Is Luan Underlayment Waterproof

Is Luan Underlayment Waterproof


Updated - June 2013

Great Tips For Bending Plywood

This is a question many do it yourselfers have asked... Is luan plywood underlayment waterproof?

  I have found out that Luan Wood does not respond well to water exposure. It tends to warp and degrade the material. In fact, this is why you should only use Luan Wood as an underlayment for Vinyl or Laminate Flooring and not for Ceramic or Tile. The wood will get wet during the installing process. The Wood / Plywood Associations have made a note that Luan Wood has not been fully tested, and has not achieved any grading from the organizations.


Great Tips For Bending Plywood

Luan Wood Video Series
Bending Luan Wood Video
Installing Luan Wood Video
Cutting and Installing Vinyl Over Luan
Installing Luan Over Subfloor
Laying laminate over Subfloor
Making Tile Flush With Subfloor
Attaching Luan To Subfloor
Working With Luan For Do It Yourselfers


Uses Of Plywood (Luan Wood)

What are the uses of Plywood in your home. As a casual question here are some answers off the top of my head for what you can do with these pre-fabricated wooden panels. Uses of Plywood are primarily found as a building and construction material, and depending on its finish it can be used as an external piece for your home and hardware projects. On this blog in which I mainly discuss luan as a Uses of plywood, the primary use for plywood is as an underlayment for vinyl, laminate and ceramic flooring. This use is basically to ensure that the top floor appears even and has a buffer between it and the subfloor.

Other Uses of Plywood include in furniture and cabinet making, for kitchens and other household items. Plywood is a very useful material and is constructed as such to be durable and resistant to damage.

Luan Wood Video Series
Bending Luan Wood Video
Installing Luan Wood Video
Cutting and Installing Vinyl Over Luan
Installing Luan Over Subfloor
Laying laminate over Subfloor
Making Tile Flush With Subfloor
Attaching Luan To Subfloor
Working With Luan For Do It Yourselfers


How is Plywood Made?

CDX Plywood

Plywood is made through the use of wood panel made from thin sheets of luan wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products.

It is very useful as well as, inexpensive, workable, and re-usable, and usually can be manufactured locally. Plywood is used instead of plain wood because of plywood's resistance to cracking, shrinkage, splitting, and twisting/warping, and because of its generally high strength.

Layers of Wood, which are called Vaneers,are glued together, with adjacent plies having their wood grain at right angles to each other, to form a composite material. This alternation of the grain is called cross-graining and has several important benefits: Plywood Vaneers reduce the tendency of wood to split when nailed at the edges, this is a benefit for many do it yourself jobs, especially when you consider that most do it yourself'ers are novices in jobs for the first time.

Another advantage of Plywood Vaneers is that they reduce expansion and shrinkage, providing improved dimensional stability; and it makes the strength of the panel consistent across both directions. There is usually an odd number of plies, so that the sheet is balanced—this reduces warping. Because plywood is bonded with grains running against one another and with an odd number of composite parts, it is very hard to bend it perpendicular to the grain direction. Plywood is a manufactured wood panel made from thin sheets of luan wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products.

It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, and re-usable, and usually can be manufactured locally. Plywood is used instead of plain wood because of plywood's resistance to cracking, shrinkage, splitting, and twisting/warping, and because of its generally high strength.

Layers of Wood, which are called Vaneers,are glued together, with adjacent plies having their wood grain at right angles to each other, to form a composite material. This alternation of the grain is called cross-graining and has several important benefits: Plywood Vaneers reduce the tendency of wood to split when nailed at the edges, this is a benefit for many do it yourself jobs, especially when you consider that most do it yourself'ers are novices in jobs for the first time.

Another advantage of Plywood Vaneers is that they reduce expansion and shrinkage, providing improved dimensional stability; and it makes the strength of the panel consistent across both directions. There is usually an odd number of plies, so that the sheet is balanced—this reduces warping. Because plywood is bonded with grains running against one another and with an odd number of composite parts, it is very hard to bend it perpendicular to the grain direction.

There are reports that using Luan Plywood as underlayment for Tile is unacceptable. Some believe that because Luan Plywood is made of an unacceptable and unapproved substrate, it cannot receive Tile or cementituous backer units in a moisturous material.

And so, they say that for Ceramic, Tile, Stone or any other product with a cementituous backer unit, Luan products are not made/manufactured under any recognized grading rules or measures. Also, it is not recognized by the building codes or organizations and does not carry a grade stamp or have any structural design value. This is good to know.