Hello,

We're converting our garage into a family room, and with this I hope
to convert a small 10x7 closet into a home office. Instead of finding
bulky furniture for the room, I'd like to cut counters and place on
two walls in an L shape, and top the counters with formica.

Two questions... what material is best to use for the counter tops
under the formica? I've seen people do this before, but I never
questioned what material they used. And second, how do i get the
formica to stick to the unfinished counter? I've heard of people
heating it, but i'd assume glue would be best.

I tried to find a few How-Tos or DIY articles on this online, but had
no luck.

Thanks,

Alex

"Alex" wrote in message
...
Hello,

We're converting our garage into a family room, and with this I hope
to convert a small 10x7 closet into a home office. Instead of finding
bulky furniture for the room, I'd like to cut counters and place on
two walls in an L shape, and top the counters with formica.

Two questions... what material is best to use for the counter tops
under the formica? I've seen people do this before, but I never
questioned what material they used. And second, how do i get the
formica to stick to the unfinished counter? I've heard of people
heating it, but i'd assume glue would be best.

I tried to find a few How-Tos or DIY articles on this online, but had
no luck.

Thanks,

Alex

2 layers of 3/4" mdf as a base, glued together. use contact cement. there's
a brochure you can get at home depot in the same place as the formica that
tells you how to do this. you can also order premade custom sized
countertops there for cheaper than buying the materials to make them.

Alex wrote:
Hello,

We're converting our garage into a family room, and with this I hope
to convert a small 10x7 closet into a home office. Instead of finding
bulky furniture for the room, I'd like to cut counters and place on
two walls in an L shape, and top the counters with formica.

Two questions... what material is best to use for the counter tops
under the formica? I've seen people do this before, but I never
questioned what material they used. And second, how do i get the
formica to stick to the unfinished counter? I've heard of people
heating it, but i'd assume glue would be best.

I tried to find a few How-Tos or DIY articles on this online, but had
no luck.

Thanks,

Alex

Formica is an art unto itself and although it is not hard to
do, it requires some special skills that you may not want to
have to acquire while learning on a small project.

I would go with the other responders suggestion to get post
formed countertops and just build the support to set them on.
Check the corner for squareness and then get two mitered
pieces to fit the two walls. All you have to do is cut them
to length, lay them in place, install the bolts to pull the
miters together, and screw them down from underneath.

No fumes, no routing, no fuss, no muss.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

In article , Alex wrote:
Hello,

We're converting our garage into a family room, and with this I hope
to convert a small 10x7 closet into a home office. Instead of finding
bulky furniture for the room, I'd like to cut counters and place on
two walls in an L shape, and top the counters with formica.

Two questions... what material is best to use for the counter tops
under the formica? I've seen people do this before, but I never
questioned what material they used. And second, how do i get the
formica to stick to the unfinished counter? I've heard of people
heating it, but i'd assume glue would be best.

I recently finished building some shelves and a countertop-
style desk in a childs bedroom and everyone is well pleased
with the results.

I used 3/4in oak ply. I just sanded and poly'ed the oak
surface for the undersides. The top surfaces and exposed
edges were all done with Wilsonart laminate (just another
brand of Formica).

It's probably more common to use particle board. It's
cheap and doesn't warp. But it's not as strong as ply
and it really hates water. Depending on the expected
loading and the size of your unsupported spans, you'll
likely need more than 3/4in thickness.

In my case, I felt I'd be able to do a better job of
cutting some required curves with plywood. And I wanted
to hold the thickness down to 3/4in.

The top surface laminate was fixed with contact cement --
that's the standard for laminates. But I fixed the edge
banding laminate with epoxy -- I really wanted to be sure
it would stay put.

You'll find contact cement in two main flavors -- solvent
or water based. The former probably sticks better but is
highly inflammable and smelly until dry. The water based
is safer and (a little) less smelly.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In article vRi6j.71$0O1.56@trnddc05, wrote:
Formica is an art unto itself and although it is not hard to
do, it requires some special skills that you may not want to
have to acquire while learning on a small project.

I would go with the other responders suggestion to get post
formed countertops and just build the support to set them on.
Check the corner for squareness and then get two mitered
pieces to fit the two walls. All you have to do is cut them
to length, lay them in place, install the bolts to pull the
miters together, and screw them down from underneath.

