help building kitchen in hot climate

**steveee** · 20th September 2012, 09:44 PM

hi all, i'm in Phuket, Thailand which i figure has a similar climate to you guys up north down south

i'm building a European style kitchen and looking for a bit of advice. the kitchen will be a plywood carcase, glued and nailed together and i'm ok on that bit.

for the doors, i want simple flat doors with veneer. first question is what kind of substrate do you think i should use? the doors are about 1000x500 on average, the biggest is for a tall pullout unit, 1800x400

i can get my hands on some pretty good quality 19mm MDF and some other 19mm board that i don't know the name of. its a bit like ply but the wood strips in the core are laid perpendicular to the surface, not parallel as in normal plywood. it seems pretty stiff and a nice glue surface (like ply). i can't find any decent quality chip board here. which kind of board do you think would give the best long term stability and resist twisting etc. in permanently hot humid conditions?

next question is about gluing down the veneer. i'm not a fan of contact cement (smells bad, can't adjust it after placing veneer) so i was thinking PVA glue BUT i don't have a vacuum bag system and don't want to mess about with a press. i've seen a technique of applying the PVA glue to both sides and letting it dry, then hot ironing the veneer on. looks nice and easy but is it bomb proof? will it separate, especially on the edge banding which i guess is the hardest working part of the door.

thanks, steve

**rwbuild** · 20th September 2012, 10:20 PM

Stay away from the MDF, it's a disaster waiting to happen in high humidity areas.
PVA external grade is ok, use plastic garbage bags filled with sand to press down your veneer, works a treat and to get extra weight, use moist sand ( holds together when you squeeze it but too wet if you get water out of it when its squeezed.
Suggest you make a sample door and see how it performs over a period of a month, should give you an indication of performance.
I have done stuff in Sri Lanka (similar climate) and the only time MDF is any good is if it is finished in 2 part poly pak finish and has to been done to a very high standard.

Regards
Ray

**SAISAY** · 21st September 2012, 07:58 AM

MDF = weetbix when it get wet

I know from experience.

Cheers
SAISAY

**steveee** · 21st September 2012, 02:10 PM

ok, so what do you think about that plywood i was talking about? any better?

it seems to be called lumber core plywood, i have the one like the pic on the right below

lumber care plywood.jpg

or maybe marine ply, i can get that here

thx

UPDATE, i'v been looking into lumber core a bit more and not found much, but did find this interesting:

'As to general properties, lumber core has some nice features. Of all the board materials it tends to be the lightest in weight-- often a bonus. I find it to generally be more stable than veneer core plywood, especially in the higher core grades-- it behaves a bit closer to a wide piece of wood than does veneer core ply, and I've found that it tends to be less twisted. For faults in the surface veneer, look for the usual voids and ripples across the width from the final sanding process. Badly rippled stuff will look terrible if used horizontally and well polished up.'

http://www.woodcentral.com/woodworki...s-veneer-core/

**rod1949** · 21st September 2012, 04:10 PM

If you can get it where you are then use Moisture Resistant MDF. It will last. And to test if its moisture resistant soak a small piece in water for a few days the main area of swelling willbe on the edge/s and if its MR there should be no swelling or to speed up the test boil it for awhile.

**steveee** · 21st September 2012, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by rod1949

If you can get it where you are then use Moisture Resistant MDF. It will last. And to test if its moisture resistant soak a small piece in water for a few days the main area of swelling willbe on the edge/s and if its MR there should be no swelling or to speed up the test boil it for awhile.

i don't think so, options are pretty limited here but i can get marine ply

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