Always thought pre-finished plywood was a ripoff. Now I'm not so sure.

For years I only used raw birch and finished it myself. Sanded every cabinet door down to 220 grit. Looked great but took forever. A buddy in Denver told me to try pre-finished oak for a rental kitchen. I laughed at him. Said it was for lazy guys. Then I ran a 40-door job last month with pre-finished maple. Saved about 12 hours of sanding and sealing. The edges still need touching up but the face is bulletproof. You have to be careful with glue squeeze-out though. Anyone else come around on pre-finished or still think it's a shortcut that shows?

4 comments

4 Comments

paige16616d ago

Oh man, I was the exact same way. Thought pre-finished was just for people who couldn't be bothered. Then I tried it on a big kitchen job and felt like a dummy for all the hours I wasted. The glue squeeze-out thing is real though, gotta wipe it clean fast.

xena58216d ago

Ngl, it's not that deep though. Just wood flooring.

olivermason16d ago

Reminds me of a lot of things in life where we assume the cheap or easy option must be bad, then find out it's actually better. Pre-finished flooring was the same for me - thought I was being clever sanding and sealing, just making extra work for myself.

mark_green16d ago

My buddy did that and ended up with a mess just like @paige166 said.