LESLIE: Robert in Florida, you’ve got The Money Pit. I understand you’ve got a countertop question for us regarding the repair of loose Formica countertops.
ROBERT: My Formica countertops are starting to come unglued. And I’m trying to find out what a good glue would be to use to make sure that they are fully cemented back into place. It’s not a large section. It goes up about 8 to 12 inches at a time. I do have some C-clamps that I can use to fasten them down.
TOM: As long as it’s the countertop that’s coming unglued and not you, Robert, we can help with loose Formica countertops.
What you want to do is use contact cement. Now, the area that is separated, with contact cement what you want to do is try to actually separate that area as much as you can, because you’re going to kind of work in there. So if you can peel up the loose area, maybe put a piece of wood in there or something as a spacer to really have some area in there, do that.
And then what you’re going to do is you’re going to pick up some contact cement. And contact cement is available as – in either water-based or solvent-based. The solvent-based works a lot better. So a small container of contact cement – not rubber cement, by the way: contact cement, specifically used for laminate. You brush it in there and as the name implied, it dries on contact. So you keep it separated while it’s drying, OK?
And then once it’s dry – which just takes 15, 20 minutes – then you will pull out your spacers and press that laminate back down in place, working from back to the front. And you can put a towel over it or even a rolling pin works good and roll it down really, really good and really, really tight and that’ll hold it. But the contact cement is what you need for loose Formica countertops. Any other type of adhesive that you – will not work.
ROBERT: OK. So nothing like maybe LIQUID NAILS or anything like that would …
TOM: No. In a pinch, for a tiny edge, yes. But if you have a separation like that, contact cement. That’s what it was done originally and that’s what will work. Just make sure you clean it, remove any debris that’s in there and be generous with the cement. Don’t make it lumpy but get good coverage, OK?
ROBERT: OK, great. Thanks a lot for your help.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project and thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Do you need to brush the contact cement on both the formica and the wood or just the formica?
Both sides, and let it dry before assembling.