Building a house in Bataan

[Tommy T.]

That's a great suggestion! Thanks, Mike!

[hk blues]

4 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

L swears by marine ply manufactured by Santa Clara. It is more expensive than any other plywood here and definitely looks better and seems more dense.

 

I've no idea of the brand of marine ply we have but our carpenter made our kitchen cabinets out of marine ply 5 years ago.  To date we have not had any issues with swelling/splitting or termites but it is relatively early days.  I have given it a couple of coats of Wipe Out which may or may not be doing any good but if nothing else it still looks nice and shiny!  

[jimeve]

4 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

What is MFB? And agreed - Gary's house looks very fine and neat.

Melamine faced board. Like MDF Laminated.

 MFB ( Melamine Faced Boards | MFB ) - Dongwha New Zealand

[OnMyWay]

21 hours ago, hk blues said:

I've no idea of the brand of marine ply we have but our carpenter made our kitchen cabinets out of marine ply 5 years ago.  To date we have not had any issues with swelling/splitting or termites but it is relatively early days.  I have given it a couple of coats of Wipe Out which may or may not be doing any good but if nothing else it still looks nice and shiny!  

Yesterday I had a contractor over to estimate some work we want done on our back lanai.  The contractor is an offshoot of a metal fabrication business.  I mentioned them in another thread that was about the house renovation across the street that was done with steel beam construction.  I also visited the house of another neighbor where this contractor had done extensive renovations and the quality appeared to be excellent.

At the neighbor's house, I admired the kitchen cabinets and was surprised to find out they were made of aluminum!  At first glance you would not notice.  They were white with glass patterns in the front and looked very nice.  Also, on his lanai, they fabricated all the outdoor storage cabinets out of metal.

On our lanai renovation, a big part is adding storage with doors.  Cabinets above the dirty kitchen area and a large closed storage area.  So, we are getting the estimate to make all of these out of aluminum.  No termites.  No rotting.  Probably more mold resistant.  Maybe paint every few years.

[Gary D]

50 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Yesterday I had a contractor over to estimate some work we want done on our back lanai.  The contractor is an offshoot of a metal fabrication business.  I mentioned them in another thread that was about the house renovation across the street that was done with steel beam construction.  I also visited the house of another neighbor where this contractor had done extensive renovations and the quality appeared to be excellent.

At the neighbor's house, I admired the kitchen cabinets and was surprised to find out they were made of aluminum!  At first glance you would not notice.  They were white with glass patterns in the front and looked very nice.  Also, on his lanai, they fabricated all the outdoor storage cabinets out of metal.

On our lanai renovation, a big part is adding storage with doors.  Cabinets above the dirty kitchen area and a large closed storage area.  So, we are getting the estimate to make all of these out of aluminum.  No termites.  No rotting.  Probably more mold resistant.  Maybe paint every few years.

The people that made our windows also do them. You can get the aluminium with a wood grain finish.

[OnMyWay]

Slightly off topic maybe but I thought I would share a strange coincidence about kitchens and cabinets.

I was literally thinking hard about my kitchen in Florida because I have some decisions to make.  I'm selling the house.  I was wondering if it would be worth it to put in new kitchen appliances to enhance the sale.  This is the kitchen and these pictures are from my last visit, in 2009!

  

So I'm sitting there wondering if stainless steel appliances would look good in that kitchen.  And suddenly I get a message from a neighbor.  I had referred her to the cabinet maker here who make furniture for me, and she was sending pictures of their new cabinets, with stainless steel appliances!

  

I like the black accents on the cabinets.  I think the counters are cement / concrete??  They decided to buy the birch wood in Manila so that raised the cost.  His original quote was 60k using his veneer woods.

At my house, if I bought stainless, I thought it might look good to replace all the handles with a dark color.  However, I don't plan to replace the counters or cabinets.

[Tommy T.]

4 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

No termites.  No rotting.  Probably more mold resistant. 

That does sound like quality construction.

We sailors have an old saying regarding materials used in boat construction:

Wood rots, steel rusts, aluminum corrodes, fiberglass blisters. Just keep up on the regular painting and you will forestall that corrosion by many years. A guy years ago showed me a little trick. He took one of his wife's empty nail polish bottle with the brush in the cap. He then filled it with varnish for quick touch-ups. I think the same idea might work for paint for when you spot little scratches or dings. Do a bit of light sanding and paint it immediately because corrosion begins virtually immediately.

[Mike J]

17 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I like the black accents on the cabinets.  I think the counters are cement / concrete??  They decided to buy the birch wood in Manila so that raised the cost.  His original quote was 60k using his veneer woods.

I think they may have used what is called "baltic birch plywood" for the cabinets.  BB plywood has up to twice the number of inner ply than normal plywood.  This makes it more dense and stable.  The outer ply are thicker which makes it easier to finish and protects from dents and dings.  Expensive but well worth the cost in my opinion.  And I might add, it is a joy to work with. 

[Tommy T.]

7 hours ago, Mike J said:

I think they may have used what is called "baltic birch plywood" for the cabinets.  BB plywood has up to twice the number of inner ply than normal plywood.  This makes it more dense and stable.  The outer ply are thicker which makes it easier to finish and protects from dents and dings.  Expensive but well worth the cost in my opinion.  And I might add, it is a joy to work with. 

Are there particular stores that carry this or must I go online or on foot to shop around to find it?

Does it cost twice that of, say, Santa Clara marine ply?

[Mike J]

56 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Are there particular stores that carry this or must I go online or on foot to shop around to find it?

Does it cost twice that of, say, Santa Clara marine ply?

I am actually surprised they even have it here.  Even in the US it would normally require a special order.  Typically only used in high end and/or custom cabinets.  I do not know if the glue is waterproof or not.