How to Accurately Join Two Pieces of Laminate Together

This film shows how to accurately join two pieces of laminate or Formica together. It is important for you to know that this is the only approach I have seen that will work. Even if you attempt to merge two laminate edges from newly manufactured pieces, my experience has shown that they will not merge perfectly together to form a uniform joint. These joints will most likely have irregular spaces with variable joint distances along the bordering sides. Consequently, this will make your project look like it was crafted with substandard workmanship.

I developed this video while building a bar in my basement, which I will later feature in a multi-part series on how to finish a basement.

In addition, I purchased the laminate in this video from Home Depot. It was manufactured by the Wilsonart Company. Formica brand laminates, which are also popular, are similarly available at Home Depot, Lowe's, and other retailers.

Lastly, this joint was absolutely necessary for me to build because the width of my bar exceeds the width of the largest Wilsonart piece available from Home Depot, which is 5 by 12 feet. Knowing that I needed additional laminate for other portions of my finished basement, I also purchased a 4 by 8 sheet of Wilsonart Laminate and joined these 2 sheets as shown in this video.


Within the video, I will provide the following information:
1) Demonstrate the problems with joining two pieces of laminate
2) Show you how to overlap both laminate pieces, set your saw’s cutting depth, and clamp a cutting fence (guide) in place
3) Test the fence alignment
4) Cut the overlapped laminate pieces
5) Remove and clean up the laminate remnants
6) Glue the new laminate in place
7) Fill the small joint with Wilsonart Color Matched Caulk