I dont think anyone is against the craftmanship, its my choice in materials that seems to be the main topic of conversation. Thanks for the props tho

 

OK so since I was surprised to find that my one stop adhesive for all permanent aplications might break down over time, I went back to lowes and asked the contruction manager some questions(I pretended I was writing a paper) and he told me the following:

Liquid nail is basicly a blend of putty and hardening resin. The standard liquid nail will hold up in anything except constant submersion in water and has a 2 year warranty. The construction liquid nail(the one I bought) is made to be water/weather proof and is backed by a 10 year warranty against failure when properly prepped and applied - it must be a 1/4" bead for every cuft and must be allowed to prep for 36 hours before movement.

I still wouldnt use anything other than silicon II for seam seals on a permanent project but it is good to know that this stuff will hold for at least a week.

 

I buy 4'x8' sheets of 3/4 MDF at Lowes or HD for like $25. Not sure how much a similar sheet of particle would cost, but even if it was half, a box worth is not that much difference, and is well worth it. I'd actually like to use HDF, but the only source I know for that is a cabinet supply place way down in south st. pete. If anyone knows of a closer to Oldsmar source, let me know.

For really big boxes, we use double 3/4". I use wood glue and an air nailer to hold them together, and then use the PU construction adhesive on the joints. The, we slap a coat of polyester resin on the inside. Overkill? Maybe, but the extra time and money is fairly small, and I feel the payback is worth it.

This is for our custom boxes, which not everyone can afford. We also sell prefab boxes, which are particle board and silicone, covered in carpet. These boxes work just fine for most people. But, when someone is willing to pay me to design and build them a box, I like to put the extra effort in.

I think your box is probably fine, especially for a 'test box'. When you finally get the design finalized, though, I think you should put the extra effort into it. Especially since you care about details.

Toby

 

Is that taking into consideration the increased pressure in a sub box enviroment? I'm just going on what I've been told by other installers and what I've seen first hand. I use to use the stuff all the time. I've seen several boxes that could be kicked apart though, which were about a year old, and a couple overhead monitors which were installed with liquid nails (not done by myself) which fell within a 1-2 year period.

I don't see how they could back that warranty, there's just too many variables (ie, differing weigh, pressure, materials, etc) and it would be almost impossible to prove, let alone proving the prep and application procedures. And then, even if they did warranty something, what are they going to do? Give you another tube and tell you to try again? Replace whatever it is that came apart and was possibly damaged in the process?

 

didnt ask all those Qs but for the overhead monitor issue there would usually be no prep time because 1) installs are in a hurry to finish and 2)its mounted directly to the surface so gravity takes its toll immediately.

It's used constantly in home construction on trim moldings, ceilng tiling, and drywall base and I havent seen many houses fall down lately. I doubt its the be all end to end for adhesives but horror stories may have been exadurated and installation steps may have been skipped. As for hte box being kicked apart, the wood & nails will hold through more than that without any glue at all so im leaning towards either water damage or wood failure over glue failure.

 

Lowes in zephyhills doesnt have 2x4 or 4x8 shept of MDF I dont know why.

24 x 48 particle board is $4 at lowes... used to be 2.50 but they caught on when I bought 20 sheets and loaded them into my 4door.

prefab boxes use woodglue which is tehsuxx0r for anything other than urinating in.

I will definitley put the extra effort into a box that sounds good... I may just fiberglass the walls and skip wood entirely.

 

do you build these for sale?

 

Who are you asking? There are several people on this thread that build boxes.

Toby

 

I was asking the thread starter but I guess anyone, lol I made a WTB thread in the for sale section.

 

I build boxes for for beer the drive to my house in zephyrhills is usually more expensive

But yeah bring me wood on a day im free and I'll build you one for practice... just make sure you bring 3/4" MDF and your car so we can measure it.