Waterproof substrate

WPeters

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Dec 13, 2011
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I'm needing to find some 3/4" water proof substrate to apply some metal too around a water feature.  Any ideas?  I was thinking an acrylic of some kind? 
 

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HDPE is normally about half the price of acrylic around here.

How much temperature swing is there?

Tom

EDIT:
And you can get 3/4" HDPE sheets.
 
There are numerous plastics providers across the country - I can think of three in Austin.

If you're having trouble finding one through a Google search, try asking a sign shop where they get their goods. Around here, I think sign guys buy more from plastic providers than anyone.

Tom
 
ePlastics.com carries a complete line of HDPE in white and black.  Their site can show you what is commercially available.  As a plastics fabricator and stocking distributor, I buy from Ain, a world wide distributor.
 
WPeters said:
I'm needing to find some 3/4" water proof substrate to apply some metal too around a water feature.  Any ideas?  I was thinking an acrylic of some kind?

We had a bathroom redone recently.
There was a product called Vilaboard (which may have a different name in your area).
Anyhow it is a waterproof concrete sheet, that one cuts with an asbestos cutter.
That was put onto the floor, sealed with a blue waterproof latex, and tiles applied.
The shower sprays right onto it. It is strong and dense, but I am not sure about finishing. Obviously with tiles it is easy.

Something to consider.
 
WPeters said:
I'm needing to find some 3/4" water proof substrate to apply some metal too around a water feature.  Any ideas?  I was thinking an acrylic of some kind?

Need more details. First thought is to use traditional hardibacker/roll on membrane for ease of use and the ability to roll up into corners etc…
 
Cement board is not water resistant let alone water proof. The waterproofing was the applied membrane.

If you want a water proof substrate for tile, Kerdi, Kerdi board, Wedi are the 3 biggest choices here. I use Kerdi board or Kerdi membrane. Thickness run from 3/16"-2"

http://www.schluter.com/media/KB-BROCHURE-Final.pdf

Tom
 
Well I just picked up some 3/4" expanded PVC in black.  I think it will do the trick but we will see.  Salesman acts like its easy to work with.  I believe its the same stuff that is used for exterior pvc trim.  To those of you wanting more info:  This is actually a repair job.  Six months ago we installed these panels around the fireplace and water feature.  We warned the architect several times that these panels would swell if exposed to water(particle board substrate), but were assured that the water would be not an issue and would be contained.  Well unfortunately that didn't happen and now we have panels swelling badly at the bottom right above the tv cabinet.  This looks awful with the stainless steel skin as you can imagine. (room is full of windows)  So my plan is to apply stainless steel to the pvc to make new panels.  I then plan to use the Fein to cut out the bad panels and reapply the new ones.  We will see how it goes and I'll try to remember to report back.  These links below show some pictures.  Thanks for all of your input.

http://www.houzz.com/projects/359346/fire-and-water-living-room

http://www.peterscabinetry.com/living-spaces.html

 
Ok so this repair is finished.  The expanded pvc worked fantastic!  Very easy to machine and work with.  Purchased from Laird Plastics in Dayton, Ohio for $192 a sheet.  Here are some pictures of the process.

Machining

[attachimg=1][attachimg=2][attachimg=3][attachimg=4]

Before:

[attachimg=5]

During:

[attachimg=6]

After:

[attachimg=7]

 

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holmz - If you look at the next to last photo, there is a black substrate with ridges. the water runs down that into a catch basin that has the rocks on top of it.

Wpeters - a process question --- did you apply the stainless skin and then machine the rabbets? On the pieces that hve corners is the steel folded or just butted together?

That is outstanding work.
 
rvieceli said:
Wpeters - a process question --- did you apply the stainless skin and then machine the rabbets? On the pieces that hve corners is the steel folded or just butted together?

That is outstanding work.

Yes we applied the stainless with contact cement (sprayed) like we typically use for plastic laminate, then machined the rabbets or in some cases dados.  It was crucial to have a spoil piece as many of the edges have stainless steel on them as well and would blow out terrible if no spoil board was used.  Regarding the corners, early on we experimented with bending the steel but ultimately decided to do one face at a time and filing the corners.  The main issues were the fact the the steel has to be dead flat any slight ripple or less than perfect 90 at the corners looks very bad.  The other secondary issue was how to apply the 90 degree bent panels without the contact cement grabbing the substrate before it was positioned perfect.  It fact filing the corners turned out much better than I thought it would.  It almost "welds" the two together with no noticeably joint (unlike P/L)

Holmz said:
Argh - Whar be that H2O feature?

rvieceli already answered this I guess.  If you want to see a picture with the water on, click on the houzz link.  www.houzz.com/projects/359346/fire-and-water-living-room
 
One product that I have used in the past is "Starboard", it's a thick plastic used mostly in the boat building industry. I bought it at a Total Plastics outlet in Michigan, but I think they have other store through NA. Just a though for next time and it also comes in a different colours and thickness, and also has span capabilities. B
 
Tom Bellemare said:
I'm pretty sure Starboard is a brand name for HDPE.

Tom

I am not sure, I believe you are right, I was using it for a exterior bridged walkway and outdoor furniture. As I said it has been quite a few years since I had used it and at that time a lot of materials were new to our market. B
 
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