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Main => Woodworking => Topic started by: Borderline on March 18, 2008, 11:14:47 am

Title: Coating on Plywood - is it ok to paint on it (pic inside)
Post by: Borderline on March 18, 2008, 11:14:47 am: Hi All,

Where i'm from the only type of plywood i could find has this very thin plastic/rubber type coating on it. Is this common ? and is it ok just to paint on it ?

If it's ok, the surface is very smooth because of the coating so i would image all i have to do is prime and paint the color on . Is that right ? I'm i wrong in assuming there's No need to sand down the surface ?

I've attached a picture of coating to give you an idea.

Thanks everyone you guys are awsome !!!!

(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc37/harrylow/P1010535.jpg)
Title: Re: Coating on Plywood - is it ok to paint on it (pic inside)
Post by: ChadTower on March 18, 2008, 11:15:54 am: I would take that off. It could easily start to come off the wood later, and if it does, so does your paint.
Title: Re: Coating on Plywood - is it ok to paint on it (pic inside)
Post by: Borderline on March 18, 2008, 11:52:17 am: Thanks Chad for the reply .

It's pretty well glued on, I had to take a screw driver to it just to peel off that small portion.

But if the majority thinks it should come off then I off it must come !!
Title: Re: Coating on Plywood - is it ok to paint on it (pic inside)
Post by: ChadTower on March 18, 2008, 11:56:42 am: Use a heat gun.
Title: Re: Coating on Plywood - is it ok to paint on it (pic inside)
Post by: shardian on March 18, 2008, 01:32:03 pm: Where are you from?

I've never seen plywood like that. We have melamine, but it is particle board with a smooth top coating.
Title: Re: Coating on Plywood - is it ok to paint on it (pic inside)
Post by: Borderline on March 19, 2008, 06:35:51 am: I'm in Singapore and it was the only plywood that I could find over here. I could of gotten MDF but didn't want to deal with the dust etc. MDF dust is not nice especially when you are building this thing in an apartment ! .. plus this place get's quite humid so i didn't want to deal with the swelling or anything over time.

Anyway looks like i'm going to have to bust out the primer and give it try on a scrap piece of wood. I wanted to avoid removing the coating cause the grain is quite obvious underneath.

I'm guessing many coat's of paint will hide the grain ? Yes ? No ?

Thanks again all !
Title: Re: Coating on Plywood - is it ok to paint on it (pic inside)
Post by: Pops on March 19, 2008, 06:58:12 am: As far as I can tell from the pic that stuff is called (here anyway) foil wrap. It's used to stop moisture from penetrating the wood in kitchens and bathrooms. Difficult to remove, a heat gun might work, but steam will for sure, whit ch is ironic considering the purpose of the stuff.
Its almost impossible to paint, you need the special paint for plastics.
Title: Re: Coating on Plywood - is it ok to paint on it (pic inside)
Post by: ChadTower on March 19, 2008, 08:42:35 am: Wood filler will hide the grain. Try to do it with paint and you're looking at a very tedious cycle of paint-sand-paint-sand-paint for about a week.