Melamine vs plywood

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Originally Posted by toyota89

How did you seal it?

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I used Shellac after staining the wood.

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Originally Posted by bradthebanker

That is a nice rack. I just need to wait till the paint smell is gone or minimal to put mine it.

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Thank you. I really like yours. I will probably go your route the second time around.


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Plywood lighter, stronger, and higher moisture resistance. There are no issues with out gassing of phenols (phenolic resin glues) or Formaldehydes (urea Formaldehyde glue) There are moisture resistant melamine particle boards but it is the the 'normal' board it is the material marked for bathrooms and kitchens and costs more than the normal furniture particle board. Most plywood is highly water resistant (all in Canada) and much is submersion proof and some actually fully waterproof for under water line applications.

I painted mine with a couple layers of latex paint with polyurethane over it.

After making our first rack out of melamine, I quickly learned to hate the stuff. It's heavy, hard to handle, sags quickly, and is not worth the expense to me. Our second and third racks we built out of 1" X 2" boards, and faced the shelves with the same kind of thin lightweight tile panels people use in their bathrooms. It's lightweight and water resistant, and since it comes in 4' X 8' sheets, you get a lot of coverage out of a single sheet, based on the dimensions of your rack. You could also choose to enclose the sides with the same tile board if you desire a more closed in rack.

These racks are very lightweight and easy to move around, they are also extremely sturdy, the shelves can even hold my not inconsiderable weight. They can easily be made to any size you need, and are quite inexpensive. Both of ours cost around $60 to build, even the large one.

Gale

No one in my area sells the Melamine in anything larger than 11'' x 8' strips. So for me, I bought cabnet quality plywood, it was on sale both time I built racks:) and than I went to a sign store and bought the plastic stuff they make little sign out of, its like plastic card board. Than I would use contact cement and glue the sign stuff to the wood, let it air out for a couple of days, and than build my rack. The sign stuff protects the wood from any moisture, and I have had great success with it. I have built 2 racks using this method and I love them.:) And it was pretty cost effecttive, the sign stuff was $15 I believe for a 4'x8' sheet and the wood was $30 per sheet.

Here's my first rack
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_4818.jpg

And here's my second rack that I just built recently
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...4/IMG_5715.jpg
Just need to finish putting tubs in it:)