Walnut veneered board for bathroom cupboard?

[deano]

Hi.

I have created a full-room-height cupboard in my bathroom, at one end of the bath. The stud wall of this cupboard houses the pipework for the bath shower valve. The rest of the cupboard will be shelved to house towels etc.

It's a standard 3x2" carcassed cupboard and rather than line it with MDF, to be painted, I want to line it with a Walnut Veneered MDF with a door to match.

However, I am conscious about making it water resistant, being in a moisture ridden environment and obviously want to avoid the veneer peeling in the future, plus any edging strips I have put on the edges.

Can anyone recommend a veneered board product that may be suitable for bathrooms and what I could do with the door, which will obviously have more exposed edges than the rest of the cupboard... the unit will have a single full height door to the front.

Any advice would be great. Many thanks Dean.

[NT]

Veneer and bathroom not a great combination. Veneer and anywhere not the best really.

NT

[deano]

Is there an engineered board, with thicker outer layers to the core?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Dont worry. Just give it some coating or other - outside grade wood treatment is good - and it will be fine.

The modern veneered MDF diesnt use any sort of water affected glue: your bigger problem would be using MDF at all, since it swells and falls apart when wet, but I have used it extensively in bathrooms with no issues. The real requirement is enough heat and ventilation to not get condensation. A splash is OK. persistent damp is not.

[Pete Verdon]

Veneered "marine" ply (some more marine than others :-) ) is used for boat interiors and should be up to the job I'd have thought. Robbins Timber in Bristol is a well-known source.

Pete

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yep., you should be able to sail your bathroom round cape horn in a force 9 and not have it delaminate.

For those who prefer to stay at home, stick to MDF.

[deano]

Thanks NP... some common sense!

I originally thought this would pose no problems, but some of my peers (down the pub) began to sow the seeds of doubt in me... "You don't wanna be doing that" kind of comments... I should have remained stoic!

Can you recommend a coating that would do the job?... few coats as possible and one that retains the natural grain of the veneer!

The built-in in question is well out of the way of anything but the merest splashes and I have fitted a decent sized towel rail and a humidstat in the room, I suppose it would also be useful to have an idea of the best way to adhere edging strip around the full-height door to the cupboard.

Thanks for following this thread.

d.

[The Natural Philosopher]

there's plenty of water based acrylics that are actually pretty good, or if you really want to go colorful, check out some of the ronseal exterior products.

Cant remember what I used. Might have been sikkens exterior. Anyway it works well enough. Two or three coats rubbed down between.

ah. Probably evo stick if its not iron on.

[deano]

TNP...

Cupboard now built. In Walnut veneered MDF. Sealed with satin acrylic varnish, 3 coats, rubbed down between. Looks lovely. Client happy, so am I. Thanks.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Good.My wife's only complaint about the oak veneered MDF mixed with the real oak is 'it looks too perfect'.. its not quite 'natural''

[deano]

When it comes to wives... there's always a complaint ;-)

[PeterC]

Yup - 99.9% right=100% wrong.