Need some opinions on pvc sheeting

What thicknesses work best?

Is US Plastics the only supplier? Its the only one I ever see listed in threads.

Welding or epoxy?

Any help would be nice.

Hi, I posted to a similar question over on another forum. I assume that's you but I'll answer it here anyways.

I assume you mean expanded PVC, not regular PVC. My answers are based on expanded PVC. For simplicity I'll call it PVCX.

US Plastic is not the only supplier and they're certainly not the cheapest. I see you live in Georgia so I'm sure you can find a handful of major distributors in the major cities near you.

It's almost always easiest to buy locally. Shipping sheet material is expensive.

1/2" PVCX is almost always more than twice the cost of 1/4". Factor in shipping costs and it can be well over double the cost.

Moreover, at least two manufacturers go to a higher density foaming process with their 1/2" PVCX so it can be well over twice the weight.

But 1/2" is very easy to work with as solvent welds can easily be strengthened inexpensively with screws or rivets. It's also very rigid and less susceptible to sagging than 1/4" PVCX.

So it depends on the relative importance of weight, rigidity, ease of construction, and cost to your projects.

The 1/4" material is easy to solvent weld if 1"x1" PVC angle is used to edge bond panels 90* to each other. The angle is pretty expensive but your total cost will still be less than 1/2" material joined with solvent welds and screws/rivets. And you won't believe how strong the joint is.

So in summary, 1/2" if you want the ultimate in ease of construction and rigidity.

1/4" if you want to maximize cost and weight savings. But I highly recommend the PVC corner angle to strengthen the edge-joints since the material is too thin to accept screws or rivets.

yeah that was me

I have some heavy critters so a floor and sides in 1/2" is a minimum. I can always brace 1/4" tops and backs.

I'll respond to your posts from both forums in this thread. No sense going on both forums, especially when this one has e-mail notification.

>>can do a mix of both sizes,1/2" bottom & sides , 1/4" back & top since I don't plan on stacking them.

In that case I'd just go ahead and use 1/2". Easier to reinforce with screws or rivets.

>>The welder would only be used on the 1/2" really and/or to reinforce/seal all the seams on the inside.

The same could be accomplished with solvent welding and screws or rivets. A thermal welder is simply not necessary unless you already have access to it.

>>The ladder racks I build are fully supported and the tubs pull out from the front. I seen pics on other threads and ads that showed 1/4" for the shelves that was bowing from the weight of empty bins. I'm guessing it wasn't rigid pvc sheeting.

Nope, I'm sure it was. It's just that "rigid" expanded PVC sheet still has some sagging tendencies in 1/4". There are ways to deal with this, however.

Plastics are great materials to work with but there is a learning curve and tradeoffs to deal with.