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Oh. Yeah some home repairs are pondering to do. With the money. This is Maggie and you. Come on now to shake the. Mood. You will see how he's a man has to do good things. Thanks Nancy. We'll show you. How you can make sense. Now all of a dot and welcome to you can fix that I'm trying to stay abs I have all of the whole tackle on this program. Probably one of the most frustrating and one of the most aggravating can be that very difficult problem of having. Countertops to peel a lot or bubble out. Not only is it on site like it is also a household because like and to present an uneven surface. And all the show we're going to be talking about knows how to put it down and show us how you can fix it. Is Jordan Jensen.
How you doing Tom if you could join it this to me seems like a proto difficult thing because this type of killing of even the US out of a lot of different brand names as most commonly referred to is Michael caught up it is. A brutal substance but yet it is popular but about the dislike. Probably 8 out of 10 homes in America has the micro or my car all the time. Countertops somewhere in this probably a conservative estimate. It's also a cold laminating or laminate. The one thing that most people are. When you when you talk about or laminates they immediately think of pieces breaking apart. Difficulty that holds it in place and then you can't move for life. Well some of that is true but if you know the secret of the trite it's a fairly simple process to repair and to fix. Not much good as a matter of fact. Well I know there's nothing on slightly about a can of time that is not even one of those really spread apart one that has an awful lot of chips or breaks little ones that have become
glued as a way of already type of effect. But yet it can be bad difficult and probably a lot of instances the whole model would call out a professional do it. Rather than trying to show you right now you could fix it. It's not really much to it. Probably one of the basic things and least expensive to fix has to do with an edge of Formica. Now let everybody is familiar with that happening. And most people leave it like that for years without doing anything with it. And what happens especially around the sink where you normally see the formica or in a bathroom where there's a cabinet where water could get to it. Kitchen cabinets. Debris water. Liquid solutions get down in there the wood begins to rot and that's where you really run into trouble. So your first job to do is get this thing down to get a sealed so that you don't have the worry of having things get up under it and ruin the
base. So in other words what should go and attempt to try to put it down and not let it stay for you so it can accumulate more damage. Now most definitely. One thing that. That I might point out. Is that if you're tired of the mike and you want to get rid of it it's not all that difficult to replace and it's pretty easy to remove. You can use an iron or a hairdryer or a torch if you VERY careful with it like we had in one of our previous shows a propane torch and put heat on this and it will cause it to come loose very easily just pop right up. Of course for Michael once you get up not no longer any good you've caused it to warp or it's damaged or cracked. Usually when you're pulling it out. Right. So you have to be very careful when you deal with it that's kind of amazing to me that you can use a regular hair dryer and be that way up to about a 200 watt hair drier and you have to keep the heat don't they put out when they're very close to it. They put out enough heat to warm it up enough that you can loosen it and pull it.
So keep that in mind and if you all are and how would you go about and what you could do it pretty much the same way especially if you're not trying to save the peace or if you were trying to save the peace and say this. There was just a little bit tilted up to really get anything in there get in there to clean it out. Again you could take it and put it there and not long enough to scorch it. Long enough. So that will pop up. So it's not that big of a task to loosen the formica and get it the way you want to modify it I used to get this to come up like how to put it. Well let's put it such a common household of the time it will pop up to cause a pause. It is Thomas first thing you have to do is get in there where you can get some work done and you'll need some way. To hold the piece of Formica. And I do not push back.
