Replacing countertops

[twohats]

I own a 94 Dutchman and was wondering how difficult it would be to replace the existing countertop[lamnimate]on the cabinets?Moisture had gotten to them and is seperating.Thanks

[ScouterMom]

It's not that hard to replace them at all - they are attached to the tops of your cabinets much like your kitchen cabinets in your house - the trick is to get to the fasteners !

However, since yours are damaged and you're going to throw them out, I'd just cut a hole in the center of each one so you can unhook them from the edges easily from the top, by reaching through the hole you just cut.  

To replace them, you can use regular countertop you can find in any home improvement store - or you can get 1/2 " pre-finished shelving or MDF and put on your own laminate.  Some people have simply done plywood tops and finished them nicely.

A few years back I had a tiny little camper - it's two countertops were also small - so I used two 'sink cutouts' - leftovers I bought for $.50 each at Menards, to replace them.  I bought a roll of laminate edging and glue to finish the edges and they made great new countertops for my little camper!

Laura

[twohats]

Thanks Laura.

I will give that a try.I did see screws on the inside that looks as if they are holding the top secure.I took this out for the first time this past week end and everything worked great except the door seems to be sprung,latches fine untill someone sits on the bunk and the door opens,a little more tlc and that should be easy to fix.again I appreciate the response..take care

Danny

[austinado16]

If you can get under the existing laminate, you could try regluing it using Gorilla Glue.  That glue is insane, and will definately do the job.

But a word of caution; the glue likes to swell up and foam out yellow.  So if you can get in behind the laminate to apply glue, make sure you have something really heavy to set on the laminate to hold it in place while the glue is drying!

[ckpopup]

Food for thought.....When I going to replace my countertops, I just roughed up the old laminate with 120 grit sand paper and relaid new laminate on top of the roughed up surface using laminate cement. Due to the increase height of adding new laminate on top of the old, I had to order new plastic T-moulding for the edges in the right width. But since I totally changed the color scheme, I would've replace the edge moulding anyway. I was very pleased with the outcome.....

...but if your countertop is separating, splitting etc, you should replace with new particle board, OSB etc and re laminate.



Here' a link to the pic of what I did....

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2016/1927810282_dbce92049a.jpg

[ScouterMom]

ooooooooh!  VERY nice!  Love the black edging, really compliments the appliances!  

Laura