I work alone, which makes large laminate-countertop projects particularly difficult. How does one person handle a 12-ft.-long piece of laminate that is covered with tacky contact cement? On a recent project, I stumbled upon a solution. I first rolled the laminate into a cylinder with the side to be coated in cement facing out. As shown in the drawing, I used a couple of spring clamps to hold it in this shape.
Next, I used my spray rig to coat the laminate with contact cement (a roller would work fine, too). As an added bonus, having the laminate in a vertical position while the cement was applied reduced the potential for sawdust to become embedded in the cement.
Handling the tacky laminate was easy with this method. Instead of a floppy 12-ft.-long piece of material, the laminate was a semirigid 3-1⁄2-ft.-dia. cylinder that could be carried and uncoiled over the countertop substrate. As shown in the drawing, I worked from the center of the counter outward toward the ends.
James Livsey, Rochester, MA