So far they will crack rock is brittle and especially in cold weather you could have trouble if you were. Pulling back too hard. You could have trouble with it breaking or cracking and then you think you're always going to have that crack showing. It's almost impossible to repair from a good project for August. Yes OK when you get your heat. What you should do and I've just taken a round piece of wood and placed it up under the formica. What this allows us to do is a couple of things. One it'll let us actually get in with a brush brush and clean now. You need to bore each and you know what sort of debris would be out of it. You could have food particles glue you can have all types of things. Now. If you. Have you could have a glob of glue or the formica meant. Two different things. If the glue and it's not standing up real high or anything you can leave it
in your phone for Michael some it will actually. Form right over it it will still bond. I mean it's probably better to go ahead and get it out and you can do that with a paint thinner Alaca thinner and just put it on your brush or a damp cloth or dampen the clothes with a thinner and wipe out the inside with it and clean it so that the surfaces for you have any obstruction. Now that you've done that the next is pretty easy because all you do is you get your. And these come in varying types and you just asked for a laminate or formica summit. Your hardware stores or any supplies. It might indicate that what you should do normally just for time purposes. You should put it on both sides. And then one more piece that is about to be attached to. So then allow it to drive for 10 to 20 minutes depending on the directions and we can
tell you and it's usually 20 minutes depending on the formica mint. Or Mint is meant to be to the touch. Not really tacky to the touch when you're bonding things so it's almost dried and will demonstrate that a little bit earlier. What you do have is highly flammable and it is also probably not to be able to close down the area when you do this have some sort of ventilation. Good point for safety factor. Absolutely do not get yourself in a closed in area and do not be near an open flame because it will ignite and cause you to feign or you know even if you were to inhale so much of what you want to do is make sure that you have cross-ventilation and that you have to keep the air moving wherever
you are. OK. Once you've done that. As we open it in this room that. It's a. Transparent substance. That we start toward the end of the show. OK. What you do is take up your $12 brush to do this because it's pretty difficult to get this stuff off of the brush and out of it it's hardly worth the effort. If you want to get back at somebody in the house. And what you want to do next is holding the surface up. His back a little more. You want to coat both surfaces and you do that fairly thoroughly. And yet evenly.
And make sure that you get your brush all the way back in the back portion not you'll end up with a bubble or a part that's not contacted all that much. Remembering that you don't want your semen to touch. To your ready for it too. One thing about this type want you. To sit up a little bit and then let it make contact there's no moving it unless you apply heat again. If you want to do the bottom surface. And the top. Surfaces. Completely. And I'm not putting a whole material in here Thomas I'm just putting a smooth layer. You don't you don't pour the blue down and. Just make sure that each part is coated.
As your spouse will and acquisitive child happens to be standing by. What do you do about this glue up you get a few. Let's not tell you about that the minute I do that we're going to. Yeah if you got a kid that you want to keep one place you put a finger right there in the bottom of the next thing you would do is under normal conditions. And I will close this. You would actually. Let this open like minutes or. 20 minutes but for the purposes of this show we're going to go ahead in. 20 minutes. You have to do is either weighted down or whatever to make sure that it's in the place because over time that has been raised. And it is not. It is the curvature of that it's been over the you know whatever time period. We have to do is make it
conform to the surface we're trying to make it adhere to. So in this case we're able to get to it wood clamps take a clamp. I think this board. Place over and then clamp it down. Now the reason for the board serves two purposes one my plant won't break into it gives an even cool day on all the question of what you would do is simply. Quite firmly. On the surface. Now. Normally you won't be able to get to it with a clean. In that case you'll have to wear heavy pressure on it for oh say 5 6 12 hours overnight. What a small stack of books. Yeah. Like that is good for good order to. The right of the 50. And in times once you've done that. You can. Wait your time period 5
to 12 hours then clamp it. And. We're going to talk of course this is going to come back up because we haven't given much time to the next thing of course would be to clean up the surface and you can do that with paint thinner lacke thinner and just take a rag and dampen it. And in surface clear. Pretty simple process. That's about all there is to the repair Thomas. OK let's suppose you want to rip all of that all off and start over again. Well it's not as bad as some people think it is but have a good head on or you know or if you just got a new surface that you were you know putting formica laminates on cabinets they're putting them in. Of course on the bathroom. They're putting that type of thing or using them for back splashes right on the stove or wherever. If I'm building a cabinet at home at work center where my wife will have a food
processor and the toaster oven and the coffee maker all in one place where I can close the doors and the inside of that will be laminate. So now that's not a problem. That's the laminate is right. I've gotten it up and everything but the laminate in the doors. Right. Promise the next. If you will just one place at them floor already. Probably. The thing that people fear most in dealing with Formica cutting the. Markets. And it's not really all that difficult as long as you take care in what you're doing. Now just brought appeasement to talk about the ways to cut it. Now there are a couple ways one you can use for small jobs. Incentives. For a larger cut so they have a tendency to cause the formica to cheer up and when I say Chip what I'm talking about right here. You see where the formica is
torn away from his base. Right. Now you don't want that. Chipping. To take place. There can also be caused by cutting it with a song thats too jagged. Right. Too many his'n is not a spot as it should be. You can use the skills skills but if you do use a very fine blade one that has teeth very close together. This was cut with one that was meant for ripping mainly to demonstrate what and that's what it did. Yeah it rips the particles off. Thought it was Could that. Thomas another way to cut it. And one that most people have or can get very easily is with a very fine. And it's pretty easy to cut. What you need to do is find your clear surface and decide and measure where you want to cut your formica. You placed on a surface that you can use as a guide for your blade to run down. OK
so don't do it on your fine table. Take a board in place it over the top of the formica. And either clamp it down in this case I will let you hold it down right. If you hold it there. Take your saw in the secret to the. Surface and use a very fine. If you remember what we talked about teeth. The teeth are very close together. And this place was cut in a special something as brittle as it was accurate right. Exactly this is 13 points to that huge 13 point blade. To could. Someone could use you need to keep a very 45 degree angle or thereabouts when you're from Michael. And you simply run your blade. And we demonstrate how to cut a finger off it.
