Repairing Melamine Tear-Out

Tips and tricks for using melamine seam filler. December 14, 2005

Question
I am doing a job with melamine. Is there a filler to fix tear out? Pieces were already cut to size.

Forum Responses
(Cabinet and Millwork Installation Forum)
From contributor J:
White Seam-Fill.

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From contributor G:
Seam-fill works, but I've had these problems:
1) The white seam-fill is a different color than the white melamine, but it's close. It would be nice if it were an exact color match.
2) It's hard to blend in the repair, and get it totally flat, partly because seam-fill dries so fast. Have to wipe with lacquer thinner, sand, fill, wipe, sand, etc... and it's difficult to sand the patch without taking some gloss off the melamine.
3) Seam-fill has a different sheen when applied than the melamine, and it's a bit tough to get the sheen matching, so the repair is totally invisible.

So who is looking inside the cabinets at that little blemish, anyway? All my fussy customers. If the hole is at the top of the cabinet, you might find it easier to use some caulk and paint over it. But seam-fill is the only product that I use on shelves that are washed.

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From contributor T:
One hint in working with seamfil - they make a retarder that gives a little more open time to play with it.