Counter Laminate Won't Stick

17 years ago

I didn't really know where to post this but hopefully someone on here can help!

We are making a counter for our laundry. We put the contact cement on the backsplash piece as well as the counter -waited the allotted time (until it was glossy looking and not sticky) We did the back splash piece first and it worked like a charm. We then waited a bit longer for the counter. We laid the piece on -starting pulling the dowels out and it was not sticking at all. We figured maybe we waited too long so we reapplied the contact cement and waited again. Same thing happened the second time. What are we doing wrong?

We are doing this in our garage -does humidity affect? Temp?

Before we try it again should we try and remove the cement from the laminate piece?

Can you lay it on too thick? (which we put down the same amount as the backsplash)

This is so annoying -the first piece was flawless -have no idea what's going on with this one.

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

2ajsmama
17 years ago
Call out for mrsmarv on Home Decor (I think that's where she posted?) and here. She just relaminated her counters and they turned out great!
onlygirlsmom
Original Author
17 years ago
hey-mrsmarv -I need your help!
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User
17 years ago
What's your substrate? Did you use 3/4" partical board or some type of plywood? Some plywoods have resins that make it virtually impossible to have things stick to it (luan). Is your can of cement fresh? What did you use to spread it? Or did you use the spray adhesive? What thickness? Thicker isn't better! How long is "longer" for the wait time? There may have been too much time elapsed if you coated both at once and then fussed over getting the backsplash right.

The best answer would be to start over with a fresh piece of laminate and substrate. It's virtually impossible to "reuse" pieces that have been coated with contact cement.
onlygirlsmom
Original Author
17 years ago
live wire- please don't tell me we have to get a new piece of substrate or laminate -ack! We picked up the piece of laminate from someone who had extra from a project.

Answers:
We used 3/4" particleboard.
I just bought all the materials last week for this project. It was a brand new can -I used DAP Contact Cement -the low VOC stuff
I used one of those paint brush looking brushes -I can't think of the name -it was recommended from several of the websites I looked at.
I would not think the cement was put on too thick -it was about the same amount as the backsplash.
We probably waited another 10-15 minutes. I have a feeling we may have waited too long but it didn't seem ready before then.
The backsplash was an absolute cinch.
Any other ideas?
Thanks!