SpecialtyStainless.com Wood Backer & Substraights for Metal Countertops

	Countertop Design August 29, 2008

Wood Backer & Substraights for Stainless Steel Countertops and Copper Counterops

Fact - every countertop has a thickness but not all countertops are built the same. Whether manufactured from solid surface material, laminate and wood, granite, marble, or metal, most countertops are "built up".

Depending on the surface materials used, different substraights are used to give a countertop thickness and strength. Metal countertops require a substraight or wood backer to raise the surface to a common thickness of 1 ½". This height enables all drawers and doors to open without any countertop interference, and also adds support and valuable sound deadening to any metal surface, including stainless steel and copper countertops.

Our material of choice for most applications is MDF board, which is laminated to the underside of a stainless steel and copper countertops with construction adhesive in two different layers. The first is a solid layer to add rigidity and sound deadening to the countertop. The second layer is applied in 4" strips along the perimeter and down the center to complete the 1 ½" build up.

The drawing to the right illustrates a stainless countertop that has a rear and left end backsplash with a 1 ½" build up. (Click on the image to enlarge)

For both residential and commercial applications, we encourage our customers to order their stainless steel and copper countertops with our factory applied wood substraight for a turn-key application. In unique cases, on site customer provided substraights may assist with on-site handling of larger and odd-shaped countertops.

For special applications, substraights may be manufactured with various materials to meet specific building codes or environmental requirements.

Application	Suggested Substraight
Wet or moist areas	Marine Plywood, metal hat channels
Fire Code Rating	Steel or stainless steel hat channels Fire rated foam core
Industrial Heavy Use	(2) Solid layers of MDF or plywood
Medical & Pharmaceutical	Stainless steel hat channels