I did a search on painting laminate, with varying results.
A store has several display fixtures made of a thick (2″) plywood base with white laminate on top. Plywood edges are exposed.
Several fixtures have chips in them, all sizes ranging from small nicks to large gashes. Laminate seems intact and is not peeling.
One thought I had was to fill the holes with epoxy, sand it to blend, scuff the entire laminate surface, prep with Krylon plastic spray primer, and then spray paint, possibly with the Krylon paint for plastic.
Any thoughts on if this would work?
Relaminating is not an option, due to cost.
Thanks in advance.
Pete Duffy, Handyman
Replies
Relaminating is not an option, due to cost.
Why?????
Had a guy redo all my kitchen counter tops and edgeband in a 15' X 15' kitchen w/ dbl sink cut-out, and two half round island ends, Also did four 14" radius half round shelves.
Whole job took him 3 hrs and cost me $425 for labor and materials.
Well, this isn't a countertop.
Fixtures would have to be disassembled (one or more posts stick up vertically from the laminated bases.) There's probably about a dozen or so, of varying sizes, so lots more set up.
Then fill the gouges so they don't telegraph through, scuff up the surface, apply glue, stick down the laminate, trim with a router, then reassemble.
Just thought masking off what doesn't get spray painted would be easier than disassembly and reassembly. Might be a little cleaner than all the router dust and contact cement fumes. (I know, spray paint has fumes too.)
Might consider putting new laminate over the old. Would be a better repair (although would still get damaged in the future just like the original laminate.) But what about the edges where the original damage has been filled? There's no edgebanding to hide it.
Client just wants it to "look nice" for an upcoming inspection. Either fix, IMHO, isn't going to stand up to the abuse of the general shopping public.
Pic attached. Take a look, and let me know what you think would be the best way to go.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far.Pete Duffy, Handyman
I think epoxy may be too hard to sand so that it blends in. Minwax makes a wood filling epoxy which may work, but I would be tempted to just try a latex wood filler.
As for painting, I don't think there's any kind of paint that's going to stand up to the kind of "foot traffic" those bases will see. If you go that route, try and find a paint as close as possible to the color of the laminate so the chips/scratches won't show so readily.
You may not find the rest of this terribly helpful, but it's my attempt at thinking "outside the box".
How about a frame for the bases so the the damaged areas are inside the frame (like a picture is inside the frame). The frame could encapsulate the base or just be on the sides and top. The edges could be routered to whatever pleasing shape you choose.
With the right wood (poplar?) and the right paint (oil?) I think it would hold up for quite a while. But if it got dinged or scuffed, it should be a fairly simple matter to repair and repaint.
-Don
I worked in a cabinet shop where all we did was build retail fixtures, and we repaired a lot of things like this. Once those posts are off, that laminate should peel off pretty easily if you squirt it with lacquer thinner. Let it dry, relaminate. Filling it will be obvious from the sides, as would relaminating over the top, because of the lack of edgebanding. If all they want is a band-aid, though, then I think the best would be to fill in the gaps with some kind of epoxy filler or bondo then laminate over the old. I think you'd have a tough time leveling the epoxy filler then feathering it all together and painting and making it look pretty. Your experience, however, may differ from mine. Good luck.Maybe someday I'll know a little something.
To me it seems it would be faster and cheaper to re lamanent it. Its very hard for paint to take to formica because no matter how much time and prep you put into it, it will scratch if you look at it wrong. The minute someone hits it with their shoe or drops their keys on it game over. Also getting the epoxy to fill the chips, then sanding it out would take ten times longer. I would just redo them.
It appears to be in a vulnerable area. Paint or new laminate is going to take a similar beating as the old.
Why don't you suggest running an outside band of 3/4" x 3/4" aluminum angle, mitered (or double mitered to soften the corner) at the corners?
Pete,After seeing your pics, I agree that relaminating is the way to go. Check around for some wide PVC T-molding to cap the edges. The laminate was ruined by being torn upwards from the edge, and a banding could prevent most of that sort of damage. You might need to notch the spline at the rounded corners, but it is easy.Lots of checkout stations in retail are finished with PVC T-molding to protect the laminate and substrate from collisions with shopping carts. Maybe Outwater Plastics sells something.Bill
Diassemble and laminate the other side.
The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.- Fyodor Dostoyevski
I agree with the second poster, Pete-seems like the materials cost for relaminating would be the same as the cost for your labor in spot-filling the nicks and sanding the whole thing down. Just a thought.
Pete,
If you prep the laminate well, you won't need special paint for plastics. Laminate is more like really dense wood as far as paint is concerned. Short of auto paint, it will be hard to apply a coating that holds up as well as the laminate itself. 2-part epoxy might be worth a try if you go the paint route, just be sure to sand well and remove the dust before painting.
Bill
Can you just trim the bases shorter?
Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability
You should be able to buy a sheet of heavy laminate for less than $60 and if the three in the photo are the only ones that need help, you'll have more than enough material. Edge banding is cheap, too. If you go to a laminate distributor and ask if they have any damaged sheets, you can get a better price. The paint would probably scuff off faster than laminate would chip. The chips look like they may have been from moving the displays, not daily use.
Thanks everybody for the replies. Lots of good ideas in there, but, for many reasons, can't work out.
There's more than the three I posted in the pic. Probably a dozen or so, of varying sizes. So, more laminate, more set up, etc.
Can't edgeband them, because all the rest in the store (even the undamaged ones) would have to be edgebanded to match. Too many to count. Store wants "continuity" in their displays. (maybe I should just ding and gouge all the good ones to match? :) )
Trimming them down is a good idea, but only on the ones with a little damage on the edges. Some are damaged pretty far in. Trimming that much might make it unstable.
Problem is these are a poor design to begin with. Solid wood edging around the base would have been more robust to begin with, and easier to repair when they do get damaged. A nice big chamfer on the wood edging would be even better. But, they weren't built that way.
Anyway, long story short, I agree that relaminating would be the right way to go. I was just wondering in my original post if the fill & paint solution was feasible. Customer looking for the cheapest/fastest fix to get through an inspection.
Thanks again all.Pete Duffy, Handyman
...Customer looking for the cheapest/fastest fix to get through an inspection.
I'm not sure if this applies in this case, but sometimes you have to avoid the pressure to be a hack. Sure, the customer will say that the cheap fix is fine, but as soon as you leave, they will point out to everyone what a crappy job you did.
I've walked into too many houses where the HO will point out the inferior job done by the previous workers and I'm looking at it thinking I'm not surprised because the right fix would have cost 10 times more. Maintaining a reputation is important. Sometimes it means doing exactly what they want and sometimes it means saying no.
If I had to make this decision, it would be based at least partly on the kind of relationship I had with this customer. If they were a new customer, I would be a lot more inclined to decline than if it were a customer who understood that what I was about to do was not representative of my usual work.
So ask yourself this question "what will they say about me after I'm done here?".
-Don
I agree.
Already declined the job.
Thanks.Pete Duffy, Handyman