Reapplying Pieces of Used Laminate

By Bruce Kieffer

Photos by Bruce Kieffer

Posted: June 10, 2010

All right, take this with a grain of salt... This admittedly is an obscure tip, but I assure you if you are ever faced with the problem of how to reapply a piece of plastic laminate that has fallen off the surface it was adhered to, you will be happy you've seen this. If you've done any plastic laminate work, you will know that it's hard enough to apply a piece of oversized laminate to a substructure and get it right. Now imagine doing that without any overhang. Impossible is what I thought too, but I figured it out, and here's what you do:

Clean up any "chunky" residue on the laminate and core stock. Align the laminate perfectly, clamp it in place with spring clamps, and then apply pieces of masking tape to one long edge to act as a hinge.

Flip the laminate piece over and apply fresh contact cement. Let that dry.

Carefully hinge the laminate piece back over the core stock. Press it down by hand and remove the pieces of masking tape.

Finish by applying pressure with a laminate "J" roller.