Looking to fabricate a laminate countertop to "float" over a washer/dryer in a laundry closet. The top will span approximately 77" resting on cleats on 3 walls. In trying to keep this as light as possible, I'm planning to use 3/4" plywood but have not figured out the best way to stiffen the board to mitigate, or better yet, eliminate sagging. Doubling the plywood might help but will make it considerably heavier and I'm not sure it'll really do much with sag potential on such a wide span.
Further complicating the effort is that I want this top to be fairly easy to remove in order to service the machines, hoses, electrical, dryer duct. So keeping the weight down and ability to lift the top off is important.
There is only 1" space between the machines which makes adding any sort of leg difficult.
Some ideas I have for stiffening the plywood:
Further complicating the effort is that I want this top to be fairly easy to remove in order to service the machines, hoses, electrical, dryer duct. So keeping the weight down and ability to lift the top off is important.
There is only 1" space between the machines which makes adding any sort of leg difficult.
Some ideas I have for stiffening the plywood:
- A - using aluminum angle iron glued/screwed underneath
- B - steel or aluminum square tubing glued/screwed underneath
- C - plywood ribs with pocket holes (unsure of minimum depth for screws to work) - maybe 2" ribs joined to the underside of plywood would suffice?
- D - come up with plan to securely install a center leg/support between machines