[Sue Turner]

We see this all the time here in the Hi-Desert of So. Ca. Chris. Not only do we see it withe the CM people but the Hard and Shiny also, though not as often. What I like is when they do it in the shower and you have white lines all over the place.

I have never been able to understand why the CM people can get away with this and if our matching silicone is just a little wide look out. That is why I always make sure a new man gets a lesson in caulking.

William

[Chris Yaughn]

Norm,

Good eye. I would say 1/4” is about right

[Andy Graves]

That looks awful. Wouldn’t clear at least be more inconspicuous?

[Dan Qu]

Chris, in the 1st pic you posted, if AXIOM beige would have been used, it would have blended perfectly. Problem is, the guys using $.99 latex. I think? The 1/4″ gap is another story.

[Mark Mihalik]

I saw onewhere it looked like the installer used his thumb to caulk. I wish I had a pic.

I sometimes see where the CM front edge sits 3/8 off the wall and they caulked the gap and covered it with splash instead of sanding it to fit properly. I would be ashamed to leave someting like that. I’d never get away with it either.

[Chris Yaughn]

Dave,

You ask. I deliver. Just could not help myself. Again THIS IS NOT MY TOP> Just had some in the truck. . One of the polysills would have been a better fit, but Uhmmmmm it wasn’t mine.

There was also this pretty jazzy job of notching for a face frame.

[Mark Mihalik]

Yea, that’s the kind of stuff I was talking about earlier

WTF!!! PITIFUL!

[Tom M]

Thanks, Chris.

Old school? 50 years in business next year. Fer Sure.

Although laminate is, frankly, not made as well as it used to be, how do you try to convince a couple in their 70’s that they need to replace their 35 year old laminate top, that looks in great shape, except for the outdated pattern, with solid surface or stone costing three times as much? My conscience doesn’t work that way.

[Mike Gladstone]

Tom,

Glad your conscience works that way! Wish everyones did. We never try to convince, let them do that on thier own, that’s why they come to our shop. Normally it the Mrs… who is just plain tired of that laminate, and the Mr… just wants to make her happy, soooo she gets what she wants without any convincing whatsoever. We can however show them our most economical product to help keep thier costs down. We have a lot of retired folks down here although they are starting to leave do to taxes and insurance escalation.

[Tom M]

Thanks, Mike.

To be fair, as Chris alluded to, our laminate tops are often different than most…

[Mark Mihalik]

Tom, your laminate looks really nice, probably the best I’ve ever seen. You don’t see that around here.

How do you roll the edges and join the cove in the corners? Do you need any special equipment (ie press or something)?

I’d love to learn how to perform your technique.

[Mike Gladstone]

WOWTom, those are the best laminate tops I’ve seen. What type of machines do you use to get that results. Do you use plywood or particleboard substrate.

[John Christensen]

Tom,

Dito the previous comments. I look forward to reading more about it. Very nice PL work.

Johnny C

[Chris Yaughn]

I think he uses pixy dust or some such.

Laminate around here comes in 12ft blanks and gets the old 45 in the corner.

Chris

[Tom M]

Yeah, my Dad was a solid surface piomeer, but I think he’s most proud of his laminate work. I’m fortunate to have two guys who really get it. My partner and my lead lam guy, John.

markm,

Take some 15# felt, lay it out flat, and make a paper model of what you want to bend. If you can do it on roofing paper, you can do it with laminate, allowing for proper radii, etc. No fancy machines, just jigs and starting off with great glue and weest coast spruce.

MikeG,

Usually particle board, but luan, or birch veneer (lovely..), or Medite/Medex as the spec calls for it. I had a learning experience on a commercial job where the spec called for water resistant medex. We did the medex deck then, as per usual, p.board splashes. Problem is, the medex was called out for formaldehyde or some such, rather than moisture, so we actually pealed off the particleboard and relaminated with medex. That was one tim I was happy that contact was called out in spec.

Thanks for the compliments, but its not something you can make money at, for sure. We did an eight sided 180 wrap table top, using a corner system that looks kind of like this. Solid surface would have been so much cheaper….

[edit] I should note, the eight sided thingy had no seams, save for the Corian inserts.

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