Yeah, we all know how this is going to turn out. Especially, long term. In fact, you may be dealing with the exact same problem in your kitchen or bathroom cabinet right now.
This customer had a leak under his kitchen sink that went unchecked for quite a while. By the time he asked me to come and look at it, the moisture had loosened up the particle board of the cabinet bottom and created a large area that was so badly warped that it was unusable.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of the cabinet bottom before I started working on it. The difference between the original cabinet bottom and the repair is remarkable.
Nevertheless, the process of repair is fairly straightforward:
- Remove the original cabinet bottom with as little damage to the remaining cabinet parts as possible
- Clean up the area so that it’s free of loose debris
- Reinforce the cabinet box so that the new cabinet bottom is solid and well supported
- Measure and cut the pieces to fit
- Install the new cabinet bottom
- Clean up and go home
The project went smoothly. And in a few hours, the homeowner had a functional space under his kitchen sink.
Here are a couple of noteworthy things.
First, the new cabinet bottom is made of plywood, not particle board. And while plywood will also break down over time when exposed to water, it will take much longer.
There’s a reason that cabinet boxes made out of particle board are covered with a faux wood veneer. The veneer acts as a moisture barrier. Without it, the structural integrity of cabinet floor would be compromised almost immediately after being exposed to moisture. It simply can’t hold up. Plywood is a better option.
That brings me to the second point.
About two coats of water-based clear urethane over the new plywood cabinet bottom would go a very long way to prevent future water damage in the event of a leak. The urethane would act as a moisture barrier, similar to the faux wood veneer of the original floor. I didn’t apply urethane to this project because it was outside the scope of work.
As always, thanks for reading about this project. I hope you enjoyed the post and learned something new.
If you’re in the Oviedo, Florida area and have a project you really don’t want to tackle yourself, I would be happy to stop by, take a look at what you have going on, and discuss possible options that might work for you.
I thoroughly enjoy producing quality work and making sure that you’re satisfied with the project before I leave. It’s the only way I want to do business.
To book a free estimate, click the button below.