# HD Luan Delaminated



## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Bought 4 sheets of 5.5mm Luaun at HD, 3 of them had 4" of one 4' edge exposed to light rain for a day. One sheet had an edge that delaminated.

Just a heads up that there may be a glue issue, and it seemed a little fragile - broke easier than I'm used to. Last I get from HD; decent luaun can be counted on to stand up to a fair amount of water and abuse.


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## TBFGhost (Oct 9, 2008)

what is luaun's intended purpose?


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## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

TBFGhost said:


> what is luaun's intended purpose?


I pretty much just use it to pad out wall studs.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

TBFGhost said:


> what is luaun's intended purpose?


Sold as flooring underlay. Historically, the glue has been waterproof, which is why it's also used sometimes for small boat building. Normally it's pretty tough stuff. What I've used most has fiber reinforcing, but not this.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Tech Dawg said:


> I pretty much just use it to pad out wall studs.


Scraps have lots of uses. Shims, like you say. Then there's jigs, cutting guides, gauges, templates... 

I once made a bunch of baseboard designed to cover up baseboard hot water PEX tubing - the owner didn't like the dummies normally used. Basically I'll use it anywhere where a light duty paint grade plywood is needed. I can also get a pretty good mahogany look with a built finish..


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## Morning Wood (Jan 12, 2008)

The glue in Luan now can not be trusted. Te sheet itself is pretty much crap. I use it for a shim, patterns, or jig building.


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## Roger Manning (Jan 5, 2007)

hdavis said:


> Just a heads up that there may be a glue issue



Why do you buy that crap from HD? it's all from China. You get what you pay for.:laughing:


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Roger Manning said:


> Why do you buy that crap from HD? it's all from China. You get what you pay for.:laughing:


Not long ago you could buy it anywhere (and I'd buy it where ever it was convenient, even a close flooring installer) and it was pretty good stuff, even from HD. It seemed like nobody (even the Chinese) made bad 5.5mm Luaun. Not true any more.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Morning Wood said:


> The glue in Luan now can not be trusted. Te sheet itself is pretty much crap. I use it for a shim, patterns, or jig building.


I just read where incomplete gluing (gaps in the glue) has been seen recently. Also, it's supposedly available as type 1 or type 2. Type 2 allows only occasional wet exposure. I also came across reports that the thickness is now all over the place - can be as low as .185, and the face veneer (that gives it whatever strength it might have) has been thinned down a lot. Looks like I'll have to do some hunting around, and may have to switch to 6mm marine grade. It's Luaun as well.


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## Rustbucket (May 22, 2009)

I have nothing good so say about any plywood and lauan I get from HD. Learned my lesson!


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Rustbucket said:


> I have nothing good so say about any plywood and lauan I get from HD. Learned my lesson!


Most of it you can just look at the edges and tell it isn't cabinet grade (or paint grade much of the time). Gaps all over on the stuff they sell, but Luaun has always been OK before. Not any more.


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## Rustbucket (May 22, 2009)

I have heard that the quality varies across the country. And I have actually seen a shipment or two of American Made cabinet grade plywood that looked good, but it's rare. I had the misfortune of buying some Birch there a few years ago that look okay until the primer went on. Delaminated and blistered all over! That was the Chinese stuff, though, which is the vast majority of what they have. 

Personally, I haven't had much luck with the Luaun either, but that might be the regional thing again. I haven't bought enough of the stuff there to say that it wasn't just a bad batch I got it from.


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## olligator (Nov 23, 2007)

I just used the HD 5.5mm lauan as an underlayment over a kitchen subfloor. Put it down with poly subfloor adhesive and nailed it off 6" in the field. Did fine for me, and there were even a few small water spills on it (from the owner) during the process, with no failure as described. There were a few scraps left outside that got rained on a few times and all they did was warp. Maybe I just got lucky with my batch.


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## EarthQuakens (Nov 6, 2012)

The new glue regulations pretty much made all types of ply useless... I won't even risk it anymore advantech products or something else I can find. No hd or lowes garbage ply or osb


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

I'm betting mine was a bad batch, but that's a first, and I've been using the stuff for decades.


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