Aerosol Adhesive Coverage for High-Pressure Laminate
Aerosol adhesive coverage claims should be treated conservatively. May 18, 2009
Question
3M recommends their #90 aerosol product for laminating Formica countertops. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any tips or precautions I need to be aware of?
Forum Responses
(Adhesive Forum)
From contributor R:
3M #90 is a good product and can be used to laminate high pressure laminate. However, if you are new to using this type of product, you can look at Wilsonart 700A, which is manufactured specifically for high pressure laminate and has very specific instructions.
From the original questioner:
I'll sure keep the WilsonArt stuff in mind but I already have the 3M in hand. Yes I'm new to this type of adhesive and plan to do a couple of small test pieces first to get familiar with it. What about coverage? 3M says one will do about 120 square feet, which should be plenty for the job I have to do, but, having run afoul of extravagant claims before, I got three cans total.
From contributor W:
120 square feet is coverage for all the required coats. I always double spray and if the substrate is raw it definitely needs two good coats on each surface. So maybe 30 square feet true yield which still seems to be a little optimistic. We keep it around for small parts but it’s not inexpensive to use a lot of it. A case of 12 cans goes fast compared to a five gallon bucket.
From contributor R:
I agree with contributor W that that coverage is very optimistic. A couple of things that you have to consider when people list coverage are:
1. Amount of coverage (1.0 dry grams/sq ft vs. 2.5 dry grams/sq ft)
2. Is it coverage or is it bonded coverage (100 sq ft of coverage is equal to 50 sq ft of bonded coverage).
Again, a lot of aerosols are used for things other than HPL and may not require as much coverage. However, HPL is a very demanding application that I do not believe that you can afford to skimp on. As a point of reference, our Wilsonart 700A is in the same size can and we state that it covers between 16-17 bonded sq ft/can at a coverage rate of 2.5 dry grams/sq ft.
From the original questioner:
Thanks guys for your input. I think that before I begin this job I'm going to order three more cans just to be on the safe side. I agree that it's an expensive way to do a countertop, and if this wasn't my very last one ever, I would go the more traditional routes. Your advice has probably saved me from walking into a disaster and I appreciate it.
