Hello Lemmy,
Youve been so helpful over the last few months. Maybe someone can help me with this.
I have this butchers block countertop with an undermount sink. I had it installed 18 months ago. I sealed it, and then this part was being warped and forced apart. I put in wood block, I resealed it. But as you can see, its coming apart again.
I followed all the advice of the handy men I know, including the one that installed it. The only thing I can think of is, aside from reblocking and sealing it, maybe a line of silicon around where the faucet comes up, and around the lip where the sink is flush with hole its mounted in, both things they assured me wouldn't be necessary. Should I be concerned about a leak on the underside? Am I just hosed?
(More pics of the whole set up on request)
More picks would be nice, is this the lip of the sink we're looking at?
Butcher block is fine for countertops, but I haven't ever really seen them used with an under mounted sink. I'm not really sure how one would expect to keep the wood from swelling considering it's end grain is probably getting steamed every time you use hot water.
What are we using to seal this?
Ive been using wipe on Polyurethane. Two coats when it was installed, two coats when we had to fix it before. Recently I tried Butchers Block conditioner but Im not sure it was doing anything.
This is an older picture, but it illustrates the relative topography correctly. You can also see the scar pretty visibly on the countertop as well, right in front of the leg of the dish rack.
The problem is probably coming from where the undermount of the sink meets with the wood. I'm guessing there's probably a good chance your finish may have been damaged during installation. It's pretty easy to damage a couple layers of PU.
From my experience with PU, you prob want more like 4-5 layers instead of two, and I would suggest sealing the seam where the sink meets the wood with some silicone.
As far as the damage goes, you're prob going to want to put in a dove tail and refinish it, or you can try impregnating it with epoxy if you have any experience with it.
Tbh this just isn't a good place for butchers block, too many end grains exposed from a variety of wood that swells to different degrees. Ya mix that with heat and humidity and you got yourself a bunch of different places problems can pop up.