Formica or Wood Repair-Hospital Nurses Station

Having worked in a large local medical facility for several years, making cabinet repairs on a hospital nurses station was a routine request. For the most part these reception areas endure an enormous amount of abuse. Because nurses and co-workers are oftentimes in a hurry, avoiding doing damage to the cabinetry seems to be the last thing on their mind. Understandably so, I would not want my nurse worrying about hitting the surrounding cabinets with a cart if she was in the process of assisting a doctor to save my life.Read


The hospital that I regularly worked in had five floors worth of cabinetry that needed to be maintained and repaired often. Chips, tears, dings, and scratches could be routinely found just about on every floor of the medical building. It just seemed like the nurses stations where always in need of the most cabinet repairs.

I think what some of the main causes of the damage to the cabinets in these nurses station areas were the use of the floor polishing machines. Well, that in combination with handheld brooms and mops that the maintenance people would use.

Ideas for Repairing Nurses Station Chips in Wood or Formica Laminate

Here are a few quick fix ideas that are may or may not be expensive as they relate to repairing damaged areas of nurses stations. Because chips are the most common repair that needs to be taken care of in wood or Formica plastic laminate in these areas, let’s look at a couple of options for making the repairs.

1)    Purchase flat aluminum molding that will cover over the chips. These strips usually are available in eight and ten foot lengths from Home Depot. They also come in varying widths of 1”, 1-1/4” and 1-1/2.” They work great for covering over the places on the bottom edges of the nurses stations that have chips in them. I believe that the molding is available in a two inch width as well.

2)    Attach angled or L-shaped aluminum molding to the corners of the cabinets or reception area walls where there is damage to the wood or plastic laminate.

Because people expect to see something that looks like it is durable in a commercial building, repairing hospital cabinetry or nurses stations this way is generally acceptable. To attach the aluminum molding, we have always used stainless steel screws. We make our cuts using a chop saw in combination with a special blade. After making the cuts we then use a belt sander to round the corners. Next the holes for the screws that will adhere the molding the cabinetry are drilled.  Then, a hand vibrating sander with 220 sandpaper on it is used to lightly sand all of the exposed areas of the molding.

It is possible to re-laminate or recover the damaged areas with new wood or Formica. Actually this may be the only alternative if it is the countertop that has been damaged. Many of the older hospitals have discontinued plastic laminate. In these cases making repairs to nurse’s stations is near impossible sometimes.