How to veneer a vanity?

[Alan Wright]

228931228932

Hi all,

I've attaqched a couple pics of a vanity I have in my half bath. As you can see, it's a basic "box store" unit. I want to "wrap" it in Walnut. The plan is to take the doors and drawer fronts off and remake those. The front stiles are attached, so I can't remove them. I want to cut some veneer and attach it. I can make the veneers whatever thicknees I want, but I'm planning on 1/8" or so. The side is a panel, which is roughly 2'x2 1/2'. I can make a walnut panel for this to attach. My question is how to attach these veneers. The vanity has a finish, but I can sand it off. Since I can't take the vanity apart, I can't use a veneer press. Is there another option? Perhaps a special glue and some clamps. The side will be hard to clamp, but I could use a pin nailer till the glue dries. Any help would be appreciated. I have another one in my guest bath. If I can get this one to work, I'd like to do the other one as well. Thanks!!:) Alan

[Michael Moscicki]

If you can't take it apart have you considered staining it with a Walnut stain? It will definitely be a lot easier.

Either that or you might be better off remaking the whole thing since you're doing the front.

[richard poitras]

Look up on u-tube on how to re-face cabinets. There are some posting on how to do it. Also if you look up on the web for re-facing material suppliers they offer self sticking veneers that work very well. This is something I used to do some 20 years ago and is what and how the professionals do it. As for the side you need to place a wood panel/skin on it to make up what you have for the stile lip, then veneer over both the side and the stile or just the stile edge and the panel separately.

Good luck
Richard

[Mike Henderson]

Try this on some scrap first.

I've had some success in ironing on veneer. But I'd recommend buying some quarter sawn veneer. Apply a light coat of PVA glue to the substrate and to the veneer. Before the glue dries, position the veneer in place and use a standard household iron to heat the material. This will dry the glue and cause it to adhere.

The reason I recommend quarter sawn veneer is that the water in the glue will cause face sawn veneer to expand, and when the iron dries the veneer it will shrink. Quarter sawn veneer doesn't expand or shrink as much.

Since you're only putting this on the face frame, cut the veneer oversize and trim it after you iron it on and the glue is well cured.

Of course, you'll have to prepare the substrate before you do this. Sand it down to bare wood.

Mike

[Shawn Pixley]

I redid my bathroom in the way you described. Rebuilt the doors and drawers. I ordered psa veneers and just carefully worked my way around the original carcass. Took a bit of time, but ultimately was really easy. I didn't sand to bare wood, but skuffed it well. If I were to use the iron-on, I would have gone back to bare wood.

[Jamie Buxton]

A friend has just had his kitchen cabinets refaced, so I got watch a pro refacing company do it. Their experience is that modern contact adhesive doesn't stay stuck long enough, and PSA veneer doesn't either. They now use eighth-inch plywood, which they prefinish. They rip it into the correct widths before they go to the job. They remove the old doors and drawers, and sand the old finish off the casework. Then they attach the plywood with yellow glue, using pin nails to hold it while the glue dries. This kitchen had overlay doors and drawer fronts, and all the pins are behind them. They fill the pin holes with wax pencils, which do a remarkably good job. At vertical outside corners, they use matching L-shaped molding to cover the corner where two sheets of plywood meet. The pin nails go on the side of the cabinet, where they'll be less visible.

[Alan Wright]

Thanks for the advice Alan

[Richard McComas]

3M's PSA veneer will work very well for your veneering.