Renew Your Kitchen With A Countertop Resurfacing

Sometimes you can turn a drab looking kitchen into one that looks brand new with a simple countertop resurfacing. Putting a new top on your counters is not that difficult, but you will need to have a little know-how with tool and some elbow grease.

Most countertops are made the same size, unless your original one was custom built to a non-standard size. The first step is to choose the material for your countertop resurfacing project. The cheapest and easiest to work with is laminate material which is about one sixteenth of an inch thick and comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns.

You will want the piece of laminate to be big enough to cover as much of the countertop as possible to avoid having more seams than necessary, and when you are undergoing a countertop resurfacing project always try to put the necessary seams towards the back so they are not as obvious.

Removing the old top without replacing the entire top is cheaper but you will have some work to do removing the old laminate. After all it is held on with glue and will have to be chipped off before a glue remover can be used to loosen the rest of the top. Once you have removed the old top, all the glue needs to come off and the top exposed wood sanded smooth.

Glued Edges are Extremely Important

A glue spreader can be used to spread an even layer of glue over the portion of the countertop, and it is important to make sure the glue is almost perfectly even. Any imperfection in the surface or uneven glue spots will make your countertop resurfacing job appear to have bumps in it.

While spreading the glue, you must insure it reaches the edges and the bead of edge glue must be unbroken to achieve a proper seal at the edges where most countertop resurfacing projects fail and leave gaps once the edge pieces are in place. The edge pieces must also have an even layer of glue lest they come loose and fall off when exposed to moisture.

A heavy roller can be used to roll over the laminate to ensure even adherence of the counter top and glue. Some glue seeping out of the edges is to be expected, and can easily be wiped off before it dries.

The edge finishing is important to your countertop resurfacing and can easily be done with a router and a corner bit. If you don’t have the ability to use a router, find a friend who can help you out, otherwise the edges could be uneven.