ROOM DIVIDER: DAY 14

Today was a very productive day that had its ups and downs, some aspect of today I was very happy at and some I wasn't happy at all with. I can almost say that the project is completed except for the finishing stage where I use my HVLP sprayer. Since I have a lot to go through I will start by summarizing what I completed below.

WHAT I GOT DONE TODAY

  • Chalk-board paint completed and dried
  • Cork board prepping
  • Installing the cork board
  • My Opinions of the cork board
  • Room Divider construction complete
  • Applying finish preparation

CHALK BOARD COMPLETED

After using the Rustoleum chalk board paint yesterday, I gave it a day to completely dry even though the can says 2-4 hours I wanted to make sure as my basement is very humid and usually the drying time on any project in my shop usually takes a lot longer to dry. 

I am very please at how the paint came out and highly recommend the Rustoleum brand. I needed to condition the paint because the directions on the paint can instructed me to smear chalk all over the painted surface and so that is what I did below.

I needed to condition the painted surface with chalk so that's what I did.

I needed to condition the painted surface with chalk so that's what I did.

Needless to say I was extremely happy at how the chalk board paint came out, and my kids and the rest of the family will have a lot of use with this divider.

Needless to say I was extremely happy at how the chalk board paint came out, and my kids and the rest of the family will have a lot of use with this divider.

CORK BOARD PREPARATION

I needed to complete some preparation on the panel before I could add the cork board

  • I added some painters tape around the outside of the area that was receiving the cork board, because I was using a very high strength spray adhesive I didn't want to get any adheive on the elgs and face frames as these surfaces were going to be receing a poly based finish and well adhesive would not blend well with this.
I have used a lot of painters tape in this project , here you can see the outside edges all covered and it worked a charm.

I have used a lot of painters tape in this project , here you can see the outside edges all covered and it worked a charm.

  • I also needed to prep the cork board tiles, the tiles came in 12" x 12" pieces so I first laid them on the panel to determine what pieces needed to be cut to size and the order in which they were to be applied to the panel.
Here is the dry fit all completed, all the tiles have been cut and sized to fit inside the face frame. As you can see I had a mishap with one of the panels, it tore badly as I was cutting it so I needed to do a patch. The cork board that I purchased…

Here is the dry fit all completed, all the tiles have been cut and sized to fit inside the face frame. As you can see I had a mishap with one of the panels, it tore badly as I was cutting it so I needed to do a patch. The cork board that I purchased was not great.

Here are the instruments I used to cut the cork board, box cutter with a new blade in it, a straight edge used to guide the blade, measuring tape and marker. This worked OK.

Here are the instruments I used to cut the cork board, box cutter with a new blade in it, a straight edge used to guide the blade, measuring tape and marker. This worked OK.

All cut

All cut

  • After cutting all the tiles to final size I laid them out on my out-feed table and applied the 3M -90 spray adhesive this product is awesome, but care is needed in lining all the tiles up especially on a project this size. I also needed to apply the adhesive on the plywood panel as well so as to ensure a good bond when the tiles are placed.
Here you can see the cork board tiles all laid out on my out-feed table ready to receive the spray adhesive

Here you can see the cork board tiles all laid out on my out-feed table ready to receive the spray adhesive

Spray adhesive all applied.

Spray adhesive all applied.

CORK BOARD INSTALL

After applying the spray adhesive I had roughly 10 minutes to apply the tiles to the plywood panel because that is how long optimum adhesion can take place. So I started at the top and worked my way down the panel making sure to install each panel where it belonged on the panel. After I placed all the tiles I went over the panel with a small "J" roller to ensure good adhesion.

Here are the first few tiles laid so far so good, I am glad that I applied the painters tape to the outside because the spray adhesiview went everywhere.

Here are the first few tiles laid so far so good, I am glad that I applied the painters tape to the outside because the spray adhesiview went everywhere.

