wooden shower screen...

[miles_hot]

I know this might seem like a deft idea however it's one of the few options left open to me.

I need to make a c. 300 unit to act as a shower screen, support for a 400mm glass door and a thin shelving unit. The question is what to make this out of...

Options which have occurred to me so far:
1) Teak - boats are made out of it so it's provenance seems good however this would require jointing a number of boards which I'm unsure of (all new to me etc and a lack of thicknesser etc)
2) Veneered MDF - easier to work with, flat etc but I'm not sure how to waterproof it...
3) Marine grade ply - should be OK from the water aspect but not all that pretty (in terms of the stuff I can get from yards etc) - maybe there is better looking stuff out there, but whee?...

Any thoughts welcome as I'm pretty new to all this

Thanks

Miles

 

[woodbloke]

Miles - technically, your ideas would work. Teak (or iroko) would be suitable timbers to use. Marine grade ply is also good but a bit dull as a timber unless you could veneer it with something more pleasant. You'd need to use totally waterproof glues as well and the finishing would need to be something like a marine varnish. Only my initial thoughts, others will be along soon with more ideas - Rob

 

[miles_hot]

Miles - technically, your ideas would work. Teak (or iroko) would be suitable timbers to use. Marine grade ply is also good but a bit dull as a timber unless you could veneer it with something more pleasant. You'd need to use totally waterproof glues as well and the finishing would need to be something like a marine varnish. Only my initial thoughts, others will be along soon with more ideas - Rob

What about the MDF element - how would I waterproof that?

Miles

 

[davegw]

What about the MDF element - how would I waterproof that?

Miles

MDF should never be used in a bathroom (DAMHIKT)

 

[miles_hot]

What about the MDF element - how would I waterproof that?

Miles

MDF should never be used in a bathroom (DAMHIKT)

ah.. well that's simplified it a bit! (out of interest why not?)
What does DAMHIKT mean?
Thanks
miles

 

[davegw]

waterproofing is MDF is incredibly difficult, and one mistake means a blown board

Don't
Ask
Me
How
I
Know
This

it's a long story and relates to a toilet.

 

[Green]

DAMHIKT = Dont Ask Me How I Know This.

 

[miles_hot]

waterproofing is MDF is incredibly difficult, and one mistake means a blown board

Don't
Ask
Me
How
I
Know
This

it's a long story and relates to a toilet.

Fair enough, God but its hard not to ask

 

[WellsWood]

waterproofing is MDF is incredibly difficult, and one mistake means a blown board

Don't
Ask
Me
How
I
Know
This

it's a long story and relates to a toilet.

Fair enough, God but its hard not to ask

Yeah c'mon Dave, we all want to know now :wink:

 

[jasonB]

MDF should never be used in a bathroom (DAMHIKT)

I have to disagree, you can get veneered MR (Mositure resistant) MDF that if properly coated will stand upto bathroom conditions. Something like Rustins Plastic Coating, Epoxy coating or a melamine lacquer should provide adequate protection, all faces & edges should be sealed.

But my preference would be Iroko.

Jason

 

[davegw]

ok,

first of all I have to say I was younger, less experienced, and a bit stoopid

second of all it's not as bad as it sounds

we had a new puppy that had eaten the old bath panel

The bathroom looked tatty before that, lots of VPW (Visible Pipe Work) etc so I decided that I would "clean it all up"

used 9mm mdf to make a new bath panel, and boxed in all the pipework around the loo. Noticed that the floor was uneven, so used 3mm mdf to "flatten" that up.

New that water and MDF wasn't a good match so used some oil based primer and gloss paint to seal the MDF (I know!)

decided the whole thing looked really naff as plain boards so bought some molding to make it look like panelling (gloss white panelling!). Pinned the molding to the bath panel and the boxing around the loo

didn't take any notice of where the pipes that fed the loo were

didn't notice the leak until several days after - when the first MrsGW (known forever more as PBFH) was sitting on the said appliance and could hear "hissing"

everything was thicking than it should be by then (and yes I do include PBFH)

Started again, this time with Marine Ply for the floor, an acrylic bath panel, and marine ply for the boxing.

 

[Tusses]

MDF should never be used in a bathroom (DAMHIKT)

I have to disagree, you can get veneered MR (Mositure resistant) MDF that if properly coated will stand upto bathroom conditions. Something like Rustins Plastic Coating, Epoxy coating or a melamine lacquer should provide adequate protection, all faces & edges should be sealed.

But my preference would be Iroko.

Jason

can I double disagree with that one ...

anything can be sealed successfully to keep out any moisture. but on the other hand , any finish can be damaged / chipped easily and let moisture in.

Just my opinion, but even MR mdf wouldn't hold up to water running down it from a shower, if the finish was compromised.

Rich

 

[jasonB]

I would agree that using MR MDF as a shower screen is pushing it a bit but I was disagreeing with the fact that it "has no place in a bathroom"

BTW MR tends to swell by about 50-60% if you get it wet enough :wink:

Jason

 

[woodbloke]

...which is why I didn't include it my reply to the OP. In a shower screen that's going to be continually wet when the unit is on, MR mdf, even with edges sealed isn't going to last long. As a test for marine mdf, lop of a small bit and stick in a tub of water for a few days to see if it'll delamintate...if it's the real stuff, it won't - Rob

 

[Tusses]

Just didn't want the OP to get the wrong idea :wink:

 

[miles_hot]

no worries guys - fully get the message that MDF, even MR, is not a great idea where I've got water running down it. Which is very good as this was my idea choice

So I'm down to solid wood which leaves me with the interesting challenges of sorting a large (6-6' by 300mm) section out of solid wood when I don;t have a thicknesser / planer yet... any ideas?

Miles

 

[Tusses]

I'm sure a friendly local forum member would be happy to help for beer tokens

 

[joiner_sim]

erm.... just an idea, it might be plain stupid, but what about cedar?

 

[marcus]

You can get marine ply with a decorative veneer - usually oak or teak - it's used a lot for boat interiors. It's not cheap though! Try Robbins http://www.robbins.co.uk/mar_lamply.htm

As has been mentioned you would need to varnish it - you could use a two part varnish http://www.western-marine.com/page75.htm and then hopefully you won't have to keep on varnishing every couple of years....

Cheers

Marcus

 

[miles_hot]

I'm sure a friendly local forum member would be happy to help for beer tokens

True - anyone local to me? I live between Swindon and Newbury...

Miles