Refurbishing Old Formica

[SeaSeeker]

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to refurbish old Formica, short of tearing it out and replacing it?
Has any body tried putting tile over Formica?

[avb3]

Originally Posted by SeaSeeker

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to refurbish old Formica, short of tearing it out and replacing it?
Has any body tried putting tile over Formica?

Did this in our kitchen, but had to put a substrate of 1/4" plywood down first, then the mud, tiles, grout and it came out "just like on TV"

[DWT]

You can reformica or tile over formica, rough it up real good. If you tile, check out the adhesive and grout that would work the best for that.

[SabreKai]

There is a paint available specificly for redoing old formica counter tops. Home depot or some other big box hardware store should have a selection. I've seen it used twice, both times it gave a pretty hard monotone finish.

As for removing the old stuff? I wouldn't. Its a monumental pain to do, and if its only discolored and scratched, then lay new stuff over top of it. Any larger gouges can be filled with putty first. It's simpler this way. Trust me, I learned the hard way. Prying up 50 year old formica, which shatters into razor sharp shards is no fun. The newer stuff may not be as hard to rip up, but I for one will never do it again.

Sabre

[AnchorageGuy]

SeaSeaker, you can tile over Formica, but, If the Formica ever comes loose, just a little bit or in one spot, and this happens a lot, even if it is OK now, your tile job will have to be removed and then so will the Formica. So you will have to decide if this is worth taking the chance or pulling the Formica off. We just removed all of it off the walls of our forward head, you can read it here , and it came off pretty easy with a heat gun. Chuck

[sailingmonica]

Originally Posted by SabreKai

The newer stuff may not be as hard to rip up, but I for one will never do it again.

Sabre

Amen to that!

[gettinthere]

paint it with a good 2 part epoxy paint?

[DWT]

Another way to remove formica is to start at one corner, lift and seperate it just a little with a scraper from the plywood, then with small paint brush start applying laquer thinner. This will loosen the glue as you continue across the entire piece you want to remove. It's slow but it will get it off.

[daddle]

Replacing formica is easy. It's the fiddles and trim that takes the time.

If it's mostly just discoloring and dullness, try polishing it with the fiberglass hull polishing stuff.