Five things to consider before buying boards (super comprehensive)

Choosing the right materials for your home is a crucial step in home renovation. If home renovations were like an exam, then choosing the right materials would be like the multiple-choice questions on the test paper. The variety of choices can easily lead to missed marks. Failure to consider thoroughly beforehand often leads to regret afterward.

After reading so many experiences sharing their experiences, I still make mistakes when I try my hand at it. This may be because I lack a comprehensive and systematic logical guide. Therefore, Xiaoye has specially compiled five things you must do before buying wood panels, so that everyone can "follow the map" and avoid unnecessary mistakes.

01. What type of board should I choose?

Boards are a large category, including ecological paint-free boards, wood boards, flame-retardant boards, gypsum boards, multi-layer boards, decorative panels, etc. Different types of boards have different uses. Below is a performance and use comparison table of each type of board. Owners can choose according to their actual needs.

Paint-free board

＞Natural finish

＞Stable structure

＞Rich colors

＞Formaldehyde removal and environmental protection

Mainly used in cloakrooms, wall cabinets, wall decorations, suspended ceilings, wardrobes, bookcases, tables and chairs, shoe cabinets, bathroom cabinets, wine cabinets, etc.

Wood board

＞High strength

＞Anti-bending

＞High solidity

＞High flatness

Mainly used for furniture, partitions, wall panels, etc.

Glued wood

＞Anti-cracking

＞Anti-deformation

＞Strong stability

＞Beautiful appearance

It is mainly used for building structures, interior furniture and decoration.

Multilayer board

＞Strong bonding

＞Anti-bending

＞Super strong nail holding force

＞High environmental protection level

It is one of the commonly used materials for furniture, and is mostly used for drawer bottoms, structural panels inside doors, linings between gypsum boards and keels, door frames, window frames, partitions, etc.

Decorative panels

＞Tough wood

＞Various colors and patterns

＞High flatness

It is a commonly used decorative material for home decoration such as furniture, doors, door and window frames and walls.

gypsum board

＞Strong nail holding force

＞Stable and durable

＞Double formaldehyde removal

Mainly used in suspended ceilings, partition walls, interior wall veneers, ceilings, sound-absorbing panels, etc.

flame retardant board

＞Reduce smoke

> Reduce toxicity

＞Flame retardant and high temperature resistant

＞Good environmental performance

It is mainly used in building decoration projects such as hotels, conference centers, libraries, leisure and entertainment venues, shopping malls, medical structures, office buildings, as well as high-end residential building decoration and furniture manufacturing projects.

OSB board

＞High decorative properties

＞Strong nail holding force

＞Strong stability

It is mainly used for interior walls, insulation boards, ceilings of wooden houses, base materials for cabinet decoration, wooden doors and sofa keels.

02. What style of board should I choose?

There are many different home styles, including the industrial style favored by young people, the Chinese style favored by middle-aged people, the popular Nordic style, and the timeless minimalist style. Different home styles need to be adapted to the corresponding board patterns. If they are mixed and matched randomly, unless the designer has the superb skill of "turning decay into magic", the most likely result is probably that it will become a "hodgepodge".

Therefore, before purchasing the board, the owner should think clearly about what kind of home style he wants and what kind of home decoration effect he wants to achieve. Here are a few examples:

▲Cloud shadow rock pattern

If you want to achieve an industrial style home decoration, you should choose a gray-toned board pattern, and you can choose a cloud shadow rock pattern.

▲New ironwood

If you want to achieve a Chinese-style home decoration, you should choose board patterns with rich and mature colors, such as the new ironwood pattern.

▲Lake blue

If you want a small apartment to appear spacious, you should choose cool-colored panels, such as lake blue.

▲Lemon yellow

If you want to reduce the feeling of spaciousness in a large apartment, you should use warm-colored panels, such as lemon yellow .

03. Learn the necessary environmental protection knowledge

Environmental performance is a key consideration when choosing wood panels. Commercially available environmental ratings include E1, E0, formaldehyde-free, F★★★★, and CARB certification, all of which can be used to categorize formaldehyde emissions from wood-based panels. However, with so many ratings, it can be difficult for consumers to distinguish. Therefore, it's important to remember some essential environmental knowledge.

▲The environmental protection of the board has a great impact on the health of the home

1) Both the F★★★★ grade standard and CARB certification are formaldehyde emission standard systems promoted abroad, and their implementation in China is relatively low;

2) China's latest national standard stipulates that the unified formaldehyde emission limit value is 0.124mg/m³, and the limit mark is E1, so E1-grade boards are environmentally friendly boards that meet national standards.

3) Enterprises can implement higher corporate standards to provide consumers with more environmentally friendly panels. For example, the board industry has implemented the "Formaldehyde Emission Limit for Artificial Panels" corporate standard, which stipulates formaldehyde emission limit values ​​for three levels: E1, E0, and formaldehyde-free. The requirements are more stringent and far higher than the national standards.

04. Learn systematic quality identification

When purchasing boards, you should carefully observe and identify whether the quality of the boards meets the standards. There are several specific steps:

01. Look

Look at the board surface, tilt it 45° along the light and check whether there are signs of bubbles, dents, defects, deformation, etc.; check the packaging to see if the board packaging is clearly marked and whether the factory name, address, grade, specifications and other information are complete.

02. Touch

If you feel no bumps or indentations on the board surface, it indicates the board has no overlapping cores and is highly flat. You can also use the "Level" app on your phone to test the board's flatness.

▲Touch the board surface with your hand, the board with no bumps and smoothness is of good quality

03. Listen

Listen to the difference in sound and knock on different positions of the board. If the sound difference is large, it means there are certain quality problems, and there may be holes inside. If the sound is uniform and the difference is not big, it means the quality is acceptable.

04. Smell

Smell the board closely. If there is no particularly pungent smell but a fresh wood fragrance, it means the formaldehyde content is low.

05. Saw

If conditions permit, you can saw the board open and observe whether its internal texture is dense, whether there are obvious gaps, and whether there are any signs of decay or deterioration.

05. Learn how to identify authentic products

Good panel brands have more comprehensive production standards and testing specifications, a certain level of fame, and recognition from authoritative authorities, ensuring product quality and dramatically increasing your chances of purchasing quality panels. Of course, all of this assumes the panels you purchase are genuine, reputable brands. Therefore, learning simple methods to identify genuine products is crucial.

▲Laser inkjet printing on sheet metal

As one of the top ten most influential board brands in the industry, King Coconut Board has upgraded its anti-counterfeiting system while continuously improving product quality. It has established anti-counterfeiting trademarks, laser anti-counterfeiting logos, laser inkjet coding, product inkjet coding and other anti-counterfeiting functions. "One scan, one photo and one look" can tell the authenticity, helping consumers to easily identify and purchase boards with peace of mind in all aspects.

To sum up, it is actually not complicated to choose and buy board materials. In summary, there are three main points - "Is the brand good?", "Is the product quality good?" and "Is it suitable for you?". Clarify these issues before purchasing, and you can easily get full marks in this "multiple-choice question" in the home improvement exam by solving them one by one.