How To Repair Formica Countertops

If your laminate countertops are stained, dated, cracked, or damaged, they can be an eyesore. If you desire to give your kitchen or bath a quick DIY facelift, addressing a drab-looking countertop is a great showtime step. While some small damage or bones refinishing can go a long way, there is a certain bespeak where the damage should be addressed by a professional person. If your countertop has major cracks or stains and damage roofing a big portion of the surface, information technology may be a skilful thought to call in some assist to repair or supplant it entirely. If you feel your countertop is salvageable with some DIY love, still, hither'due south how to fix laminate countertops without calling a professional.

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Removing stains

After years of prepping, cooking, and eating, your kitchen countertops see a lot of spills. On bathroom countertops, products similar hair dyes, nail polish, colored soap, and makeup can exit their nasty marks. If y'all can't stand up to wait at those stains anymore, a few methods work well at lifting stains from laminate countertops.

For many stains, a paste made from baking soda and h2o can do the trick. Let the mixture sit on the stain for a few hours and wipe it clean. If that doesn't work, try using nail polish remover or paint thinner on a clean, white rag to lift the stain. Employ these products in small doses so you don't impairment the laminate itself.

Repairing cracks, nicks, and chips

In the kitchen, small amercement from knives, peelers, or even dropped objects may accept left their mark on your countertops. In the bathroom, peradventure your heavy soap dish or toothbrush holder has scratched up the laminate underneath. For these smaller repairs, you tin utilise filling products that match the color of your laminate.

Products like SeamFil offer several dissimilar colors that tin exist custom-mixed to match your countertop'due south colour and appearance. Following the instructions on the product, here'south what yous'll do to repair nicks and cracks in your laminate countertop:

1. Mix the colors, or order a pre-mixed colour that matches your countertop.
2. Clean the area with SeamFil'due south SF-99 Solven.
3. Mix your SeamFil color with SeamFil retarder and use a putty knife to press the mix into the nick or crevice.
4. Remove excess mix using SeamFil's SF-99 Solvent and a make clean rag.

While SeamFil starts to harden right away, you may notice a bit of shrinking in the surface area (as it does). If this happens, yous can repeat this process after an hour or so to fill in excess space.

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Fixing lifted laminate countertops

Accidents happen. You may place a hot pot on the counter without thinking or leave your flat iron on the bath counter for likewise long. We've all been there. However, when the laminate is exposed to elevated heat levels, glue holding the laminate layer to the substrate fabric underneath could melt and lose its hold. This causes the laminate layer to lift and creates a bubbled or uneven surface. The practiced news is, you may be able to repair your lifted laminate countertop with just a few steps.

1. Use a putty knife to lift the loose portion of the laminate from the substrate layer.
2. Clean out any loose fabric or grit on the substrate.
3. Use an atomic number 26 on the cotton setting to heat the surface of the laminate, but don't use the steam function. The gum should melt enough to re-adhere the laminate layer to the substrate.
4. Place flat, heavy objects like books on top of the laminate area that has lifted and let them sit there until the gum has cooled and stale.

How to refinish laminate countertops

If yous'd similar a beautiful facelift for your drab or dated laminate countertops, refinishing them can become a long style. You can become creative with the color, texturing, and decorative painting methods for a natural stone appearance. Here'southward how you lot can refinish your own laminate countertops:

1. Cover whatever areas you are not refinishing, similar nearby walls, cupboards, and flooring, using newspaper and painter's record.
2. Employ pigment primer to the surface of the laminate.
3. Apply the pigment of your choice to the surface. This is the stage that you'll add texturing for decorative appearance. You can practise this with subtle glitter or sponge painting to create a granite-like advent.
4. In one case your paint has stale, utilise a layer of epoxy, following the production's instructions strictly. This will give the countertop a cute glossy terminate.
5. Exist sure to occasionally wipe away dripping epoxy from the underside of your counter's border.
6. Bubbles may appear after you've applied the epoxy. You lot can pop these bubbles using a blowtorch or barbecue lighter, simply proceed the flame moving and don't put it directly on the countertop.
7. After a few hours, carefully remove the painter's record from around the countertop. Removing it earlier may cause the epoxy to motility or drip, but removing it later will mean that the epoxy has hardened as well much, and the record volition exist hard to remove.

Yous want to have cute countertops, which doesn't have to exist a big, expensive project. Using the advice here for removing stains, repairing amercement, and refinishing your laminate countertops, you can take a countertop that looks make new, all without paying a fortune to hire a professional. Requite your countertops the TLC they deserve and give the entire room an updated look.

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Source: https://www.21oak.com/home-maintenance/how-to-fix-laminate-counter/

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