How to fix bubbles in edge banding?

[Gabriel Marusic]

I installed some maple edge banding on cabinets that I've been working on and when I painted it the edge banding started bubbling shortly after. Has anyone come across this before and know how I correct the issue on a cabinet that is now installed?

Also - are there recommended higher quality brands of edge banding that the community recommends?

[Mitch schiffer]

Are you using a pre-glued hot melt edge banding? I had some edgebanding i bought as a lot on ebay and had some adhesion issues. I found that turning up my heat a little and rolling it with a hard rubber roller seemed to help. The edge banding looked like it had been sitting around for a while and I suspected that played a role in the issues I was having. Hopefully this helps even though my issue was not exactly the same.

[Kevin Jenness]

What did you use? Hot melt glue can be reactivated and pressed down again. That will probably damage the finish. If you are using waterborne paint use a barrier coat of shellac or a very light first coat of paint to avoid a repeat.

I am not a fan of hot melt veneer tape. I typically glue on a 1/4" solid band with pva glue.

[Gabriel Marusic]

What did you use? Hot melt glue can be reactivated and pressed down again. That will probably damage the finish. If you are using waterborne paint use a barrier coat of shellac or a very light first coat of paint to avoid a repeat.

I am not a fan of hot melt veneer tape. I typically glue on a 1/4" solid band with pva glue.

It's the hot melt veneer tape, I'll likely go with a solid band next time. I'll try reheating it and roll the dice on damaging the finish. It's a latex and I still have everything masked off so not a big deal to re-finish it.

[Richard Coers]

There is no question the latex paint will almost instantly stick to the iron. Your choice is if you want to take that tape off and start over, or scape off any residue and sand the tape, then refinish.

[Mark Bolton]

You could potentially get the pre-glued banding to stick with a heat gun. The glue on the tape melts way lower than latex. The problem is its a precarious line to flirt. Then when you go to roll the latex will be soft so you'll have to repaint anyway because your roller is going to leave tracks in the latex.

When you apply pre-glued banding you have to get the tape hot enough to where you can not touch it with your bare hands. It has to be hot. Most people see someone applying tape banding with home iron and think its cake. You have to get that tape ripping hot to get the glue beneath it hot enough to get any reasonable bite. Hot to the point where your just below burning the tape.