LESLIE: Carol in Kentucky has a question about a sink. What can we do for you?
CAROL: Hello. I’ve got an old, beautiful, porcelain pedestal sink. Well, I guess it’s porcelain; I assume.
TOM: Sounds nice.
CAROL: But it’s an old, pedestal sink and it’s got a hairline fracture; you know, pretty – kind of goes out a couple ways, you know, and it’s very small. I pulled out a piece of my hair and laid it there (Tom and Leslie chuckle) and I’d say it’s about a hair-and-a-half width. (chuckles)
TOM: (overlapping voices) You pulled out a piece of your hair to compare? (laughs)
LESLIE: (overlapping voices, laughs) OK.
CAROL: And about, I don’t know, a foot long or something. And it’s a beautiful sink and I just …
TOM: (overlapping voices) OK. Now is that with the root or without the root?
LESLIE: Aw.
CAROL: (chuckles) Oh, that’s bad. (Tom laughs) No, I didn’t go that far.
TOM: OK.
CAROL: (laughing) But you know, I’d really like to restore it and I just don’t – I assume you can do that; I guess there’s people that do that. I just don’t know.
TOM: Well, I think that it’s not always a good idea to try to refinish those old sinks because the new surfaces that they put on don’t stick as well and they don’t look as good. I mean some of those hairline cracks are the character that really makes it what it is.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
CAROL: I never thought about that.
TOM: Yeah. I mean it’s …
LESLIE: I mean and that truly identifies it.
CAROL: Oh, OK. So you don’t think people would look at that and think, “Whoa, she has a sink with a hairline fracture”?
TOM: No, just pick up all the hair, OK, Carol?
CAROL: (overlapping, laughing) OK. I will do that.
LESLIE: (overlapping, chuckling) Stop putting your hair next to it. There are though – I mean there are products out there; there’s something called Porc-a-Fix – P-o-r-c-a-F-i-x. It’s available at a lot of home centers. It comes in a variety of colors based on manufacturers. That’s more for like chips and scratches but it could work to cover over the hairline. I mean the proper way to do it – if you were to get a pro to come in, they would dig out around the crack and then pour in new porcelain. I mean it really is quite an extensive process, so …
CAROL: Oh, really?
LESLIE: Yeah. If you feel like it’s something you can live with, go for it; if not, I would say try that topical – the Porc-a-Fix.
CAROL: (overlapping voices) Yeah. OK. Alright. Well, that’s good. I only paid $10 for the sink, as beautiful as it, so I might be able to put a little money into it.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Oh.
TOM: (chuckling) Alright.
CAROL: But I didn’t think about just keeping it like it is, so I’ll definitely consider that.
TOM: Alright, Carol. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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