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Possible Light Weight Alternative to 1/4 Birch for walls

7K views 55 replies 31 participants last post by  joels616 
Solex is a brand name for corrugated polyethylene (PE)
Coroplast is a brand name for corrugated polypropylene (PP) (has become a genericized trademark)
The Macrolux is a brand name for polycarbonate. Multiwall (in this case) is their twinwall product
FWIW - these material are actually extruded, not a laminate of corrugated sheet(s) like corrugated fiberboard (AKA corrugated cardboard :rolleyes:) inferred by the naming in the first two cases.

The Solex literature compares their product to twinwall polycarbonate but not to the hdpe corrugate. I suspect the R valuse for those two might be very similar. I'd also guess that they don't make the call out because maybe PP is not typically use in greenhouse applications?? The PP in the comparison chart is just thin sheeting. The specs get a lot into light transmission, so that seem to be one of the reasons for PE in the greenhouse application. UV stability might be another issue.

l thing PE may be it is more flexible than PP which would be good for the semi-circular framed greenhouses that the Solex is often shown on. It comes in rolls whereas the PP comes in sheets. If this is the case it would seem that the PP would be better for paneling a van. Maybe the PE would be good for the front ceiling in a HR or as a stiffener in window cover or to sheath a cool rounded end cabinet. Would be interesting to find some for a touch test.

Here is a site with a wide variety of corrugated plastic materials.Corrugated Plastic sheets, panels, pads, rolls, Corrugated plastic sheeting, 2mm 3mm 4mm 6mm 8mm 10mm corrugated plastic sheeting, bins, single face corrugated plastic white clear plastic corrugated sheets
The physical location is really close to me. I really should go there one day to see what material they may actually stock in this location.
 
I keep meaning to buy a sheet of 5mm Revolution plywood underlayment to put on a wall of the van to see how stable it is (it has 5 plys) , also how it takes paint/stain. They don't call out a species, but this document from Columbia wood products, the distributor of the product, calls it out as Chinese grown poplar, so maybe lower density than Russian grown birch (good luck finding Baltic Birch from Finland). My guess is that it is not as strong as the birch. Unlike most all of the Baltic birch available, the Revolution ply did not appear to have any patches/plugs in the face veneer. The face veneer has a very uniform grain that I personally like for the scale of a van.

Plastic panels would be more stable than wood and won't absorb and emit (? word) water. Wood can be seale pretty well. I wonder if the end of corrugated plastic should be sealed to avoid condensation in the flutes.
 
@njvagabond sealing the corrugated ends shouldn’t be too hard. A simple can of spray foam might work. It just would be tedious, but would add a sealed air gap. I wonder how elevation changes would affect it.
Good point
It is low surface energy so most stuff does not stick to it, but spray foam does stick like stink.:unsure: Might not be the best aesthetically although if you could control the fill of the channels (start long and cut down?) there are h-channels or you could do something with wood to cover it. You could also weld the ends shut?
wall paper it
First mention I have seen of this. Glad to know I am not alone. I was thinking of vinyl wallcovering. There is some good looking stuff. It might be good to use something more robust than wallpaper paste? But if you use something too strong, then it would be hard to remove if ever necessary. Any thoughts on that?
 
And Formica or similar laminate finishes are really durable and easy to clean for the cost. 21 years of beating the snot out of our kitchen counters every day so far and just now starting to wear through.
Our HPL kitchen countertops are 25 years old and "beating the snot out" of them daily" sounds about right. Yea the wear layer is shot. Replacement will be the next owners pleasure.

There are lightweight grades that are designed for vertical surfaces that might be a good choice for facing cabinets in a van.
 
Regarding light weight, here's an ill-formed idea? My intention was to site-build cabinetry, so there would be wood framing, then screw 1/8" plywood onto the surface (painted or maybe wrapped in Di-Noc). And I was going to use laminate on my countertops. I have these samples of Wilsonart Horizontal Grade Standard (HGS) sitting on my desk here, and they are very stiff and .048" thick. I wonder if, with approximately 18" on-center stud spacing, if I could just screw the laminate sheet into the studs and call it a wall?
Interesting ideas. I think that the "Wilson Art" HPL, will not have the necessary structural strength ... (the substrate would supply when used by design intent). It is also probably too brittle on it's own, would probably be prone to cracking at the edges and where there are concentrated loads. IIRC a full sheet of horizontal HPL is about 12 lbs, the vertical grade stuff about half that.
 
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