Water-Damaged Cabinet and Sink Base Repair in Phoenix
The swollen, crumbling floor under the kitchen sink. The leak found and fixed, the floor replaced, the cabinet saved.
Arizona ROC #366903 · Licensed, Bonded & Insured
The floor of a sink base takes more water than any other part of a kitchen. A supply line drips, the drain weeps at a joint, the dishwasher hose leaks, or a bottle of cleaner tips over. Particleboard swells when it gets wet and doesn't shrink back when it dries. A slow drip leaves a bubbled, crumbling, musty-smelling floor long after the leak is gone. The cabinet doesn't have to go. The floor does.
The leak first
A new floor under a live leak is wasted. The leak gets found and fixed first. Under a kitchen sink that's usually one of: the supply lines and shutoff valves, the drain trap and its slip joints, the garbage disposal, the dishwasher drain hose, or the faucet base dripping down the supply lines. Small plumbing fixes like those usually get done in the same visit.
A bathroom vanity base gets wet the same way, plus the overflow from a sink that's been plugged and left running.
What comes out
The swollen floor comes out. Anything soft, stained dark or showing mold gets cut out, not covered. The cabinet dries. Then a new panel is cut to fit, usually in a water-resistant material rather than the particleboard that failed, and set in so it's flat and sealed at the edges. If the side panels or the face frame have swollen too, the quote says what can be saved.
When the box is too far gone
A sink base where the sides have swollen and the frame has come apart is sometimes cheaper to replace than to rebuild. A single new base cabinet can go in under the existing countertop and get matched to the others with the original doors moved over. That's still a repair, not a kitchen.
Dishwasher and fridge damage
The cabinet next to the dishwasher takes steam from the door and water from a leaking hose. The cabinet beside the fridge takes water from a leaking ice maker line. Both swell at the bottom edge and the toe kick. Swollen side panels can be trimmed and capped, or replaced if they're structural. The toe kick is a flat panel and gets replaced.
Under the floor
A leak that's been going for a while gets under the cabinet and into the floor. A warped vinyl plank floor in front of the sink, or tile that's gone hollow there, is a sign. The floor gets looked at when the cabinet floor comes out.
Problems we fix on this page
- Sink base floor swollen from a leak
- Sink base smells musty
How it starts
Send a photo of the cabinet floor with the doors open, and one of the pipes under the sink. Tell us whether the leak is still going. Fixed price up front, no surprises on the bill. If the cabinet needs to dry, the quote says so and the new floor goes in on a second short visit. Levi is on the job.
Questions
- Can the swollen floor be dried out and kept?
- No. Particleboard that's swollen stays swollen and keeps crumbling. The floor gets replaced. The rest of the cabinet usually stays.
- Do you fix the leak too?
- Yes, if it's a supply line, a drain joint, a disposal or a dishwasher hose. That's the usual cause, and it's usually fixed in the same visit.
- What do you replace the floor with?
- A water-resistant panel cut to fit, sealed at the edges. It holds up to the next drip better than the original did.
Related pages
Cabinet repair
Doors that won't close, drawers that stick, hinges pulling out of the box. Fixed without replacing the kitchen.
Handyman plumbing
Faucets, toilets, disposals, drains and small leaks. Many are fixed in one visit.
Flooring repair
Cracked tile, lifting vinyl, squeaky wood and worn-out grout, repaired without redoing the whole floor.
Ready to get it fixed?
Tell us what needs doing. Quotes are free. We usually reply within minutes, and always within 24 hours.