The Historic District

Can anyone help me with how to fix this sink basin? It’s leaking a little bit. Not sure if this is original to the house, but the bathroom is such a mishmash of things I think it could be. We actually have two that are leaking. Any information or resources would be appreciated! We’d love to keep it if we can.

normally I'd recommend to clean the surfaces before because without that , nothing will stick with any measure of certainty, but if you were to disassemble things then you'd have so many fragments you'd probably never get them aligned. maybe you can. you can decide if those two large chunks can be removed to clean the edges really well ,
Maybe the best you can do is a light scrub with acetone or alcohol , try to degrease it. because nothing sticks to soap or grease.

after its clean..
put masking tape on each side of every crack. leave no surface area near to the crack. place the tape near the crack no more than 1 mm away. you dont want a bump on the surface but if you have one then its best to remove it when the epoxy is in a plastic state.

mix epoxy and if you like you can add pigments for a better match, or just use clear.
you can tint it with powdered pigment but if you do that then mix the color first into part A then when you get it as you like , then add part b which starts the curing process.

dont add paint or other things to color it , you can get tints for epoxy or maybe use aniline dyes it wont take much a teeny bit of white and even less red. I dont thing you can get white dye,, you might get white epoxy tints.

take a small width of spatula, maybe one for oil painting. mix the epoxy and "smush" it down into all the cracks. try your best to press it right through the crack if it will go. lots of gentle strokes, work it in but try not to press so hard you break it up.

put paper or something down underneath in case the epoxy runs through.

if some of the epoxy wants to run away, just work on other areas because the epoxy will thicken up, and then you can fill more with it.

pull the tape while it's still wet or at least gummy. let dry , next day use a sharp blade to remove any bumps. you might need to do touch ups, you can apply pink paint if you like , maybe nail polish comes in a similar color match?

dont expect perfect, it might just cave in if you press too hard on it but I cant' think of a better thign to try. I'd keep your eye out for a replacement but maybe it will work just for now.
if you want to strengthen it after you could clean the area of the cracks and put a bit of fiberglass near the crack and soak that in epoxy as well. the backside probably isn't noticeable. you can form a little bead under the sink over the crack to add strength.
y9u probably dont have fiberglass, you can use a stip of cloth instead , saturate it in epoxy then stick it on then use a small brush to dab it down and get any air out. dont drip it in your eyes if you have to work underneath looking up. safety glasses.

try not to cover more surface area than you need to to fill the cracks. If you place the tape near the crack using about an inch long strip at a time you can just leave the gap open but not get it on the sink. if there is a little near your tape after , leave it , look after that the next day or when the stuff turns like taffy.



you could try first filling from the bottom or removing it to turn it over but it looks pretty brittle now.
if there is a little movement between parts you can wiggle them when the stuff is wet capillary action will pull the stuff in.
use a little acetone for cleanup ( nail polish remover)

some ladies do these acrylic nails , it is tough stuff some of those materials might work too , some are UV cured. maybe if you know a nail technician and asked them they might give you a little stuff to play with and try. it likely won't be compatible with epoxy, might be an alternative. they would likely have access to that pinkish color. if the sink is cracked like that it will be porcelain, epoxy should stick well to that.

if you wantto lamp it to hold things in place just use masking tape to hold it. That thing is almost impossible to actually clamp.

if you really had to you might make a mold of the underside of the sink to support it from plaster of paris but that might just be way too complicated. the theory is that you can support the shape using plaster of paris. that mold is expendable after use.

Ouch, and such a nice sink. It certainly looks to be a period sink, or at the least an good reproduction.
I thought maybe the UV cured glass repair stuff might work.

https://www.amazon.ca/Crystal-Repair-Re ... 1208&psc=1
It flows so it will get deep into the crack, unfortunately it will not hide the scares, you will have to resort to some kind of topcoat for that, maybe a tub/sink resurfacing kit.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum- ... /202246270

some of those auto glass repair kits come with a syringe and suction cup arrangement, to pull the stuff in through vacuum. maybe one of those would help.

not relevant with this particular sink, but related :
I have been doing some oxy-acetylene welding and braising and in doing so got to thinking , its easy to melt glass with a torch. even just with a propane torch.

I was considering trying to fix chipped porcelain on a metal sink by heating from behind then adding some white glass, or would the coating even melt? if it really is porcelain it wont melt , that's why they use it for crucibles, but maybe it is glass and then if it is maybe some filler can be added to do a more permanent chip repair. It might be worth trying to see what happens with some old junky chipped up metal sink.

if the stuff can be melted from behind with a torch, then maybe it could make it shiny again by reflowing it, or maybe add more to fill a chip. I wonder if it melts or at what temperature.

on a typical metal sink with a white coating over the metal , is that stuff really porcelain? or is it actually a coating of glass or glaze, which would have a much lower melting temp than the steel. its often referred to as porcelain but I dont know that it really is.

if I could perfect the technique maybe there are some old sinks that are chipped that could be repaired in a more professional and permanent way than with paints and epoxies and things.

it might take a kiln, as the temperature variations may cause expansion cracking between the two unlike materials.

Thank you both! We’ll see what we can do!

I'd recommend the epoxy, but I'd apply it with a syringe to make sure you get it down inside the crack. As the others have said, there will be a scar, but that will be part of its character and history.

Do you know if any of your previous owners were old house lovers? Those sinks may have been salvaged from somewhere else and installed in your house later. They appear to date to right around 1900. The "slab top" sinks started fading from popularity shortly after the turn of the century.