A Corian upgrade for countertops

[hshovic]

Greetings,

I am in the midst of a Corian upgrade for the 2007 Safari FB To date, I have had Lowe's order and cut Corian tops and integrated sinks for all counters and the table.
This includes 1.5" backsplashes all over to replace the caulking (which was coming apart).
I have carefully removed (torn out) the existing laminates. They were not too cool and the laminate fronts were coming off. Hey, life is short.

Tear out was not difficult, but don't do it if you can't stretch and crouch. It took 3 hours. Lowes charges $300 for tearout, so I got paid $100/hour. Better than consulting with the military!

The Corian was $2000, installed.

Airstream is very creative about some hidden screws, but I only had to rip one out in the bathroom.

I checked with Airstream and my dealer on the installation.
* thickness will be 1/4 more than the existing. for strength.
* Can use existing screws in table. I replaced the front folding puny leg with a solid
marine aluminum center leg (still removable).
* They can be glued on, but should not be glued to the wall.
* Existing plumbing will likely work (but of course there will be some problem)
* The easiest removal was the stove. But installing it again with the added 1/4"
will require a spacer and some rear support blocks to be installed to avoid stressing
the Corian.
I was quite concerned about the kind of installer they might use, but he turned out to be a long-
term countertop guy that lost out in the housing sink, so he was excellent and available.
But he had to scratch his head about a few corners and esp. the fold up counter.

Had to shrink the size of the kitchen sink because of spacing and availability of sinks.
However, the wife approves, because she likes the increased counter space and
can still get our pots in the new one.

After all that excitement, it won't be installed til next week. I will post pictures and more comments.

[2airishuman]

lookin' 4ward 2 da pix!

Originally Posted by hshovic

...* thickness will be 1/4 more than the existing. for strength...

does this mean 1/4 INCH thicker than the old laminate stuff or the a/s spec'd corian?

have u calculated how much extra this will weigh (or is it less than the glued stuff)?

i've had no issues with strength of the rv grade corian, it's been great.

IF using corian for the dining table (mine is plank hickory) a tad thicker might be a good idea.

no doubt saying GOODBYE to the poorly glued edges will be nice.

color?

cheers
2air'

[ck21084]

I am about to undertake the exact same project. Good luck and look foward to pictures.

[mello mike]

Looking forward to pics! We love pics around here.

[crispyboy]

Sounds like an exciting project. Please take detailed pictures. Pictures will help with us DIY types out here. Especially where the top meets the walls etc.....

[bolerama]

This sounds like quite the undertaking! Looking forward to seeing pictures, and hopefully we'll see the finished product at the Hands-across-the-border rally in September.

Lisa

[hshovic]

It took two days for the Corian people to install. Since they worked for Lowes on contract by sq. ft., they underestimated the time to make all those corners and install it, but that is business I guess.

Installed fine, they had to change the screw lengths for the table because of the Corian. They glued with silicone. They charged me extra for installing the stove. Had to put some steel reflective tape to protect the stove.
They had to attach blocks for the stove screws, since they could not screw directly into the countertop as was done before. They had to block up the stove to account for the extra 1/4 inch.

Sink reached down further. See the undercounter kitchen picture for the change (the white pvc piece). I had some plumbing problems as predicted. I had to cut into the main plumbing (see the kitchen plumbing picture), to lower the trap since the sink was two inches deeper. The backsplash had to be cut down to stay under the window. It is tacked to the wall with spots of silicone. Notice the wall is not perfectly flat, so the backsplash looks a bit wavy. Not a problem, though, since it is not too visible.
Note the nice job of blending the corners on the flip up counter (picture of kitchen closeup). In the bathroom the sink was off just enough so the original plumbing did not match. See the picture, and you can see the sink drain is a bit off. After running all over town to find an extender, I gave up, cut the trap off and silicone glued it. Something for the next owner to curse me about....

It looks and feels good. However, it is about twice as heavy. So the flip-up counter may be a problem in terms of banging around. I found a cabinet clip to secure it, but one might also use a bungie around the front. Note the heavy duty marine table leg. It is detachable so the bed can still be made (picture of table). The installers had to glue yet another 1/4 inch under the back brackets to make the table level.

I also purchased new fixtures. Why? I don't know. the wife liked it I guess. The smaller spigot is for filtered water.

So we will see. Our first trip is in June for a month. Hopefully no leaks, but I am ready with the silicone.

What would I do different? Nothing I think. So far it is just fine. But hard to say in the long run. Hopefully it is not so heavy it rips out the plumbing or some other disaster.

[goransons]

looks great!!

[vinstream]

May I ask how much weight was added to your trailer?
Todd

[bolerama]

What a lovely choice! It looks amazing!
Lisa

[Shiny metal]

Looks great. I have a few changes in mindfor my trailer. New counter tops is at the top of the list.

[cruiser54]

Great work! But: how is this with the weight? Are these only thin records them were stuck, so not massively?
Greeting Werner

[cruiser54]

In Europe the load may be in the shaft only about 170 - 220 pound.The new axle (with crowd brake) remains at the same place like the old one. This is optically nicer. However, the axle is shifted 18.5 inch, to the back. I have an Excel table where I all weights must calculate...I hope, one understands my words, but the computer is to blame for it!

[2airishuman]

look great hank!

that dining table IS substantial, are the oem wall hooks/hangers being used?

how thick is the C ?

looks to be an INCH or so, maybe more?

the RV stuff a/s uses (and other rv makers) is about 3/8 th of an inch.

ends and edges are made to look THICKER with thin strips along the perimeter...

this makes a huge difference in terms of extra weigh,

the thin stuff is ~ the same as wood or laminates.

and hold up just fine to use and travel.

cheers
2air'

[hshovic]

Great questions. The original countertops including sinks and fixtures were about 80 lbs total. The Corian and associated fixture upgrades is about double that. According to me, who lifted them all but didn't weigh them formally.

The Corian was 1/4 inch thick with one inch thick edges. The remainder was 1/2 inch plywood with various glued on pieces for strength where screws were used. Total thickness one inch overall, vs the laminate which was 3/4 inch overall. This is 1/4 inch thicker than the original, and required some adjustments in backsplash height, stove mounting, and table hardware placement, and now I feel shorter at the table, but closer to the food!

For anyone interested, as in the pictures above, we did change the fabric of the couches to ultra leather or "pleather" as the wife calls it. Its very comfortable. You might ask why did we not get all these options when we bought it? Cause we liked the layout of the Safari FB and the silver inside walls. Plus we would have found it difficult to afford at the time. Every time I whine at the wife about why I don't have a Corvette, she responds by tapping the trailer floor with her foot....