Several years ago I left a piece of what I thought was1/4″ luan plywood out side in the rain (by accident) for several days and was surprised that it was still in tact, no seperation or warpage. I can’t recall where I got it from or the name of the product. I need it to roof several Purple Martin houses so It has to be light weight and relatively inexpensive. I could swear it was nothing more that underlayment but the local lumber yard, where I purchace most of my material, says their luan is not water resistant. I understand “water resistand” is a relative term. It will be painted and tightly joined but I don’t want to have to re- roof the house in 5 yrs. I am using 3/8 exterior birch ply for the structure and thought it might be too heavy looking for the roof. Just a thought.
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Replies
petrification
I've previously opined that the only stable wood is petrified wood. The downside, of course, is the time involved in reaching that state. ;-)
For your purposes, dewaxed shellac might be an answer. If you start with a thinned 1# cut (something like a 1/2# cut), and slather it on, paying particular attention to the edges, it will absorb nicely into the ply. After the second coat, move up to the full 1# cut, and continue, being sure to cover both sides more or less equally. Since it dries so quickly, the multiple coats aren't as much of a time consumer as they might seem. Once you start getting a real surface sheen, you're probably OK to stop.
I may experiment
Although I never thought of shellac as a water resistant finish, I can see you point of saturation. I will try it on a small piece and weather it. I'll let you know the results. thanks
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