Oh there we go. Well it's obviously much smoother. That it Colonel I live right. If you had turned over the other way the formica would do the same thing you know you
have to right. There was a spanking made of Thomas's plastics. Laminates. It was really just a plastic base because yeah they have different things to put in it. Inform the backing of all types of things. Thomas. The next step in this process. Should let you cut it for you from practicing your song. Like you did quite well. Well you see how even you can get it right. You know that's that's one of the things that people are afraid of how to straighten even and it is very easy to do once you've got it lined up just one thing and you can see it only took a hand. Anyone can have a hand so much like it but only when you get it. Yeah but I think when it's made to show everybody what we're looking at here it's just a marriage that will be built over most kitchen cabinets or bathroom cabinets.
And of course you want to finish what by putting not only the laminate here but also on the edges to give it a real finished look. Exactly exactly. To the point. That overhang. What you would do is glue it. We're going to do that in just a second. This surface and this one we have here when you talk about why it's necessary to put the little the to itself exactly. Well one piece of it here is the one of one of the adhesive lines or reaches equilibrium. With itself and causes a bonding action. Now.
Make sure you watch the even coat. I have a very thin even whole piece. I think we ought to again because this is a case where putting on too much coffee is a very very even both surfaces. Exactly. They do the same thing to the wood and again you normally wait. 10 to 20 minutes. We're not going to do that. We're going to use a clamp to assist us. OK. Now one thing about formica. Be very careful that when you put it down that's where you want it. That's where it's going to staying especially after you've let it stay in for the time period required. Now when a small piece like that. This is not real hard to deal with. The larger piece it can be a real problem. Now what you want to do is on a little piece you want to make sure that it's even with the surface here. Even with this board you want to apply it starting it. Working it down evenly.
At the bottom. You may have an eighth of an inch whatever you know about an eight minute sticking down further than the board itself. That's not all that critical. Then you want to apply pressure. And once you let this thing stand like it's supposed to when you put this pressure on it's going to hold. And in effect it just about holes like that but rather than take a chance and is going to lightly clamp it here Thomas. You would normally have to do this. OK. The next step. Of. Course would be your top piece. Now here's where it's critical because what you want to do is let it overhang this piece by about a sixteenth of an inch rather than cut it exactly I'm going to demonstrate what we're talking about what we want to do. Again you want to glue the piece. Oh you want this piece to overlap. All the way across the same amount. About a sixteenth of an inch or so.
That's kind of sloppy like that and why we're doing that. Because what you want to do is if you'll notice and you can if there's a bevel edge surrounded the edge on the top piece right. And when you bevel it of course you're losing part of the formica. So you lead it over so that when you bevel it it becomes even with this level. Well we're about to show you that good. One thing we want to do. Well Thomas here's a piece. I did want to show him that I did earlier noticed. This sitting up quite well. Fifteen minutes and it's already. Set for this part right here is what you want to be like out of the touch. So. That's about like you want it to be. Now when you do it that way. Like that. Then you can apply it a couple ways and remember there's a couple ways that you can help yourself put it down and not worry about it being wrong.
