How to Fix Peeling Laminate on a Dresser
After the laminate coating on furniture dries out, usually on antiques, the adhesive that holds the laminate can eliminate adhesion. The laminate will lift, creating a bulge, or come completely loose from 1 end and peel back. This might be the only damage to a dresser that you want to keep using, or even a necklace that you wish to refurbish. Laminate could be glued back down. It is not complex. Simply use some glue, masking tape and a few weights.
Tip the dresser on one side if needed so that the peeling side is facing upward. Towards the end of a putty knife under any loose parts of laminate. Lift up the laminate softly with one hand without breaking it off. There will be dried glue on the wood under the laminate. It is a light-crusty substance. Off it with all the end of the putty knife until you can see bare timber. Scrape each of the peeled area.
Mix the powdered resin paste with water in accordance with manufacturer’s directions. With a 1/2-inch brush, apply the adhesive to the bare wood beneath each peeled piece of laminate. Apply enough paste to completely wet the timber. Wait 30 minutes until the paste becomes sticky.
Press the laminate down into the paste with your palms. Press hard enough to allow it to stick to the adhesive. If the laminate cracks together with the grain, that’s OK. When each section is pressed , use masking tape to fasten it by stretching and pressing on the masking tape down over the glued laminate.
Place thin vinyl on top of the dresser, above the tape. Place individual blocks of timber within the taped regions to provide the pressure points into the glued areas. Place heavy objects on top of the cubes. Use whatever you can find to supply as much weight into the cubes as you can. Wait 24 hours for the glue to dry.
Remove the weights, blocks, tape and plastic. Gently sand the surface of the dresser until smooth using 100-grit sandpaper attached to a hand block or using an oscillating instrument fitted using a sanding attachment.
Apply a coat of penetrating oil stain to the dresser with a soft cloth after repairing both sides, the top and the drawer fronts at the same method. Allow the oil sink in for one hour and then apply another coat.
Spray the dresser with one coat of lacquer. Wait 30 minutes and sand the batter by hand using 120-grit sandpaper. Spray yet another coat to finish.