Can I laminate over laminate

you could do that with few problems with the old formica materials. Use a good contact adhesive. Thuis assumes the original surface is secure.

It may help to run a sander over the original surface to scuff it up slightly.

Yup

Yup, but do not use waterbased contact cement...and scuff with 80 grit in a beltsander. Make sure the contact is dry but still a little bit tacky... you should be able to swipe your hand across the dried adhesive without sticking to it...but it should still leave a fingerprint. The volatiles in the contact adhesive will have no place to go when trapped between two layers of phenolic(laminate)... so dry is good. Roll with all your might afterwards to ensure a good bond. What are your plans for the backsplash and front edge? (Tight curves like that will not be possible without a whole lot of localized heat and special post-form equipment.)

Never tried it but I don't see a reason it would not work. Mark's comment about scuffing the surface sounds like a good plan.

Guys,

Thanks for the quick replies. Currently the backsplash is a crappy piece of pine that the original owner had. I do a decent amount of woodworking so I will try and make a backsplash. My front edge will either be a beveled edge exposing about a qtr inch of hardwood or a solid wood edge. Whichever I can figure out how to do while the counter top is in place.

Any thoughts on the edge would be greatly appreciated

Thanks Again

Larry C

This makes me wonder if it would be good to rout some little grooves in the old surface for relief.

I have given your idea some more thought. To buy what you need, glue, rollers,laminate, some trimming bits, a file or two..a proper roller etc... not to mention your time. What does a 'by-the-foot' off the shelf postformed top cost? Bet it's cheaper...(unless you have a whole bunch of mitres and peninsula-double finished edges...) But.. I don't know your lay-out.

As others have said, yes you can apply over old laminate. We did it on our kitchen, lasted 5 years with no problems, till we did a full redo . The old layer must be well bonded, and abrade it with 60-80 grit belt sander. I would recommend against cutting grooves in the old layer, they may telegraph thru.

You might try ceramic tiles, you can get foot-square tiles for about a buck each at the borg.

Gluing laminate to laminate is done all of the time. Sand the old and glue on the new. There are special laminates that have color all the way through them that are used to make attractive edges. Strips of different colors of the solid color laminate are glued on top of each other at the edges and the body of the counter is layed up with cheaper laminates on top of each other, sometimes four layers thick. Then the edge is beveled so that the different colors all show, one on top of each other beveled back. Not that this is what you want to do, but this is done on new applications for custom work.

For your edge question: Glue and nail your wood edge on and sand flush to the top before you apply the laminate. Run the laminate over the top of the wood edge and then bevel it. This gets rid of the joint line and keeps water and debris out of the crack.

CR

I'm a cabinet maker by trade ... Laminating over other lam is OK if it is well adhered , just scuff and let the contact cement dry completely . Use scraps and/or small dowells to keep the new laminate from sticking until you get it positioned . I like a hardwood edge , applied before laminating and then routed with a profile bit . If you prefer square inside corners you can apply the profiled edge after laminating .

Not surprisingly, the guy at the BORG is probably looking to sell you a new counter top vs. a sheet of laminate.

CR wrote: [snip]There are special laminates that have color all the way through

Solidcore laminates have been discontinued by most (if not all) of the major distributors here in Canada at least and none of my US sources list it anymore... The stuff used to be huge money... and I mean huge. The OP was after something cheap and temporary. Solicore ain't it.

This stuff, has pretty much replaced 'the black line' problem: