During renovation, sometimes homeowners will find exposed carpentry plywood and panic:
"Eh, why got no laminate here? Is my ID scamming me?"
The answer is it depends, and there’s a principle you need to know on this.
Watch our tiktok if you lazy to read.
What is Laminate?
Laminate is the decorative "skin" wrapped around the plywood.
It's what protects and gives your carpentry its colour, texture, and finish.
And this is often the thing that drives up the carpentry cost, due to the labour and material needed to “paste” this carpentry.
Why Some Places Have No Laminate?
The principle is simple.
For areas that are exposed “见光”, there will be laminate.
For areas that are hidden from the eye “不会见光”, industry practice is to not have laminate.
Let us list some common examples.
A) Top of your bottom kitchen cabinet
There is no laminate here.
The reason is simple. You will lay a countertop on top of the plywood. Once installed, you'll never see the plywood underneath.
Thus, it is not exposed, and no laminate is used.
B) Bottom of your kitchen cabinet
This area is usually concealed by your mortar base.
To see it, you literally have to lie on the floor and look up.
Hence, there won’t be laminate below.
C) Other common areas
Back of your wardrobe (if it is affixed on the wall)
Back and bottom of drawers
We Know This Is Frustrating For Homeowners
The common consensus among homeowners is that why can’t the carpenter just cover these areas?
Then again, this is indeed industry practice, not that the IDs are trying to scam you guys.
There is time, effort and money spent to laminate these areas, which won’t be seen.
Two sides of a coin - and there’s no point in arguing who’s right or who’s wrong.
What’s more important is to go into the renovation knowing what the facts are. And if you really can’t stand the sight of these exposed areas, tell the ID to laminate it, but it will come with a cost increase.
TLDR
Some areas in your carpentry will not have laminate.
The principle to learn is whether it is exposed to the naked eye “见光” or not.
If you don’t like it, tell your ID to laminate them, but it will come with additional cost.
We know it is frustrating, but this is really industry practice.
Lastly, if you need reliable IDs/contractors recommendations, enquire here. It’s free with no obligations.