Duckboards on sink floor

[cyrus]

As I return to re-engineering my kitchen into a darkroom (I had put it off for the summer) I am thinking of building the ultimate darkroom sink on wheels (it will go over the existing kitchen counter and drain into the existing kitchen sink, so I don't have to tear out the counter)

What is a good material to build duckboards out of? By duckboards, I mean the mats that go on the bottom of the sink, to hold the trays a bit higher than the bottom of the sink so the trays don't float away when the sink bottom is full of water.

I was thinking that regular wood would be too prone to rot, even if coated with a layer of epoxy. I'd like to have somethign out of plastic but can't find anything suitable (and inexpensive). It has to drain well. Can't use metal of course.

[Greg Lockrey]

How about a criss-cross type door mat made from used tires?

[Louie Powell]

Another option could be to use the plastic grating intended for use as a diffuser in light 2x4' suspended ceiling light fixtures.

[John Kasaian]

How about perforated rubber mats intended as cushioning on cement floors? The advantage over a recycled tire door mat is there is no metal to corrode.

[Doug Dolde]

Try McMaster Carr. They have plenty of industrial grade floor materials.

http://www.mcmaster.com/

[Brian Ellis]

I bought two lengths of the plastic or metal things that are used to hold up adjustable book shelves (the things that you buy four of to screw into the interior sides of the shelf) and cut them to fit lengthwise to rest on the bottom of my darkroom sink. Cost a couple dollars and held the trays up high enough to allow water to drain under the trays. Since they don't need to be physically attached to the sink it's easy to occasionally remove them and dry them off or replace them as needed.

[Vick Vickery]

Try a 1" to 2" PVS pipe...rip it in 1/2 lengthwise on a table saw and you've got 2 pieces that are impervious to almost any chemical.

[Vick Vickery]

Oops...make that PVC pipe!

[Steve Duprey]

I found that the wire shelving that you can get at various DIY stores in various lengths works very well. Just attach some 1.5 inch PVC pipe to the long sides of the shelving with zip-ties so it stays level in the sink, and there you go!

Trouble free, easy to set up and relatively sheap.

Best regards,

-Steve Duprey

Semper paratus!

[Keith Pitman]

I found this "Dri-Dek" tile material at a restaurant supply outlet:

http://www.dri-dek.com/?gclid=CLehuOynr44CFSSQYAodMzBUIA

The tiles snap together and make one big mat and can be configured to fit any size sink. Can't remember the price, but they gave me a discount because they thought I was a restauranteur!

[cyrus]

Thanks for all the ideas. It can't be anything that absorbs water, of course. I like the restaurant stuff, if it only was a little higher (1 inch, say). Can't use metal because photogravure chemicals etch metal.

[Tony Lakin]

Hi
I have used shelves from an old oven, stainless steel is best if you can find them otherwise replace them when they get too corroded, no labour and free.

Good luck

[John Powers]

Another option could be to use the plastic grating intended for use as a diffuser in light 2x4' suspended ceiling light fixtures.

These are plastic and 5/16" high. Would the chemicals melt plastic? They are cheap and could be stacked to an inch high or more. Got mine at Home Depot. I think Lowes also carries them.

John

[cyrus]

These are plastic and 5/16" high. Would the chemicals melt plastic? They are cheap and could be stacked to an inch high or more. Got mine at Home Depot. I think Lowes also carries them.

John

No the chems don't melt plastic - they just etch metal (ferric chloride)
Yes I have been investigatign light grills! How well do they drain water underneath the grille? Anyway they're cheap enough.

[John Powers]

How well do they drain water underneath the grille? .

They drain water from underneath the grill as if the grill wasn't there.

John

[Merg Ross]

I have been using the light grills for 25 years. They will drain better if slightly raised off the floor of your sink. You can accomplish this by using short pieces of wooden screen bead. No problem with chemicals. Also, they are easy to configure to the size of your sink.

[Toyon]

Costco sells interlocking 2" square rubberite mats that are nicely cushioned. They are really cheap and work well, with one caveat - if water gets underneath them they get slippery and have to be pulled up to dry.

[Erich Hoeber]

Those corrigated polycarbonate roofing panels work great too.

[Michael Kadillak]

I would angle the sink toward the drain and fiberglass or resin coat the base. Then I would use a router to cut a groove on each side of the sink that would accept thin segments of the recycled decking material that is sold at hardware stores to go from front to back with spacers inbetween that will allow fluids to pass by.

The best professional sinks I have seen incorporated this simple design and it could be built such that the slats can easily be removed from one end for cleaning or for special applications. That is how I am going to build my next sink.

Cheers!

[Michael Daily]

1x2 redwood strips over three lengthwise strips.
Michael

[RDKirk]

You will find your answer, one way or another, at a home store. There are a number of possibilities.

You can find plastic and rubber sink drain mats in the kitchen department.

You can find corrogated (wavy) fiberglass roof panels in the garden or building department. Cut those to size so that the corrogations run parallel toward the sink drain.

Another is in the landscaping department. You will find plastic "paver" panels that are imitation brick sheets about 1-foot square that have plastic "points" in their base. The purpose of the points is to anchor the panel into soil, but they also raise the panels about half an inch above a hard surface (like the bottom of your sink) and permit free-flowing drainage below them.

[Bruce Barlow]

Louie Powell's got it right. Light grids are plastic, cheap, and strong. I put mine up on three 1x2 wood strips so drainage is great. If/when the wood strips rot, I'll replace them. Grids are easily trimmable to perfect size, too.