Kitchen worktop joints

[Darren]

Ok, I ignored the advice of friends and relatives and have started cutting/fitting my laminate kitchen worktops.

So far, so good.

Quick question. Do I seal the routed edges of the chipboad worktops before bolting them together?

If so, what with?

Also,

I plan to use No. 20 biscuits to prevent vertical misalignment. Not having done this before, do I glue the biscuits or just assemble them. My guess is just assemble as they are only for vertical alignment and the bolts do the horizontal work.

Cheers, Darren.

[Andy Hall]

On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 23:04:25 +0100, Darren wrote (in article ):

This would be a good plan

Various approaches can be used

- Silicone sealer

- waterproof contact adhesive

- epoxy resin

Correct. Across a standard 600mm depth worktop, around 5 biscuits is reasonable.

Note that if you use the dogbone bolts, there may still be a small amount of relative front to back movement between the sections, but that will go as you tighten the nuts.

The biscuit slots allow movement in this direction. Do make sure that the worktops are properly supported because the biscuits will break if forced and they are out of line.

Lamello make red plastic clamping plates the size of no. 20 biscuits which are rather tougher than the wooden ones. The only problem is that they come in boxes of 250 at £35.

If you are reasonably careful, then the wooden ones are OK. In the worst case, if you break any, they can be replaced - another reason for not gluing.

[Guy King]

The message from Andy Hall contains these words:

I've used outdoor PVA and never come unstuck.

[Lobster]

You can get small tubes of (expensive) worktop-colour-matched silcone from kitchen suppliers like Howdens - probably superfluous if you get a perfect joint as there should be no visible joint between the two edges which needs filling.

Are biscuits really necessary? I've never seen a kitchen fitter use them; surely if the tops of the supporting units are level and true, they aren't needed?

David

[Andy Hall]

On Sat, 15 Jul 2006 10:39:39 +0100, Lobster wrote (in article ):

I don't think they do any harm. Probably with a material like particleboard covered in laminate there is little if any movement of the material, and as you say, if the tops of the supporting units are level and true and everything is firm, there should not be an issue.

However, on a wooden floor or if the worktops are wood, the potential exists for movement;. Certainly the dog-bone bolts will not prevent vertical movement of the worktops relative to one another. Only a fraction of a mm movement is needed and the result looks poor.