Here is the finished panel, I have to say I was not impressed with the quality of the cork board. But nothing I can do about it now, needless to say that I will not be buying this brand of cork tile again

Here is the finished panel, I have to say I was not impressed with the quality of the cork board. But nothing I can do about it now, needless to say that I will not be buying this brand of cork tile again

CORK-BOARD OPINION

I had a big mishap that almost made me scrap the rest of the panels, While I was securing the 3rd panel down on the left side, the panel cracked right down the middle, I was not very rough with the cork board knowing that they are not the toughest but it cracked anyway and working with contact adhesive it would not allow me to move the panel, so I needed to do the best repair possible, I removed the damaged pieces and patched it as best I could, it does not look perfect. Its a real shame but there is not much I can do about it. I think in the future if I had to do this project again I would purchase a cork board roll and not the tiles. But there you have it, if it annoys me that much in the future I can always come back and just apply the roll all the way down the panel and cover up the patch and all the seems between the panels.

Here is why I was not impressed with the cork board I purchased.

  • The cork board packs I purchased had 4 tiles measuring  12" x 12" and they provided these little double sided stick tape tiles to stick them to the work surface that really wouldn't work because I tried an within 15 minutes the piece was on the floor.
  • The cork tiles themselves were very brittle, you needed kid gloves for them and even though I thought I was very careful, I was not careful enough.
  • They recommended a box cutter to cut the tiles and even with a a new blade in it the edges were not clean.
Terrible quality cork board. I need to figure a solutiuon to this.

Terrible quality cork board. I need to figure a solutiuon to this.

CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE

So after a lengthy project that has so many components to it today marked the end of the Room Divider build and I have to say that I love most of the divider apart from the cork board, that really ticked me off because I am very careful in all my projects and sub standard material can really take a really nice project and ruin it, but I will remedy this in the very near future.

All that is left is to apply the finish which I prepped for today , more on that next. Below are some pictures of the room divider and I have to say that the front looks awesome and the chalk board will be a big hit with my family.

Here is the front of the divider, I love the pattern and without doubt this was the longest part of the construction, it has 200 pieces that were chamfered with a router and then hand sanded. But I think it was worth every bit of effort.

Here is the front of the divider, I love the pattern and without doubt this was the longest part of the construction, it has 200 pieces that were chamfered with a router and then hand sanded. But I think it was worth every bit of effort.

A close up of the pattern. 

A close up of the pattern. 

Here is the back side of the panel, I am playing with the idea of adding a little bead molding around the inside edges of the cork board and chalk board , but I have not decided yet. I need my router table operational and that is next project for me…

Here is the back side of the panel, I am playing with the idea of adding a little bead molding around the inside edges of the cork board and chalk board , but I have not decided yet. I need my router table operational and that is next project for me after this. Really like the functionality of the cork and chalkboard just I am not happy about covering up blemishes

Close up of the cork board panel

Close up of the cork board panel

Chalk board looks great

Chalk board looks great

APPLYING FINISH: PREPARATION

Although I cant get to applying the poly-acrylic finish today I did get the prep done.

  • Since I didn't want any polyurethane on my chalkboard or cork-board I needed to cover them in such a way that I didn't spray them when applying the finish so I used what I had on hand and that was rosin paper, I use this when gluing up projects or applying finish so I cut two sheets to size and used double sided tape to stick them to the panels. I also used tape around the outsaide  to make sure that the paper didn't fall of
Here is the rosin paper covering the back side of the divider, covering the cork-board and chalk-board so as to avoid getting polyurethane on them.

Here is the rosin paper covering the back side of the divider, covering the cork-board and chalk-board so as to avoid getting polyurethane on them.

  • Since I will be using my HVLP sprayer to apply the poly-acrylic finish someone recommended that I make a sprayer stand so as that I could rest the sprayer on it while I fill the hopper (which is the container that holds the finish because trying to hold the sprayer and filling the hopper up would be difficult.

So I looked online and found this very simple stand made from scrap wood and so I went about making it, I think it took maybe 20 minutes and it will not win any prizes for looks but it will do a job for me. You can see it below

Here it is, it holds the sprayer in place and allows me access to the hopper.

Here it is, it holds the sprayer in place and allows me access to the hopper.

Here is another view its made from plywood and held together with screws.

Here is another view its made from plywood and held together with screws.

NEXT

  • All that is left is to add the poly acrylic finish, I will probably add 2 or 3 coats and then I will move it upstairs.
  • I might need to add a way to secure the top of the panel to the doorway as it is very heavy and I have kids running all over my house.

Until next-time take care