Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Name for non-wood tabletop resembling wood?

I have a meeting table that has a surface that looks like wood. It's not wood, just some type of veneer made to resemble wood. What is this called? I posted a message asking how to cover up this surface because it has become stained over time. Can you tell me what this is called, and/or how I can paint it with something to create a new surface? Thanks very much! Jamie

If the surface resembles wood, but is not wood, and is some type of veneer, it must be some form of high pressure laminate, such as: Wilsonart or Formica.

You can paint this sort of surface. Having said that, I have always wondered how durable the surface would be.

Clean the surface with mineral spirits to remove all the grease, grit, and grime. Prime the surface with a good quality primer, such as: Zinsser 123. Paint with a latex gloss or semi-gloss as suits. I would be inclined to use two or three coats, sanding between coats to provide a smooth level surface for the subsequent coat. Let the final coat cure for 4 - 7 days as recommended by most paint maufacturers before pressing it into service.

All in all, it may be faster to put a fresh sheet of high pressure laminate on the table.

Clean the old laminate with mineral spirits, scuff the surface with 100 grit sandpaper, apply contact cement to the surface and the new laminate, let skin, then apply, and trim to fit.

Here is a link to cover painting flat surfaces: http://www.doityourself.com/paint/paintwoodpaneling.htm

and apply laminate:
http://www.doityourself.com/kitchen/k-laminate.htm

Hope this helps.

You can buy high pressure laminate from a variety of sources. Some of the most common ones are the box stores such as lowes or home depot. Builders' supply stores and countertop manufacturers may be good sources. The edge of the laminate is trimmed using a laminate trimmer or other suitable router with a bit that is equipped with a bearing and a cutter designed to cut the edge of the laminate even with the edge of the substrate onto which is it is mounted.

If this inexpensive meeting table is what is often referred to as a banquest table, the top may be a contact paper mounted to particle board. If the legs are of the folding metal variety, this may well be the type of table you have. Another indicator of this type of table would be the presence of plastic edging around the perimeter of the table to provide a smooth surface that is separate from the top of the table and has a discernable crevice between it and the top of the table. If you have a banquet table with a contact paper top, discarding it would be preferable to spending too much time and money repairing it.

Hope this helps.

Hello, just thought I'd say a big TY for the info on being able to add vaneer/laminate over an existing laminate. THATS HUGE !!! My father was redoing his bathroom and didn't want to go thru the hassle of removing the old stuff so he tried putting panelling over it. It was soon in the garbage and it cost him 200 for this oak face and door (and plastic vaneer over particle board for the rest) of this bathroom sink thing without the bathroom sink.
This seemed unbelievable to me? 200 bucks and i've burnt more oak than he got in the last 24 hours. Well, anyways, I have this table that I need to refinish... has this cardboard type vaneer(like the wall stuff with the bunch of holes that you hang little holder things on), and i'm going to give laminating it a shot.
Sheesh, i'm so clueless I don't even know what it's called that I want to add onto the top of it. It's black and durable. But this place seems to have enough info on it to get me thru it hopefully.