The insurers for the private property, located in Kettering, initially engaged Gelder Construction, the specialist building contractor, to fix the damage, fitting new plasterboard to the ceiling joists and applying a plaster skim. However, while this relatively straightforward task was completed quickly, the kitchen’s high class corian worktops still showed a series of scratches, varying in depth, across their highly polished surfaces where the debris had struck them.
Having called on the worktop repair services of Plastic Surgeon before, Gelder’s area manager contacted his counterpart there to find out what remedies might be possible. Although laminate substrates are often filled and colour matched, the homogeneous nature of corian allowed for a different style of intervention.
In line with its national service standards and as part of its agreement with the major national insurers, Plastic Surgeon not only contacted the homeowner directly to arrange a convenient appointment date, the customer services team also sent out a written notification containing details of the personnel who would attend site, their vehicle registration and contact numbers.
Subsequently, Regional Operations Manager, Mark Johnson, and the Finisher, spent a day at the house. Drawing on their comprehensive training with Plastic Surgeon, to use a gradation of abrasives to slowly reduce the surface of the worktops in order to take out the scratches.
They did this by starting with relatively coarse sandpaper and then going through the grades of wet & dry, ensuring that the repairs were ‘feathered out’ so that no visual distortions occurred. Each area was then given a final polish, employing two grades of rubbing compound applied using cloths.
Mark Johnston reports: “Although we are aware of corian as a product, neither of us had tried to repair kitchen worktops manufactured from it before. However, knowing that it is actually very hardwearing and has a homogenous make up. Rather than just a thin veneer layer, we decided we could smooth out all of the damage.
“Instead of employing power tools we rubbed down all of the scratches by hand and managed to restore the original high gloss finish – with gold and other colour flecks across the brownish background – which had been damaged. The client was so pleased that she contacted our main office to say that the outcome exceeded all of her expectations when it was first suggested for Plastic Surgeon to remove the scratches.”
Plastic Surgeon’s nationwide network of Finishers are always achieving similar results for customers who have got surfaces such as timber, stone and even glazing that has been scratched, chipped or gouged.
