Marine or Exterior Ply ?

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People are recommending Marine ply for bathroom flooring, but when I have enquired about prices etc from national timber merchants they say that Exterior ply is fine, they said the only difference between exterior ply and marine ply is that marine ply is more resistant to salt, apart from that they are exactly the same.... and they asked me if I was building a boat lol ?

Would I assume that exterior ply is ok then for bathroom flooring ?
 
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Hi Thanks Foxhole.

Maybe some tilers may cringe, but there is some nice rubber bathroom flooring that I like.
 
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Is this to go over an existing floor? I've used cementitious boards like no-more-ply for this sort of thing in the past, and it's worked really well. Might work out as more expensive though.

EDIT: I was tiling my bathroom. so ignore the above.
 
This is to go over joists 40cm centres.
I went to jewsons and they said, water resistant chipboard is ok for bathroom flooring. He said all modern houses now are built with water proof chipboard, and all you need to do is PVA over it to ensure its sealed.
Then I went to Robert price asking `is waterproof chipboard ok for bathroom floor` and they said `no`
So Im waiting for a quote from the latter now for external wbp ply, maybe im being too cautious... but hey.
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Modern bathrooms use chipboard, and I have seen modern bathrooms with the toilet falling thru the chipboard, once damaged and wet.
 
Would have been £100 more for marine... So hmm I have compromised now... I am having marine under and around the shower area of the room. The other end of bathroom where its less likely to get too wet Im getting En636-3 WBP exterior ply.

Better than chipboard by the sounds of it.

Thank you all for your help.
 
I wish I listened to Hertsdrainage2010 and got all marine.

they said they would ring me when the wood was due to be delivered but found it there on the lawn at 11.30 pm after getting home. I brought the wood in the next morning but it had been raining for some of the night. The marine ply was fine but..... the edges of the EN636-3 were damaged and the ply was separating.

I then contacted the company and they took all the wood back to inspect (despite marine being ok) I called them earlier and they said that it looks ok to them and said they would have another look at it and had suggested they send it back to me with information on how to treat the edges.

I am not happy with the ply, although they had cut it all to size so I could fit it. Do I have any rights please ?
On the invoice it mentioned that the marine was certified, but it did not mention that the exterior was certified.
 
I wish I listened to Hertsdrainage2010 and got all marine.

they said they would ring me when the wood was due to be delivered but found it there on the lawn at 11.30 pm after getting home. I brought the wood in the next morning but it had been raining for some of the night. The marine ply was fine but..... the edges of the EN636-3 were damaged and the ply was separating.

I then contacted the company and they took all the wood back to inspect (despite marine being ok) I called them earlier and they said that it looks ok to them and said they would have another look at it and had suggested they send it back to me with information on how to treat the edges.

I am not happy with the ply, although they had cut it all to size so I could fit it. Do I have any rights please ?
On the invoice it mentioned that the marine was certified, but it did not mention that the exterior was certified.

Marine ply has a class 3 bond, EN636-3 plywood has a class 3 bond, they are the same in that regards. A class 3 bond has to withstand hours in boiling water and cold water, usually this equates to weeks of external exposure without much harm, sometimes years and years but no one will guarantee/warranty that, the standard on plywood however is very specific in that it must be able to withstand exposure during construction, storage in the rain should be avoided but in this context it is nothing, the plywood is supposed to withstand short exposure to moisture.

Marine plywood has "some" limited natural durability against fungus, and also has to have excellent core veneer quality, this gives strength and flexibility for use in boats, are you building a boat? No, then you don't need marine plywood.

However, there is a lot of **** plywood sold, (coughchinesechough), so people specify marine simply to assure quality, or under the assumption that the word "marine" means "super durable plywood".

Get exterior plywood, but don't buy super cheap, get stuff made in western Europe (Finnish, German).

Chipboard can be used, as long as you fully seal it, if water gets in it will eventually turn to weatabix, personally I would be happy to use chipboard if I was doing the work myself and could ensure water tightness, if someone else is doing the work, use plywood or better.

The certification is likely for sustainability and not quality, though check that.
 
Thanks for the valuable advices there AronSearle.

It probably was cheap stuff !! Although the company said `it probably wasnt pressed enough, and that they could pull out and find better sheets for me !` Anyway we compromised between prices and for about £26 extra they will replace the 3 exterior for marine. The marine sheet was fine and I was happy with that. But I guess it goes to show that people have to be vigilant with sourcing the correct stuff, shame really.

I received an email back from TTF (Timber Trade Federation) and they suggested If I were to have any doubt is to ask the company to show a `Declaration of Performance or certificate/test results certificate from the manufacturers`.
 
Marine ply is stamped BS1088
There has never been so much miss information in woodwork than about Marine ply
I did like the one about salt,it actually preserves timber rain water is your enemy in boats
Some is only moderately durable but is pukka marine ply
Cheers Ian
 
FYI marine plywood only needs to be made from slightly durable timbers and allows for 5% sapwood (gaboon was a commonly used slightly durable timber for marine plywood).

one of its original uses was for disposable speedboats, so they wanted something strong and lightweight, not durable.
 

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