Home DIY

Firstly what caused the wood to rot?

Also longer you leave it....by the time the laminate worktop showed signs of damage it had damaged the carcass too.

Can you remove the sink easily? Getting that out of the way will give you access to get power tools in to clean cut and the replace the wood.

I had a worktop that was a bit like this... turned out not to be damaged too deep.... I think I let it dry out for a week or two, maybe bleached it to kill any mold, and it was already looking lots better. After that sand it down and then reseal.

An intermediate bodge is to use some Hydrochloric Acid (the weak stuff you get from the chemist). Try and keep it covered with cling film for a week or so. It should bleach the wood back to its native colour and then varnish.

Has anyone tried something like this,

Nothing that bad, but I'd support Chrisbmx's point, and query whether it is rotten, and to what extent? They look more like mold spores, than rot. When you stab it with the point of a sharp knife is it totally soft, or still hard?

My two experiences were;
1) sanding back and refinishing a mates worktop that had a couple of very minor patches like that, which were fine after sanding and re-Danish oiling.

2) a friends place we house sat, where their grooved draining board section used to get pretty manky with the same black patches - although not quite that bad. We went away for a short holiday, and in the run up I was militant about keeping it as dry as possible, then put silicone gel packs near it to dry it out while we were away. When we came back it was x100s better. I used bleach or maybe vinegar and if I hadn't been forbade from messing about I think it could have been refinished and been 80% as good as the rest of the top (idk whether the silicone made a difference - or if was just air).

The problem you've got is that the solution is to not use the sink and have some hot dry weather.

Your suggestion is a good one.

Another thought for a low effort, cheapish solution - bleach the fuck out of it. Dry it as best you can, stain sand and stain the whole counter a dark enough coverup colour you can live with, then seal properly.

A middle ground would be using a router / similar to create a fake "panel gap" around the sink, then just do the above to that area - an ebony stain might contrast well... or use a tea soak followed by an iron vinegar stain with some creative blow torching followed by epoxy, to make it look yeo olde....

...Or a filler-primer sanded smooth, painted a colour, then heavily lacquered/epoxy/similar to make it look like a man made material. If you had a router, you may even be able to route out the right amount to make the whole thing flush.

I think the problem with a lot of these wood worktops is that they both use average-to-shit wood, and the protective layer is shit. My folks solid wood counter still looks flawless what must be almost 10yrs on.