I considered this approach too. However, I really wanted
to round one of the corners are it was hopeless trying
to find a ready-made piece.

So I decided to do it myself. I was easily able to make
the pieces to a pretty decent standard. I did buy a small
palm router (the Bosch Colt) and found it pretty easy to
use with a flush-trim bit, despite the fact I had never
used any kind of router before. I was a little nervous
on the first piece but, after that, it was a walk in the
park.

Here's a shot of part of that project:

http://www.malch.com/DSC_4757.jpg

The shelves are 3/4in ply with laminate on the top and
front edges. Poly on ply undersides. The countertop/desk
was built in exactly the same manner.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex wrote:
Hello,

We're converting our garage into a family room, and with this I hope
to convert a small 10x7 closet into a home office. Instead of finding
bulky furniture for the room, I'd like to cut counters and place on
two walls in an L shape, and top the counters with formica.

Two questions... what material is best to use for the counter tops
under the formica? I've seen people do this before, but I never
questioned what material they used. And second, how do i get the
formica to stick to the unfinished counter? I've heard of people
heating it, but i'd assume glue would be best.

I tried to find a few How-Tos or DIY articles on this online, but had
no luck.

For desktop use, assuming cabinets or desk-like structure underneath so
there's support every 2-3', 3/4" ply is sufficient. If you don't have
that much support, you'll need more stiffness--how much more then
depends on the distance between supports and load, obviously.

Typically, one cuts a narrow piece and glues/screws it to the underside
along the front edge to give the appearance of a thicker top if going to
edge the front w/ laminate as well rather than a solid banding.

As for the job, it's relatively straightforward if you buy material of
sufficient length to not have to make a cut joint match -- if you
arrange your L appropriately you can use factory edges. What I
typically do for something simple like this is make the one piece into a
short-legged "ell" so the edge isn't right at the corner itself, but off
a couple of inches or so, the exact dimension depending on the counter
width and the width of the material, accounting, of course, for the
front edge-banding if laminate.

As others say, the adhesive is contact cement and it will be plenty
strong to keep the front banding in place -- no epoxy needed. The
biggest trick in a closet may be simply the logistics of getting the
pieces in place. The trick in laying the tops is to make sure to use
sufficient spacers to prevent an inadvertent "early touch" of the sheet
until you have it lined up where it needs to go--once it sticks, it
can't be moved. I use dowels or similar, others have various favorites.

As for cost, if you're in a place of any size there's bound to be an
"unclaimed freight" or similar place with overstocks, seconds, etc.,
that will have a bunch of ends and so on you can sort through. Unless
you're terribly picky, you can probably find something that will do for
half or third of what even the cheapest will be at the box stores.
(And, having used it on occasion, I personally would suggest avoiding
Wilsonart like the plague as a newbie -- it chips very easily and is
much more brittle than Formica).

--

In article , dpb wrote:

(And, having used it on occasion, I personally would suggest avoiding
Wilsonart like the plague as a newbie -- it chips very easily and is
much more brittle than Formica).

I've used Formica on a couple of recent projects and
Wilsonart on one. I do agree that Formica seems to be
significantly better. I was quite surprised since I
expected them to be pretty much equivalent. I shall
stick to Formica for any new projects since it does
appear to be tougher and more durable.

I don't think the Wilsonart is quite as terrible as you
have portrayed but it sure ain't Formica.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Malcolm Hoar wrote:
In article , dpb wrote:

(And, having used it on occasion, I personally would suggest avoiding
Wilsonart like the plague as a newbie -- it chips very easily and is
much more brittle than Formica).

I've used Formica on a couple of recent projects and
Wilsonart on one. I do agree that Formica seems to be
significantly better. I was quite surprised since I
expected them to be pretty much equivalent. I shall
stick to Formica for any new projects since it does
appear to be tougher and more durable.

I don't think the Wilsonart is quite as terrible as you
have portrayed but it sure ain't Formica.

I said to OP "as a newbie"...

For a novice I would repeat the advice -- for more experienced, unless
you're really cash-strapped, I'd still advise against it. Besides being
harder to work with, it doesn't wear nearly as well, either.

--