In the wrong place. You can first of all. You can take a brown paper bag for instance or brown paper and it will stick. To that level right there. Then you can just put your formica now. And then put your paper. You can have one person holding it. You want to pull your paper out from under it while you're pressing the formica down. Like a sure you don't capture bubbles. Yes going right along making sure it's a line the whole time. OK there's another way and we'll demonstrate on this one. Now rather than glue this one we're going to do it. Show another way and I'm not going to do it again. He was just going to surface in this one. You can use dowels to put him down. You can just take your dog and put him up under. Your formica and place it on there and then align it. With the edges and with the upper part
you see how it rolls right. You may need lots more of these if you're doing a much bigger piece but this allows you. To align it. Without having to worry about oh my goodness place. Is good. Now. What you want to do is once you've aligned it you'll start pressing at the back portion moving the dowels forward. And again the glue would hold. And you would roll your dowels forward just as you're doing. You would pray ass and continue to roll and pull the dowels actually out towards the end when you know you've got a line and you just press damn hard to make sure that it's in flight good right. Well that's pretty good. It's not too hard not to difficult my wants. You've got that lip on the Arias and I'm going to ask you to hold it right there Thomas. But all of this is a project that we pointed out whenever we get a product like this
that way. Will be very helpful if we had a player helping him with always great to have right now may not do too well if you have a wife though you can argue with it. I just watched the piece over the edge you will need to be trimmed if you put pressure right there for me Tell me what you do is. Take your file. And. Go down. For a 45 degree angle. And always go down never go up because if you come up with it you know when you go so you want to take it in the morning. And work here. From Mike. Remember not. All your. Players. Help. You do that on cross.
And what you do end up with. Is about a 45 degree. And it would look like the same it looked like this was the top of this one for I like a good 45. Shaping up right we're exactly. What you'd be careful not to scar of this piece while you're doing it. And Thomas there's another way to do that if you hadn't have a router you can buy a special router bit that will trim that very quickly. A lot more efficient than with a file in that router bit. It's got a. Little bearing on the bottom of it that allows it to run right along the edge of the formica and trims it back in control. It just fits very nicely and makes a beautiful finish. Although you can do a very fine finish with you so you know which one you want to do what you want to happen. I have used both and I've gotten good results from both pieces. What you have to remember with is you don't want to put hot objects on it because it will make it bubble up or can actually scorch it. DON'T TAKE
YOU think straight from the stove and place it on the formica. Also be careful you don't use certain chemicals. Certain chemicals will actually eat into the formica it. Must be a sort of chemical will do it. It can be in your different cleaning agents so you have to be careful to read and make sure that your different cleaning agents don't have the chemicals in it. Like that because it will actually damage your foot or can damage it has a resistance to it. But it will. Thank you for Micah finish and just ruin it. Well you had a little hole for Jordan Johnson. Next we'll show you a project that your conflict. With the money. This is Maggie and you. Shake.
Your. Head. You. Know you can. You. Grab me I'll hand. You mine. So come on now just you know it's bad when you know that you can. Show you know you. Will Show You. Will show you the exam. Everything takes time.
Series
You Can Fix It
Episode Number
10
Episode
Formica Installation and Repair
Producing Organization
Maryland Public Television
Contributing Organization
Maryland Public Television (Owings Mills, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/394-17qnkft8
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/394-17qnkft8).
Description
Episode Description
#10: Counter Tops
Broadcast Date
1980-06-18
Date
1982-02-23
Asset type
Episode
Genres
Instructional
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:29:12
Embed Code
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Credits
Copyright Holder: MPT
Producing Organization: Maryland Public Television
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Maryland Public Television
Identifier: 40039.0 (MPT)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Master
Duration: 00:30:00?
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Citations
Chicago: “You Can Fix It; 10; Formica Installation and Repair,” 1980-06-18, Maryland Public Television, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-394-17qnkft8.
MLA: “You Can Fix It; 10; Formica Installation and Repair.” 1980-06-18. Maryland Public Television, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 29, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-394-17qnkft8>.
APA: You Can Fix It; 10; Formica Installation and Repair. Boston, MA: Maryland Public Television, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-394-17qnkft8