skinning freezer?

alright, since i'm having to write my wife's paper's for school i'm making her buy me a freezer to make a keezer out of. plan on getting the ge 7.0' model. i've decided i want to do something nice with a coffin or wooden pass through system on top.

after browsing the last several days, i found firefly765's build where he used some hardwood flooring to build the encasement for the freezer. well, i have about 8 boxes of leftover laminate wood flooring (not real/engineered wood) that i could use. i have also read that 1/4" plyboard can be glued directly to the freezer without overheating issues. so my question to some of you experts is do you think that 5/16" laminate flooring would have a similar r-value as oak plyboard? i've searched the interwebs but haven't really come up with anything definitive. the closest i found was for mdf/plastic laminate (maybe the same thing) that has a r-value of 1.0/inch, or ~0.3 for 5/16". if so, that's actually less than plyboard at 1.1/inch.

You can always line the inside of your flooring with the rigid foam insulation sheeting they sell at the Depot.

i guess i didn't specify where i was wanting to use the flooring. i meant to ask whether i could glue it directly to the freezer walls like others have done with 1/4" plyboard. now that i see it's only had 2 views, maybe a better title would have been a good idea, LOL.

Heat disburses from the freezer through the metal skin, which is why many people build a facade instead of gluing the skin right on... the airgap allows enough movement so that the freezer isn't overworked, thus burning out faster. When I add new kegs, the sides can get hot for a while while the coils radiate heat.

In my opinion, any r value is too much r value, as the mechanism that the design relies on is altered. It may work fine for some, but I imagine long term it just isn't a good idea. If you really want a skin, and dont want to build a facade like in the link you quoted, I would glue furring strips to the sides, and then glue the laminate to that to allow for some air movement.

You do not want an air gap between your "skin" and the freezer unless you have a fan(s) circulating air, otherwise without circulation the air gap actually increases the r-value (insulating properties).

Yeah, should haved mentioned that, air is a good insulator.