Thread: Veneering Melamine

Bathrooms are a pretty hostile environment, so I would be wary of gluing timber laminate to melamine.

Melamine is fine for the drawer carcase - 4 sides and bottom - provided you use HMR> Then I woul seal all exposed surfaces with epoxy to keeep the moisture out - belts and braces. Also I would screw and glue all joints - B&B. Gluing the joints does not make them stronger, but does make them liquid proof against future spills.

I would then put a false front on the drawers - IMO solid wood is easier to do than veneer.

I am seriously concerned about using solid timber panels in a bathroom. I feel the expansion will be a major issue

Could I use a moisture resistant ply as the substrate?

Use HMR MDF

When I built our vanity I went for the belt and braces approach. Carcass, top, shelves etc from 12mm Marine Ply, laminate top, pine drawer sides, TAS Oak raised panel doors, drawer fronts and nosing.

No issues whatsoever with moisture despite having a tap set that leaked quite significantly from under the vanity whilst we were away.

HMR MDF is OK but if making for yourself or a property that will be kept for life - go marine ply! Extra $$'s are a cheap investment in the long run.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

When I built our vanity I went for the belt and braces approach. Carcass, top, shelves etc from 12mm Marine Ply, laminate top, pine drawer sides, TAS Oak raised panel doors, drawer fronts and nosing.

No issues whatsoever with moisture despite having a tap set that leaked quite significantly from under the vanity whilst we were away.

HMR MDF is OK but if making for yourself or a property that will be kept for life - go marine ply! Extra $$'s are a cheap investment in the long run.

I would have thought an exterior grade ply is going to be more cost effective and give pretty much the same water resistance in this situation.

As an experiment at work, we left a piece of raw HMR MDF outside to see how it held up. It bent like a potato chip from the sun, but it took months for the swelling around the edges to become noticeable and even after several years it hadn't progressed more than about 10mm.

Originally Posted by havabeer69

I would have thought an exterior grade ply is going to be more cost effective and give pretty much the same water resistance in this situation.

Well, 40 years ago with a father in the timber game and access to high quality hoop pine marine ply, why not!

The price difference between quality exterior appearance grade and marine ply is not significant. For joinery you want it to be stable, exterior ply often warps significantly and because of the application it can be fixed well. Joinery is not so forgiving.

HMR MDF has come a long way in 40 years, better glues.

Check out the VOC emissions indices for ply vs MDF. Ply is generally the better option wrt VOC's..

Originally Posted by Damienol

I am seriously concerned about using solid timber panels in a bathroom. I feel the expansion will be a major issue

I have used timber in the bathroom for many years without problem. Often these are encased in epoxy or polyurethane, but shelves are bare timber.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Bathrooms are a pretty hostile environment, so I would be wary of gluing timber laminate to melamine.

Melamine is fine for the drawer carcase - 4 sides and bottom - provided you use HMR> Then I woul seal all exposed surfaces with epoxy to keeep the moisture out - belts and braces. Also I would screw and glue all joints - B&B. Gluing the joints does not make them stronger, but does make them liquid proof against future spills.

I would then put a false front on the drawers - IMO solid wood is easier to do than veneer.

Adding to this. There are some damn fine laminates that look nearly as good as the real thing. In a lot of cases they're better by a long shot. Just as Graeme said, wet area/rooms are very hostile to solid wood, especially solid wood with lots of large pours.

The caveat to that is a lot of modern homes seem to run aircon almost 24/7 so humidity is minimal at best...

Not forgetting your climate & location as well!

Here in Townsville in the dry tropics we really don't have many issues with having to keep the house closed up for heating etc. We do experience rather dramatic changes in relative humidity during the day as it can be near 95% in the morning dropping to 60% or less near midafternoon. I can often hear timber in my drying racks creaking and cracking.

The real issue is dramatic changes in humidity, and rapid cycling. Good ventilation will prevent a lot of issues.

Solid drawer will be fine IMO, just the drawer bottom you'll want to be caution of.

An alternative is use melamine (or black melamine for something a little nicer) for the entire drawer construction and just a solid timber drawer front? Veneered MR MDF will also work.

I'd steer clear of laminating veneer to melamine.