BWP / Marine ply
IS:710
Boiling-water-proof, phenolic bonded. Kitchens, bathrooms, anywhere near water.
The substrate decides how long the finish lasts.
Almost every failure we get called back to look at starts with the wrong board in the wrong place — commercial ply under a kitchen sink, MDF in a bathroom. We would rather sell you the correct grade the first time. Here is what we hold and, more usefully, where each one belongs.
Plywood & Boards3 sections22 listings
01Plywood & Boards
Plywood grades
BWR ply
IS:303
Boiling-water-resistant. Good general-purpose furniture grade for dry areas.
MR / Commercial ply
Moisture resistant
Interior grade for wardrobes, beds and dry joinery. Not for wet areas.
Shuttering ply
Film-faced
Film-faced formwork ply for concrete shuttering. Reusable for several pours.
Fire-retardant ply
FR grade
Treated to slow flame spread. Often specified in commercial fit-outs.
Flexible ply
Bendable
Bends to a curve for columns, counters and curved panelling.
Veneered ply
Pre-laid
Plywood arriving with a decorative face veneer already pressed on.
02Plywood & Boards
Engineered boards
MDF
Plain / pre-lam
Dead flat, machines beautifully, perfect for paint and routed profiles. Dry areas only.
HDF
High density
Denser and harder than MDF. Used for door skins and laminate flooring cores.
HMR MDF
Moisture resistant
The moisture-resistant grade, usually green-tinted. Better near water, still not marine.
Particle board
Plain / pre-lam
The economical carcass board for budget and knock-down furniture.
Block board
Softwood core
Timber-strip core. Light and stiff over long spans — shelving, tables, shutters.
WPC board
Composite
Zero water absorption, termite-proof. Increasingly used for whole bathroom and kitchen carcasses.
PVC foam board
Lightweight
Light, waterproof, easy to cut. Signage, cladding and light cabinetry.
OSB
Structural
Oriented strand board for structural sheathing and packing.
03Plywood & Boards
Where to use what
The short version, if you only read one thing on this page.
Kitchen base units
BWP / WPC
It will get wet. Do not economise here — this is the single most common callback.
Bathroom vanity
WPC / BWP
WPC ideally. Never MDF or particle board.
Wardrobe carcass
BWR / MR ply
Dry area, so commercial grade is honest value.
Painted shutters
MDF
Nothing takes paint as well as MDF. Keep it out of wet areas.
Long shelving
Block board
Stiffer over a span, so it sags less than ply.
Concrete formwork
Shuttering ply
Film-faced, so it releases cleanly and survives repeat pours.
False ceiling
MDF / ply / gypsum
Depends on span, load and whether it is a wet area.
00Specifications
The numbers, plainly.
- Sheet size
- 8 × 4 ft standard; 7 × 4, 6 × 4 and cut sizes
- Ply thickness
- 4, 6, 9, 12, 16, 19, 25 mm
- MDF thickness
- 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 18, 25 mm
- Grades stocked
- IS:710 (BWP), IS:303 (BWR/MR), FR, shuttering
- Cutting
- Sheets cut to your list before delivery
- Brands
- Multiple — tell us your preference and budget
Sizes and specifications are indicative. Anything here can be made to your measurement — send us the opening and we will confirm.
Talk to us about plywood & boards.
Tell us the opening, the quantity and roughly what you want it to look like. We will come back with a costed estimate — and say so plainly if something on this page is the wrong choice for your job.
