I built this cabinet last year and the pre-cat lacquer finish is failing. The top 6″ – 8″ of the cabinet gets bathed in steam from the shower and I’m going to have to refinish it. The plan is to give it a light sanding and apply new pre-cat followed by ?????
The ????? part is the question. I’m not sure if polyurethane would hold up any better – or if it will even go over pre-cat lacquer.
The exhaust fan gets used, but it’s located pretty far from the cabinet and isn’t much help. I’m also wondering if some kind of ceiling mounted barrier would help.
Suggestions please??
Replies
Oops, forgot the picture.
Dave pre-cat is great in the dinning room,post-cat would have been better in the bathroom,and a indoor /outdoor urethane would have been my choice. How are you going to apply the new finish/spray?
Dan.
If I go with a poly, I'll probably brush it on. I'm usually able to do that with good results. I went with the precat lacquer because it was the finish they liked best when I made samples for them. I really didn't think that they would put the exhaust fan where they did - and take long hot showers. - lolMy biggest concern is preventing the problem in the future. They just remodeled the bathroom last year and I don't think that they'll want to go crazy with changes. The only thing that I can think of would be to add another high volume exhaust fan near the cabinet. I may be able to persuade him to do that since he has a speaker in the ceiling between the shower and the cabinet and it's probably getting wrecked too.
Edited 3/28/2009 7:29 pm by Dave45
poly will not bond properly over pre-cat ,sounds like you should take care of the exhaust issuses before doing anything . Walnutz said some thing about it being a steam shower, but I don't see where you say that is it? If I may ask one more thing was the pre cat lacquer applied with a brush?
It isn't a steam shower, but they apparently like to take long, hot, showers. During the remodel, they moved the toilet to an alcove that's out of the picture (to the left), and put a basic exhaust fan near the toilet. It's probably 6' from the fan to the cabinet.The precat was sprayed at the shop. I suppose that (if I have to), I could drape everything and re-spray, but that would be a waste of time without some kind of "fix" to the basic problem. Unless I can find a bullet proof finish (that's compatible with precat), the "fix" is probably gonna involve an additional exhaust fan, a barrier, or both.I'm thinking that the fried speaker argument may just do the trick. He loves his music (He puts Clapton on when I'm there. - lol) and wrecking a speaker probably isn't desirable for him. I would also suspect that there may be mold in the attic if the speaker isn't sealed.
well you can't take away his Clapton away , maybe the fan could go beside the speaker to protect it lol. or are any of those exterior walls ? they make some really good fans that are direct wall exhaust. if you solve the mosture issue then (I know it is a pain) but I would spray it with post- cat lacquer,atleast its only one coat. then again that is the down side of post -cat,you only get one shot. I have a fan that is meant for this it has an 50 ' exhaust hose for the over spray. I know you can rent them here anyways.Let us know what you find out on the steam problem.
Dave,
Cold Showers? cha cha cha
I would stay with the new pre-cat and look into replacing the fan with the new almost silent, high volume fans with 8" ducts (older installs are typically 4" and 6" ducts). Works miracles. No Steam. Mirrors you can see into. :-)
Short of West/System 3 epoxies, I think anything up there will eventually suffer the same fate unless you remove the problem.
"Livey stem stay live then sleepy stem be dead stem go away."
(Sand Pebbles)
BB
With the growing popularity of these steam showers, the problem of wrecking cabinetry finish is not going away soon. Homeowners need to know that not only are they causing problems for their cabinetry/woodworking, but they are subjecting the entire bathroom to a serious mold problem. None of these materials are designed to deal with that kind of steam saturation on a frequent (read daily) basis.
Steam showers are supposed to make the shower steamy, not the whole bathroom. If a proper exhaust fan isn't installed to evacuate the area outside the shower quickly, the problems will continue no matter what kind of interior finish you use. Your only solution in those conditions is to treat the cabinetry as if it were going to be installed in a boat.
Last year, I removed a small section of drywall that was "bad" just outside of a shower that was too far away from an inadequate cfm fan. To make a long story short, all the drywall in the bathroom had to be removed, as well as four 8-foot lengths of ceiling joists, that were completely coated in black mold.
Explain to your customer that the problem isn't your choice of finish, but their overzealous steaming.
Otherwise, break out the spar-varnish and the teak, and put a propellor on it. You'll be getting another call back in a year.
Let me make a couple of points for your consideration.
First, poly vanishes have reduced adhesion and they do not adhere well to hard finishes like a pre or post cat lacquer. I would not apply a poly over that type of finish.
Second, exterior varnish offers no advantage for an indoor project. Exterior or marine spar varnish is formulated to be soft and flexible so it maintains adhesion when subjected to large changes in environmental conditions. They also contain UV protecurants. But, they are less protective and durable. To make them soft and flexible they contain a higher percentage of oil. The higher oil content means that they are less water and water vapor resistant than interior varnishes. Interior varnishes are more durable and more protective in moist conditions.
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