Formica Countertops

Most of us who are moderately interested in the designing of our house, especially kitchens and bathrooms, must have planned to install a countertop, preferably a Formica countertop. Formica, which comes from the words “for mica”, and is basically an organization whose primary business was related to insulation but now is popular for the Formica countertops and laminations of tabletops and furniture tops. However, it may be a surprising fact for you but the Formica countertops used in the kitchen or in the surface of bathrooms are actually made up of papers!

Formica countertops come in various colors, textures and patters; and they generally start with a resin-soaked paper. There are plenty of settings required for the processing of a countertop with heat and timing properties included. The process may also differ according to the shape and sizes. For example, a flat countertop would have a complete different chemistry than a curved one.

However, the core or filler of Formica countertops are made with the help of brown paper soaked in phenolic resin and is applied on them by rollers. After the resin is soaked all through the brown paper, it is then dried over an oven. The thickness and strength of the product is derived from this process. Formica countertops have a general reputation of having very good decorations. This is made possible by high-grader print-quality paper. The paper, after getting filled with melamine resin passes through a wringer that extracts the excess from the product. In this article we would discuss more about how Formica countertops are made, and how we can repair the countertops if needed.

The resin soaked paper that as mentioned above is actually applied over 800-1600 pounds of pressure in every inch that helps in pressing the stacks of resin-soaked paper. This press actually provides heat to the paper and helps the paper to liquefy and spread in all parts uniformly. Therefore a bond is created among the layers in the stack and gets converted into a single laminated unit. Then the laminated unit is removed from the press to get it trimmed and is ready for use except sanding the bottom. The bottom is sanded to get the glue stick the product in the suitable place. However, the problem with Formica countertops is that they get damaged with time. In spite of the fact that it is designed to withstand heat, water and wear, as it gets old, parts of it gets damaged making you think of buying a new one. However, there are ways to repair damage.

There are easy ways to repair certain chips of the countertop. Most hardware stores have a substance called laminate repair paste. There are various colors that match your countertop in most cases. However, before we actually apply such pastes in our countertop, it must be ensured that the damaged area is clean from any grease or dirt. Using ammonia solution should help the cause, but it the countertop should also be given time to dry itself up. Now, one can spread the paste all over the damaged area with a suitable object like a knife. The paste dries up in a specified time, and then the extra can be wiped off from the area. However, this is only a temporary respite as they need to be reapplied regularly, at least once every month or two. Another substance called the Contact cement can also reapply peeling laminates. In cases when the edge is not possible to be fixed with glue we sand the exposed surface and stick the new laminate edge.