I’m looking to finish the back of a cabinet cheaply while maintaining a wood look on it, it’s to be a kitchen island with a butcher block top. The back of the cabinet is unfinished MDF.
I was thinking for simplicity I could use wood flooring pieces like this to finish it and just add corner trims, but wondering how I could glue it down to the back. Wood glue is probably out, but would liquid nails work?
You say “like this” but the real answer depends on what the backing of that material is. Liquid nails will glue to some things and not to others. In fact there are about 8 different varieties of liquid nails that are each formulated for a different set of materials and conditions.
If the back of the cabinet is unfinished press board, then most any kind of water based glues (even wood glue) will work. But you’d need to inspect the laminate first.
And in a last ditch effort you could use something like primer paint (not 2-in-1) on the back of the laminate to make a waterbased glue adhere.
When you do go about gluing, there is also some amount of technique that would help. Spread the glue out in a thin layer not in big blobs. You will need to clamp the materials together until the glue sets. Luckily the planks are lightweight for their surface area - so you should be able to get them to stick easily and permanently.
Hey, thanks for responding. I say “like this” specifically because that’s the piece I’m looking to buy, one of these two:
I’m not worried about adhesion to the press board, yeah, that’s no problem. Any glue should work for that, I’ve got wood glue, liquid nails, and cyanoacrylate. Heck, even a glue gun and sticks. If I were using actual plank, wood glue would be no brainer. But the floor panels are wood laminate with a rubberized backing. I’d be gluing to the rubberized part and I’m not sure what the material is. It’s for waterproofing, they’re click-lock pieces.
I have wood laminate floating floor, I’m probably gonna have to sacrifice a spare piece to test, but was hoping someone would know for sure…
For the rubberized backing, construction adhesive like Liquid Nails Heavy Duty or PL Premium will definetly work - they’re formulated specifically for bonding rubber, vinyl, and similar materials to wood/MDF.
There are also glues made specifically for vinyl wood planks. You could look at their formulations for inspiration.
Liquid nail will handle that no problem. If you haven’t worked with it before, be careful, it’s no joke. That shit will glue practically anything to anything.
