How to Apply Laminate to a Speaker Cabinet

When organizing your home entertainment system, you might want to consider putting your speakers inside a speaker cabinet. Your speaker cabinet may just be an old cabinet you may have in your living room and all you have to do is fix it up a little bit by putting laminate over it. Self-adhesive laminates are the most widely used redecorating tool when renovating cabinets for home entertainment system encasements. These are more cost-effective than buying a whole cabinet system.

Step 1 – Remove the Doors

Remove the hinges and molding from your cabinets. Keep the hardware if you plan on reusing the pieces. Make sure to clean all the surfaces of dirt and grime. If you see any peeling on the finishing, use sandpaper to buff away rough surfaces. Check for scratches and depressions, and use putty to even out any uneven surfaces. It will take about an hour for putty to dry before the self-adhesive will stick properly.

Step 2 – Clean and Sand the Surface

Once the putty has dried, use sandpaper to even out the surfaces until you do not feel any cracks or depressions. Use your tack cloth to remove all sawdust particles by wiping it down. Once all the sawdust has been removed, mix water and dishwashing liquid to further clean out the surfaces and to ensure that there are not residue left on the surface. If your cabinets have wax, use ammonia to remove this from the surfaces.

Step 3 - Install the Cut-to-Fit End Panels

These types of panels are strips of veneer that come in packages of 5 or 10. Get the one that you think is necessary for laminating your speaker cabinets. Use these pieces of plywood to cover the end panels of the inside sectionals of your cabinet. To get a perfect measurement, cut the panel you need based on the measurement of the sectionals. Take your finishing nails and wood glue to attach these panels. Take your sand paper and once again sand out rough edges.

Step 4 - Install Laminate

Use a sharp knife or cutter to cut laminate strips. Strips allow the laminate to curve on rounded edges and to avoid bunching up of laminate. Cut an extra ½ inch in excess for both the length and the width.  Start covering vertical pieces and then the horizontal pieces,

Step 5 - Apply Veneer to Face Frame

Always start on top slowly applying veneers going down. The quality of applying this would reflect on the work you have done since this will be the part that is visible to people who come into your home.

Step 6 - Trim the Edges

Once you have applied all the veneers on the surfaces, take your sharp cutter and cut extra edges of your veneers.

Step 7 - Clean the Surfaces

Take your cloth and wipe down the whole surface of your cabinet. If this whole process is done with care and determination, your speaker cabinet will look brand new and will last you for a long time.