

How to remove scratches on your solid surface countertops. Well, now that they have your head filled with the wrong information, let me straighten you out by telling you how not to remove scratches from your solid surface countertops.

To shorten this particular article, I will refer you to a previous one first. This article is How to remove scratches on solid surface countertops.

Go read that and then finish reading this article. Or read this article and then go read that one as well.

Here is how not to remove scratches on your solid surface countertops.
1. Do not use sandpaper by hand. If you are going to touch your countertops with sandpaper then be sure that you are using an electric orbital sander. You will not, I repeat, will not ever get your countertop to look good by using a piece of sandpaper in your hand.

2. Do not use Scotch Brite pads or any other abrasive pad by hand on your countertop. If you are going to use Scotch Brite, use it on an electric orbital sander. You will not, I repeat, will not ever get your countertop to look good by using a piece of Scotch Brite in your hand.

3. Do not try to polish your scratches away with any kind of polish or buffer. You will only shine them up and they will show up a lot worse than if you just leave them alone.

4. In short, the way to not remove scratches is to do everything that you have been told to do. Follow their instructions for scratch removal and then you will know how NOT to remove scratches.

Part 2 of this article will include photos of scratches that have been "removed". If you don't believe me, then go ahead and try it yourself. If you mess them up even worse, then simply call a professionalto come and refinish them for you.

How To Remove Scratches On Solid Surface Countertops

There are lots of places that you can read about how to remove scratches in a solid surface countertop. Well, you are right here right now so you can read it here too. The only difference is, the twist at the end.

When you got your solid surface countertop put in you probably got a care kit with them. In this kit you got some sand paper and some scouring pads and maybe a polish or cleaner of some kind. Depending on which brand of countertop you bought you may even have gotten a video that shows you what to do.

Basically the process is this:

Step 1. Sand the scratched area with the lowest grit of paper. Probably 120 grit.

Step 2. Sand the scratched area again with the next highest grit of sandpaper. Probably 220 grit. Be sure to sand a slightly larger area with each sanding process.

Step 3. Sand the scratched area again with the next highest grit of sandpaper. Probably 320 grit. Be sure to sand a slightly larger area with each sanding process.

Step 4. In a motion similar to sanding, go over the sanded area with the scouring pad that you were provided. (probably green or white)

Step 5. Wipe down the affected area with the polish that you were given.

Here's the twist. That is the process. The problem is, your tops are still not going to look the same as they did. I'll bet you never read that part anywhere else before. The scratch will be gone but now you almost certainly have a very busy and confused looking area where the damage was.

That is the process. Try this process first. If you are unhappy with the results then it is time to have it done by a professional. If you have a solid surface cutting board or cutout from a cooktop or sink, then you can try this process on a that and see if you would be happy with the results in your actual kitchen before you launch into a feverish sanding attack on your beautiful countertops. Now, go read how NOT to remove scratches on solid surface countertops!

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