Melamine repair??

[Jeff Monson]

So, yesterday I noticed on our sink base cabinet the melamine, where it joins the face frame, has a spot about 2" wide by 1/4" deep that is starting to puff up from moisture. There must be a small spot that did not seal up properly, the rest of the base looks great. So does anyone have a remedy to repair this? I had thought of using a chisel and pairing it flat with the faceframe (its protruding 1/8" or so in that spot), using some white paint and sealing it with shellac? But I'm all ears on a better method.

[Robert Engel]

I'm thinking

1. Get rid of all bad stuff
2. Seal with oil base paint
3. Fill with autobody filler
4. Sand and paint.

Obviously check seal on sink.

[Peter Kelly]

Install a sink base liner instead: https://www.hafele.com/us/en/pds/mat-under-sink/0000002a00024f3b00020023/
Holds up to a gallon of water per 6 square feet and will cover the bad area.

Any repairs to the swelled melamine will be more noticable than just leaving it be.

[Steve Peterson]

Any repairs to the swelled melamine will be more noticable than just leaving it be.

An acceptable solution might be to sand it smooth and cover the entire surface with matching 1/8" thick melamine hardboard.

Steve

[Peter Kelly]

An acceptable solution might be to sand it smooth and cover the entire surface with matching 1/8" thick melamine hardboard.

SteveNot sure how you'd get a rigid board inside a sink base with a face frame. Also, that shiny white 1/8" tempered masonite will buckle more easily than standard MCP.

A piece of white laminate would probably be easier.

[Peter Quinn]

Repair? Melamine? Not so much. Is it on a vertical or horizontal surface? For horizontal they make pigmented white epoxy in little two cylinder plunger mixers, you could knock out the rot and fill. Sand a bit and the luster should be similar. I don't think anything will make a good looking repair, it's part of the beauty of melamine. Swells bad from moisture and not repairable. Plywood isn't either but it doesn't give up so easily. We get 1/4" chip board melamine 2x faced at work, if you can find that you may be able to sneak in a cover sheet, maybe have to pull trap to get it in? Depends on door opening.

[Peter Kelly]

There's also this stuff: http://www.kampelent.com/seamfil.php

Really more for HPL than melamine but works ok for small dings and chips.

[Jeff Monson]

I like the white epoxy idea. This is not a big area, its just where the face frame and the bottom melamine meet as described above. I'm not looking for perfection, its mostly covered and behind the doors anyways. Just looking to stop if before it gets worse.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Just looking to stop if before it gets worse.

Then stop the water from getting there. If it gets wet, it'll get worse.

[Joe Jensen]

We had a water leak that ruined the cheap melamine floor of the kitchen sink base. We have granite counters with a seam so removing them to replace the base was not an option. Instead I got some Formica and cut a piece the size of the floor. I also cut some 3" wide strips to cover the sides where they were a bit damaged to create what is like a Formica floor with Formica base boards inside the cabinet. I then caulked the seam. The leak was of course fixed and now if I ever have another leak the water will just run out the front of the cabinet where we will notice immediately.