We are just at the stage of ordering the millwork for the new house. Going to a traditional window and door trim look in paint grade MDF and/or pine, pine is more expensive….
1″ by 5″ head casing and bead , and 1″ by 4″ side casing sitting on a plinth block for doors or on a window stool for windows. I am planning to mill the stool in the shop out of pine about 1″ by 1 1/4″ and biscut it to the F.J. hemlock window jamb, any suggestions on clamping? Or should I just nail in between the biscuts ? How does MDF basboard hold up in high traffic areas? I am worried about the outside corners getting beat up by kids, vacuum etc. Should I use pine in these areas? How about MDF base in the kitchen and bathrooms? Is it going to swell and cause problems due to moisture and water, spills, mopping etc? Is pine a better choice here? I was also wondering how these wider boards are going to fit on the jamb and drywall. Having this feeling of dread about milling hundreds of feet of MDF in multiple passes over the dado blade to get a relief or under cut for these wider boards, let alone adding furring and planing of all the jambs……..
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Few people understand it. Nobody agrees what it is, how to learn about it, or who's responsible for it. It has never been more important
Featured Video
SawStop's Portable Tablesaw is Bigger and Better Than BeforeHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
do what to the jambs?
I can't say how well it holds up there because I have the same concerns. I have only used MDF trims for casings and crowns, with mixed results.
We had one radiator leak in an upper floor that wet a crown mold. Wood would have been fione with a paint touch up after drying. The MDF needed total replacement due to swelling.
Since baseboards are sunject to wetting, this should be part of your decision database.
Excellence is its own reward!
I really like pre-primed MDF trim. I like the paper-coated, really hard, MDF trim the best. But, IMHO, and this is only my opinion, milling your own trim out of MDF just isn't the way to go. It's really hard to paint after milling, hates to be sanded, and it wears tooling like sand-paper - I suspect that the economy of the project dwindles quickly.
But, your mileage may vary.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
MDF in moisture prone areas is asking for trouble. I've used it in closets and milled baseboards from MDF for a closet addition in a church, which has held up well under two coats of Kilz primer and two coats of paint. But putting MDF in bathrooms and kitchens only works if you like to redo to same job over again.
I just put up pre-primed MDF crown. It looks great but didn't paint all that well even after a light sanding. I used Behr semi-gloss. Could have been the paint but I thought Behr was pretty good.
Steve
I just went to look at a job this afternoon .......
Part of it was they installed MDF baseboard in the bathroom. Where the water ran out the tub area, the mdf is swelled to 3x it's normal size. He does not want to replace the length (3rd floor, difficult cut etc) because I quoted 3 hours to remove & replace. So, he asked me to PAINT IT!!!
Short answer: think long about your reputation.
At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada