If you are planning on building something out of wood, plywood is always a great material to go with. With that being said, there are so many different kinds of plywood to consider.
One popular type of fairly high-grade plywood is known as Sande plywood. Today, we are here to take a deep dive into this material, exploring what its properties are, its pros and cons, and what it’s most commonly used for.
What Is Sande Plywood?
Plywood is a type of engineered wood that is created by gluing together many veneers or layers of wood. Sande plywood gets its name from the specific wood that is used during the manufacturing process, which, as you may have guessed, is called Sande. This is a type of wood that is imported and can be used to make plywood for a wide variety of jobs.
The technical name for this material is Brosimum Utile. However, you might be more familiar with its common name, Mulberry wood, which of course comes from the Mulberry tree. These trees are most commonly found in Costa Rica, Columbia, Ecuador, and neighboring countries.
Sande or Mulberry wood is generally quite uniform in color. It is typically a shade of light brown or yellow. This type of plywood often has a very wide grain that’s not quite as noticeable as with some other trees, although some exceptions may have grain that is tightly interlocked.
Generally speaking, Sande plywood is designed for a variety of outdoor applications, more specifically projects that have an aquatic element. This is because the material is a specific type of marine-grade plywood that is extremely weather-resistant and waterproof.
Sande Plywood Specifications: What Sizes and Grades Does It Come In?
In terms of the size, this Sande plywood generally comes in all of the common plywood sizes. That said, the two most common sizes are 48″x 96″ and 48.5″x 96.5″.
In terms of the grade, Sande plywood is often B/C, but may also be A/B or A/A. Keep in mind that A is the highest grade of plywood, whereas D is the lowest.
Sande plywood is also fairly high grade, which means that it has minimal holes, knots, and gaps, if any at all. Moreover, this material is almost always made using exterior grade adhesive that is totally moisture-proof.
Advantages of Sande Plywood
Now that we know exactly what Sande plywood is, let’s figure out what exactly makes it a good building material.
1. It’s Easy to Stain
One big benefit of Sande plywood is the fact that it is generally quite smooth and easy to work with. This type of wood is typically quite easy to sand, stain, and paint. It’s therefore quite effortless to add a few layers of paint to get it looking exactly the way you want it to look. It is ideal for aesthetic purposes in this sense. You can make some really beautiful constructions using Sande plywood.
2. It Looks Nice
Another big benefit of Sande plywood is that even if you don’t finish it yourself, it does generally look quite nice. People often consider Sande plywood to be an extremely aesthetically pleasing type of plywood. Not only is it strong, but generally quite beautiful too. That light brown or yellowish color is something that people tend to really like.
3. It’s Waterproof
One of the biggest benefits of this specific type of plywood is the fact that it is waterproof. This is of course a specific type of marine grade plywood, and it is therefore designed to resist high levels of moisture.
Even most types of exterior grade plywood can only handle moisture for so long, and can only handle so much of it.
However, Sande plywood can handle very high levels of moisture for indefinite periods of time. This type of plywood may even be submerged, which is why it is sometimes used for building boats.
4. It’s Easy to Cut
Due to the nature of Sande plywood, it is fairly easy to work with in terms of cutting and sawing. This is a great type of plywood to use with a CNC machine, as it doesn’t typically splinter.
5. Great Pest Resistance
This type of plywood is generally very high grade, which means that it is dense and has minimal holes and knots. This, therefore, leads to it being extremely pest resistant. It just doesn’t have many gaps for pests to get into. This makes it ideal for long term outdoor use.
6. It’s Quite Sustainable
Something else worth noting is that the Mulberry tree is one of the more sustainable trees used for manufacturing plywood. Moreover, there are plenty of tree farms out there that grow Mulberry trees in a sustainable manner specifically for making plywood.
7. Resistance to Delamination
Due to the moisture-proof glue that is used when making Sande plywood, as well as the very high-quality veneers, this type of plywood is extremely resistant to delamination. This is something else that makes it ideal for outdoor use.
8. Decent Fire Resistance
Although it’s not fireproof, do it to its high density, it can resist combustion to a certain degree.
Disadvantages of Sande Plywood
While there are many advantages to using this material, there are also a few disadvantages to using Sande plywood, although admittedly not many.
1. Varying Grains
Sande plywood can often have varying grains, which could affect the aesthetic appeal of the wood. However, it is easy to paint, so this is really not a big problem.
2. It’s Quite Heavy
Due to its density, Sande plywood can be fairly heavy, and therefore a bit difficult to work with.
3. It Can Be Quite Expensive
Because this is a high-quality type of marine-grade plywood, it is unfortunately rather expensive to purchase.
5 Common Sande Plywood Uses
Let’s now take a quick look at the five most common uses of Sande plywood. They are very similar to the uses of marine-grade plywood in general.
1. Subflooring
Due to its durability, flexibility, and waterproof nature, one of the most popular uses of Sande plywood is subflooring in high traffic areas that see a lot of moisture, such as kitchens and bathrooms.
2. Roofing
For the same reasons that it makes for a good subflooring material, Sande plywood also makes for a good roofing underlayment material.
3. Boats and Docks
Another popular use of this material, due to it being marine grade plywood, is for building boats, docks, jetties, and piers.
4. Sheds
In very humid climates, this type of plywood may also be used for exterior structures such as sheds.
5. Cabinetry and Furniture
When people want a very nice-looking type of plywood that is also durable, such as furniture or cabinetry, Sande plywood may also be used.
Summary
If you need a good-looking, durable, and waterproof type of plywood, Sande plywood might just be what you’re looking for.
That said, you might also want to learn about how Sande plywood compares with birch plywood before making a firm decision.