Fixing Cracks in Solid Surface Material

Here's how one fabricator repaired an 8-inch crack in a solid surfacing countertop. March 14, 2006

Question
Can I slightly pry apart a crack that has occurred in a SSM top, and use a squeegee to force seaming adhesive in, then clamp up? The crack is in the inside corner of the top, splitting through the leading edge of the counter and continuing 2-1/2" back. I understand that there are a lot more steps to my repair procedure, but am looking for advice on this idea. I don't own a Penske tool for repairs.

Forum Responses
(Laminate and Solid Surface Forum)
From contributor H:
I would look into the reason the top cracked to begin with, before trying to fix it with your method. It would most likely crack again because the original stress or reasons for the crack still exist. Pie shaped repairs can be done with plywood templates and are not very difficult.

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From contributor B:
Been there and done that. Had a top crack at the corner through the self edge and back about 8". It happened during transport to a job site. Did take it back to the shop, put blocks on either side of the crack and clamped down on the other sides to open crack as much as possible - really scary! Put adhesive on crack and blew it in with the help of an air nozzle, then released. Followed up by putting a rather large backer piece behind the crack and sanded it out. Worked awesome! Course, it wasn't installed, which made it easier. I lucked out. Don't know about the squeegee thing though… could you get it in the crack, install a backer? Lose any pieces? Hard to tell.