Furniture & Bleach

[drgirlfriend]

Hey y'all!  It's been a while since I've had time to get on the boards. I've missed you terribly!

Readers' Digest version of what's been going on: went to TX for boyfriend's job interview in January, he got offered the job February 1, we packed up and drove to Houston end of February (26' UHaul and 2 cars), unloaded into storage spaces, been living in a hotel, the bf started his new job March 1, moving into an apartment this weekend. Needless to say I'm kinda burnt, but excited to be in a new place.

Here's the question du jour: What can I do to a piece of wood furniture to protect it from the nightly bleach-water wipe downs? I had the brilliant idea of getting a changing table for him to put his supplies on and do his dialysate bag inspection on. Problem is most of the changing tables I've seen are wood and won't stand up to the bleach for long. I thought about laminating but that seems like quite a production. I'm fairly handy but don't have a lot of tools or space to work. Maybe varnish? What do you think?

[jeannea]

For all my PD supplies, I went to a food service company and bought a cart on wheels with 3 levels. Works great. Made of plastic so use whatever you want on it.

[looneytunes]

Another suggestion (though the wood would be SO pretty)...we used a Sterlite 3 drawer unit on wheels to hold all the supplies and the cycler can sit on top easily. 

[Desert Dancer]

I have a wood lap desk I use for cannulation and it's taken a hell of a beating from the bleach. I think at some point I'm going to restore the wood and then attach a thin sheet of plexiglass to it.

Surprisingly enough, my secretary hasn't really shown any effects from the bleach. Maybe because it's more highly varnished?

[BillSharp]

No wood finish will stand up to repeated bleach wipes. You need something plastic on top of the table; i.e., plastic laminate like Formica or clear plastic (available at most home stores). Because we needed drawers for the HD multitude of supplies, we bought at Ikea a drawer unit made of some junk wood covered in laminate. The size is approximately 26.5" wide x 19" deep x 26" high and it has 6 shallow drawers. Bleach never affected the surface. I forget what it cost, but it was reasonable.

[Chris]

Butchers wax applied after cleaning and doing what you need to do. Apply a coat, rub it in and repeat to make sure all groves are covered. Wipe off till it is not sticky anymore.


That's my thought from product used at work.

[Darthvadar]

Buy a cheapie roll of plastic bags, use one on the table, and wipe it down instead of the table...

That's what I did with Mum when we were away from home... Even used the bags for the dialysis rubbish...

Darth...

[Joe]

I use the Sterilite drawers to hold my supplies. For my cycler, I have a Rubbermaid folding table that measures about 2x3'. The plastic top takes the bleach wipe down without any problem.

[drgirlfriend]

 

Lots of good suggestions! I drove all over town and cruised the internet today looking at possibilities. As far as getting something resembling furniture, seems like we'd have to go with something from IKEA. That acrylic lacquer they use should put up a good fight. Or maybe get something else (chest of drawers, buffet, wire shelving) and have a plastic or glass top cut for it. Well, I took copious notes so let's see what the bf wants to do!

[lmunchkin]

My clinic sends me sterile disposable lap covers.  They are plastic on exterior and kinda gausy on the other.  There about 24x17inch in size.  Will cover your table pretty well, especially if you use two of them.  We used them when we did PD and still using them on hemo.  Just throw away after use, easy breezy!!!!

lmunchkin