Particle board vs. plywood: final findings, advice and taking it to extremes
Last Monday I wrote a post about a little, unscientific experiment I conducted last week. I followed up on Thursday with my initial findings and here we are a week later with my final words on the subject. Maybe.
To reprise, I took two six-inch by six-inch samples made from a cabinet shelves. One was 3/4" particle board and the other was 3/4" fir plywood. They are entirely representative of the materials that go into contemporary, quality cabinetry in the US. I soaked these samples in bowls of water for 72 hours and fished them out to survey the damage.
The big surprise was how little damage there was to survey. Both were pretty much ruined but at the same time, neither had lost their essential shelf-ness. Frankly, I expected both of them to fall apart, but neither did. The particle board sample swelled and grew thicker by 1/16th of an inch. Though not exactly pretty, it would still work as a shelf.
The plywood's dimensions were not affected at all and the veneer best bubbled and delaminated barely. The end were given form of funky however the underlying plywood didn't delaminate.
Final ruling? Don't have a flood wherein the water is allowed to face for three days. I suppose either of these merchandise will keep up to common amounts of moisture encountered by way of cabinetry in a regular kitchen. Again, if there's standing water to your kitchen and it lasts for 3 days, you have lots bigger troubles than the circumstance of your cabinetry.
What I tested changed into an intense. A more usual water publicity in actual lifestyles is the gradual drip from a plumbing leak. Left unaddressed, a plumbing leak will damage both cabinetry construction. The plywood creation will probable ultimate longer with that sort of publicity although.
With that stated, I still think particle board cupboard boxes are an excellent choice if you're trying to save a couple of bucks on a kitchen redesign. You just should be smart about how to take care of the sink base. Since the sink base is the cabinet most probable to revel in a plumbing leak, there are two matters you can do to lessen the impact of one of these leak.
First, caulk the interior edges on the lowest of the sink base cabinet with clear silicone caulk. Water can most effective damage particle board through entering into the parts of it that are not laminated, so seal all of the open particle board. In most cabinets, it truly is in the regions wherein the cabinet floor meets the cupboard sides. Calk the ones joints and you may keep the lifestyles of your cabinetry.
The second useful hint I have is to use a caterer's tray as a liner.
Slide a caterer's tray into your sink base and push it in opposition to the lower back of the cupboard. Be sure that the tray is immediately underneath the P lure and water reduce offs. Should they ever spring a leak, the drips will get stuck through the caterer's tray and save your cupboard. Once the tray's been driven into vicinity, put lower back the all of the belongings you generally maintain beneath your sink.
So in any case of that, I in no way get the destruction horror show I was hoping for after I dropped my samples of their water bowls every week ago.
One of my Twitter friends is Mike Hines and Mike's one of the founders of HomePath, makers of a conduit system called eXapath for wiring homes for cable, internet, sound and entertainment. Check out eXapath if you're looking for a great solution to wire your home. What makes it so great is that the eXapath system will allow you to change and upgrade your wiring in the future. It's pretty brilliant.
Mike, the coolest natured prankster, counseled that upload a few warmth to my experiment. So I did.
Here's my samples in a bathtub of boiling water.
I boiled them for ten minutes and I were given the destruction I became searching out.
The lesson here is don't install cabinetry next to a geyser or in the path of a pyroclastic flow. I was tempted to conduct tests on my samples involving throwing them from an airplane or under the wheels of a speeding train but I doubt "Don't throw cabinetry from high altitudes at high speeds" would have been a very meaningful finding.
So on the quit of the day, my recommendation these days is the same it changed into a week in the past. Buy the exceptional best you could have enough money and particle board construction is not routinely horrific. I'm happy to understand I haven't been giving human beings the wrong advice. Now I'm off to head carry out a few fire and acid tests on my samples.