A client in Boise told me something that made me stop using cheap plywood

I was installing some built-in shelves for him about two years ago, and he pointed at the edge of a shelf and said, 'That's gonna bubble in a year, I can see the layers separating already.' He was right... the plywood was from a big box store and it started to delaminate after just eight months in his dry house. I had to go back and redo the whole job with a better grade. Has anyone else had a specific brand or type of plywood totally fail on them?

2 comments

2 Comments

perez.thea1d ago

That line about seeing the layers separate already hits hard. I used to think all plywood was basically the same if you painted over it. A big box store sheet I used for a simple garage cabinet swelled up like a sponge along the bottom edge after one wet winter. It wasn't even getting direct water on it, just the damp air. Now I check the edges of every sheet before I buy, looking for any gaps in the glue lines. It's just not worth the call back.

jesse_craig221d ago

Yeah @perez.thea, that damp air is sneaky. Makes you wonder about the glue they use on the cheaper stuff.