Alternative to plywood

[Scott & Heather]

Been researching lighter waterproof alternatives to a plywood floor/ceiling. I know you guys have thrown around advantech etc. anyone ever looked at 3m reinforced poly panels? Or even these?: sing panels? Available at the lowes prodesk now.

http://singcore.com/pricing




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[somewhereinusa]

Those don't look waterproof, just some sort of plywood. Even the ones with FRP on outside still have a wooden core. If the price is right might be nice for interior walls, would't need any kind of stud. I could have used something like that.

[Scott & Heather]

The core is high density foam. So they actually are waterproof if ordered that way I think.


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[Oonrahnjay]

         Any idea on use for soundproofing panels (generator, inverter enclosures, etc.)

[bevans6]

You can get that product with many different outside surfaces, including fiberglass, steel and aluminium.  It all seems to be based on a core thickness of 1.5" but they probably can do other thicknesses.  I had a car hauler trailer that had walls made of 1/2" thick foam core fiberglass panels.  You see that on sei trailers all the time.  It has insulative value, but the big win is it is extremely stiff and strong for it's weight, until it delaminates anyway.

[oltrunt]

Foam is good for knocking down high frequency sound, but it lets the low frequency noise pass through.  It is the low frequency noise that carries all over the campground.  If the material were lead lined, it would be quite effective at overall noise reduction as dense material (like lead) absorbs low frequency sound.  Jack

[sledhead]

on all my sliding doors ( 3 doors ) I used 3/4 " tin foil foam board and framed the out side edges with 1,1/2 " x 3/4 " pine , 1/8 " oak ven . ply on the front , back . all with spray glue 777 3m ,  just like a hollow core interior door . very light , with no warp and strong . 1/4 " ply on walls , ceiling , 5/8" ply on floor with 3/4" tin foil foam under with the pex heat lines every 7" .

dave

[Geom]

Interesting looking stuff.

Wonder how well you can drill through it.
Would it hold a screw or nail as well?

It looks like it's quite a good insulator at ~R5/inch vs .75R for 3/4" plywood.
It's also a pretty good sound insulator.
It's crazy light too.

Im not sure how waterproof the Lowes stuff is (sandwich core) as I think the sandwich part is wood. But it looks like you can order it in a whole bunch of different styles for waterproof, fire resistant, and even bullet resistant 

But being a "solid core" I'd be concerned about using it in a bus, thinking it might have no flex to it and more likely to crack under torsional stress. Although they do mention their use in tiny homes, and a lot of those are being built on trailer frames.

Scott, you could be our Guinea pig and report back

[Scott & Heather]

Scott, you could be our Guinea pig and report back

I was hoping someone else would step up :-/ this is my second bus conversion and I plan on not making a single mistake on it........


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[chessie4905]

That is similar to what they use on the s&s these days; esp on the light weight travel trailers.

[TomC]

I used 3/4" Birch covered furniture grade plywood available at either HD or Loews. About $46/sheet. Wonderful to work with and stains beautifully. I am over 300lbs and have never had a structural problem using only the 3/4" plywood (some with angle iron reinforcements). I used the 3/4" plywood for all walls and doors. 1x2 oak was used to frame the cabinets. Except for wall corners that were glued, everything else is mechanically built with L brackets and screws-for both flexing and able to take apart if needed. I liked the construction method, I used it again on the truck. The finished 40ft transit was just 3,000lbs more than empty for a total weight of 31,000lbs. Good Luck, TomC

[brmax]

That singcore panel looks pretty interesting, with any more engineering its probably tough to be price happy.
I sure would like to use it, and curious on the 4'x8'x3/4 weight. It make me consider some different fastener, blocking and dado methods in a build. Pretty cool! especially upright construction or even where a load is cover by a squared support.
Opens thinking about some doors for sure
Floyd

[Geom]

Tom,

Did you use the same product Scott was talking about or a similar polymer core product?


Floyd,

It looks like they're only sold in 1.5" thickness at lowes. Those weigh 55lbs, so perhaps half that if you order custom 3/4" sheets? Not sure how thin they can produce this stuff (and still have adequate performance characteristics).

The 4x8 sheets are not wood edged, so you could glue them together contiguously and then edge trim the last visible piece. That's kind of cool.
But again, it's unlikely you'd want them to be one solid piece, but instead several pieces that can flex somewhat at a joint.

[TomC]

I used regular 3/4" solid plywood. Thinnest, strongest I could find. Since every fraction of an inch is critical in a bus. Weight really isn't a factor in bus conversions. Even with me using 3/4" plywood and 1 x 2 oak framing, with 130gal fuel and 130gal water and 20gal propane, I'm still 5,000lbs lighter than the GVW rating. Good Luck, TomC

[Geom]

Yeah, plywood really seems to be the tried and true material near as I can see.

I looked through the MSDS for this polycore product. A lot of it leaves quite a bit to be desired. They use brominated fire retardant material, benzene, plus some other chemical. Some of it still off-gases post production for at least a while.
The core itself is easily dissolvable by "organic compounds", which I believe would include alcohol, among others.

Now granted plywood certainly has its own issues, and one is not likely to run around pouring alcohol all over their walls and ceilings, but it does give some pause.

I suppose there's no "perfect" building material and all offer one trade off for another.