Luan

[Floorist]

I had a Canadian installer tell me that luan was in their vinyl literarure as an accepted underlayment in Canada. Since we have some Canadian members, thought I would ask if that is true? Seems odd that vinyl manus would accept it in Canada but not in the states. But I know some of the standards are different.

 

[havasu]

Why not just place a newspaper under it? They are about the same thickness, aren't they?

 

[Floorist]

1/4" is the standard for vinyl underlayment.

 

[havasu]

Is that glue and screw, or just glue down?

 

[Floorist]

Just staple. It is not recommended that you glue underlayment. And screws can cause it to pucker.

 

[Incognito]

I did thousands of sheets of luan under VCT in schools and maybe a hundred or so under residential vinyl in the '70s and '80s in New England. Never heard of any problems and it seemed like pretty decent quality. I believe, like everything else in the U.S.A. quality has gone to shit due to corrupt standards or lack of competent enforcement of standards.

Ideally, an 1/8" of WELL constructed luan is a perfect substrate for most residential and fairly modest commercial purposes. Obviously if it's made in the same factory as Chinese drywall..............

 

[Floorist]

I used it for years too, but this stuff they are selling now as luan is crap.

 

[DarisMulkin]

I did thousands of sheets of luan under VCT in schools and maybe a hundred or so under residential vinyl in the '70s and '80s in New England. Never heard of any problems and it seemed like pretty decent quality. I believe, like everything else in the U.S.A. quality has gone to shit due to corrupt standards or lack of competent enforcement of standards.

Ideally, an 1/8" of WELL constructed luan is a perfect substrate for most residential and fairly modest commercial purposes. Obviously if it's made in the same factory as Chinese drywall..............

1/8" isn't that called door skin? All I've ever seen was 1/4". When I started in the 60's it was all tempered masonite rough side up. Then it was luan. Never had a problem with luan.

Daris

Daris

 

[Ernesto]

I believe that the problem started happening when imported stuff was coming in from Brazil. Had to much oil content. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Incognito]

1/8" isn't that called door skin? All I've ever seen was 1/4". When I started in the 60's it was all tempered masonite rough side up. Then it was luan. Never had a problem with luan.

Daris

Daris

***************************
I only used the Masonite once. 1/4" luan was more common but I do recall using the 1/8" on some residential work.

 

[Floorist]

Masonite was the thing back when dinosaurs ruled the earth.

 

[Polestretch]

We had a bunch of problems with luan in the late 80's, early 90's. Had a lot of voids that high heels went through!

 

[Incognito]

Sadly, the tropical hardwood trees used to make Lauan plywood were not sustainably managed. In twenty short years the hardwood plywood production from these same source countries plummeted due to over harvesting and lack of raw material. The Philippine plywood industry is for all intents and purposes finished. The Indonesian plywood industry is less than one tenth of its size since 1990. The Malaysian plywood industry is steadily declining.

The Lauan plywood available in the market today hardly resembles the Lauan plywood of twenty years ago. Plywood manufacturers around the globe use tropical hardwood logs from a wide range of sources including Africa, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, and South America. Most of these tropical hardwood sources are not being managed for sustainable development. The available pool of tropical hardwood logs to make Lauan plywood continues to get smaller and smaller. Lauan plywood varies in appearance from shipment to shipment.

http://www.patriottimber.com/lauan_plywood.html