Home Repair The underside of my countertops releasing plywood dust!

Hi,

Please let me know if anyone has this problem ... we have been getting more and more plywood-dust type residue all over our silverware and other top-kitchen-drawer items. (Ew! :scaredeyes We finally pulled the drawers out. The underside of the counter is covered with this residue. It doesn't appear to be the work of termites or water damage; it seems like the underside of the countertop (builder grade) was made with a low-quality material that is now breaking down. (*Picture attached.) Has anyone else had this problem? We are not sure what the solution is and would rather not replace anything at this time. Perhaps we could scrape the loose material off and then apply some sort of a sealant? Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

Might be ants, we thought we had termites in the garage but ants had made the piles of sawdust like stuff. Cut a big hole in the drywall in a panic to only find ants. Can't find my pics of that at the moment.

 

I believe (but someone please correct me) the underside is not true plywood but particle board/MDF. I assumed that "scaling" for lack of a better term, is from particles in the MDF breaking down.

 

doesn't look that old -- could just be there from when it was installed... vacuum it away and if it comes back then you have an issue.

 

Looks like MDF to me and appears it may have gotten exposed to moisture. Is there a good caulk line on the counter?

To fix it you might try to paint over it with a syllac or varnish. I'd go over to the Sherwin Williams store in Ashburn and ask the experts what to paint it with to seal it.

 

I don't think sanding it will do much. Plus that stuff is very hard to smooth out.

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

There doesn't seem to be any water damage or friction wear and tear on the top of the drawers. I think there is something to the MDF particle breakdown theory. We plan to sand the underside of the cabinets and then monitor the situation to see where new particles originate. Ultimately, we plan to varnish the undersides of the cabinets. I just read that MDF is often bound with a formaldehyde-containing resin.

Thanks again,
Laura

 

Another reason to avoid sanding.

My experience is it doesn't really work anyway. Come to think of it a cheap covering of paint may do the trick. Doesn't need to be fancy.

 

Thanks for bringing this up - just checked the underside of our counters and they are doing the same thing. They aren't actually shedding onto anything in the drawers yet but definitely looking "shaggy" after 11 years. I plan to varnish and I guess the upgrade to granite will be coming sooner on our to do list than I had hoped.

 

http://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/...-Odor-Blocking-Sealers/AFM-SafeCoat-Safe-Seal

We found this non-toxic sealer on line; I think we'll give it a try. BTW, the sanding we plan to do is just very light sanding to remove the loose stuff and get the countertop undersurface ready for the sealer. We aren't going to get too crazy with the sandpaper!