Question on luan paneling

[auger394]

I have a kingcrow fish house and need to replace a wall

panel. I called king crow and he said the paneling is luan paneling. I have read posts from others who have used luan paneling. My question is where do you buy the luan? At Menards they do not sell luan in the wall paneling area, but they sell it unfinished in the lumber section. For those have used luan do you just buy the unfinished paneling and stain it yourself? Or is this a different place to find what I am looking for? Any advice is appreciated.

[Hawg]

Luan is great stuff. It's 1/4 in (mahogany?) plywood basically and I think it's exterior glue. I built many fish houses with Lyman on the inside and the outside. Everybody that sells building supplies has it. I think it's main purpose is for underlayment.

[leechlake]

the previous post is correct on the plywood. The plywood is 5.2mm thick (smidge under 1/4") 4x8 sheets. Do you presently have tongue and groove paneling or is it plywood? Some people use the word "paneling" differently.

[auger394]

Thanks for the info. It is 4x8 paneling in the house. So your saying since it's plywood I need to purchase it and the stain it to match? At Menards they only sell lauan in the lumber part of the store and not the wall paneling area. Anyone know a store that sells luan paneling prefinished? Thanks again. Much appreciated.

[PurpleFloyd]

Nobody sells it unfinished because it is not considered to be a stain grade wood. That is not to say it cannot be stained and that you won't be pleased with the end result,but that is the way it is.

IMHO the best stains are the walnut stains that have a green tone to them. Yes, Luan is from the some family type as mahogany so they have similar grain and densities. Expect to have a lot of color variation from sheet to sheet which can cause problems with stain matching.

If you want a wood with a similar appearance to Luan that you may be able to get finished by a wood finisher you should look at Lyptus.

[auger394]

The king crow has 1/8 luan plywood. This is what I can find at Menards. It is unfinished... Is this the same type of luan plywood you guys are referring to? check out the link

http://www.menards.com/main/p-1931476.htm

[PurpleFloyd]

That is it. Understand that Luan is sort of a generic name that can be used for several species of similar woods so it is possible that you may get a perfect match or something that looks much different.

[Early Riser]

I sheeted my spear shack with luan and then coated it with good old fashioned spar varnish yearly for about four seasons before I got finally got around to wrapping it in steel roll coil.

The spar varnish set it off in a nice rich uniform tone. I was impressed with how well it held up to the elements with that varnish coat, which was why I waited so long to wrap it.

[Hawg]

Just get it out of your head you will fancy fancy luan, it's just cheap 1/4 underlayment not considered paneling anywhere/anyhow. I found that domestic products hold up much better than imports also as my last couple shed projects are not lasting anywhere near as long as they did in the past. The stuff eventually delaminates and separates/warps. If you keep it well coated on an interior it should be fine.