Still under a bit of shock but this needs tending to - while the drama across the road unfolded a guy came to our place to give us a quote for putting a tile into our formica bench top - and he said he'll probably come tomorrow.
But I now have second thoughts.
The situation: We have a formica bench top with integrated sink. Next to the sink an area of formica is getting very thin with small holes developing. We have fixed the holes with some formica from the factory that made the bench top and a soldering iron but the formica is just too thin and little holes appear again and again.
When I rang the factory again (no issue with the quality of the formica and their workmanship - its just wear and tear on a 15 year old bench top) they suggested putting in a tile where the holes are.
Is there any paint or laquer or anything that could be used instead of such a big and messy 'operation'?? Generally the bench top is in good condition, just a collection of small holes and the underlying material is MDF. So once water seeps in the bench top will be doomed.
or you can get it resurfaced with food grade epoxy paint... a specialist paint supply shop (not resenes) would be able to supply you with a pot of the stuff used in commercial kitchens where stainless steel isn't an option.
You could put lino on then coat with clear floor grade polyurethane commercial grade if poss, seen it done on bench looked good 5years later.They just got an offcut
Many thanks - I rang them on Saturday morning telling them that their services are no longer required. They were very good about it.
I'll investigate the food grade epoxy paint thing.
Thanks Hestia, but its just a light grey formica bench top with several tiny holes in the formica - ideal for being painted over. No chips or other damage.
Hi TKP,
I've taken a note of the web site you've given me - sounds good but at the moment its only an area about 15cm square that's affected. A bit of epoxy paint sounds best to me.
I realise the discussion on resurfacing benchtops is a few years old - but I am interested to hear if anyone has had this done and whether they were - and continue to be - satisfied with the results?
I bought some sticky translucent film - the type that is used to cover books (good quality stuff, bought by the metre from Mitre10) and stuck it on top of the Formica. Interesting to see that it's been doing its job for 2.5 years already. It's hardly noticeable and only at the fringes does it start to disintegrate. Once it looks old I'll try to get it off and replace it with new film.
Thanks for the reply - I really want to go with something "permanent"... I can appreciate that resurfacing avoids taking the whole kitchen to pieces to replace the bench - cupboards etc. mounted on top of the bench in places... sigh...
I would really like to hear from some people who have had the resurfacing treatment in the past and how it has stood the test of time...
Our bench tops needed redoing so we got some really thick ply had the handy man bull nose it and insert new sink (old one had fallen out[:0]) stained and poly'ed it and hey presto brand new kitchen for around $1k. (all up including labour and the "new" second hand sink) We also re jigged the breakfast bar, with a bigger surface area, so we could sit at it.
Looks awesome. 1.5 years on its still in really good nick, and maintenance is only a quick sand re-stain and poly when needed.[]
Hi, I did see a resurfacing kit that was on Trade me in several places being advertised it look pretty impressive and not that expensive. I just haven't got time to look for the link at present, but you may find something there. Cheers.
With my first kitchen in Aussie, I bought the formica sheeting and we did it ourselves, just watch out for the air bubbles (have a screading board handy) and ensure you have an appropriate cutting device to keep the external and join edges neat.
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