I am doing wall panels in my bathroom. Everything will be painted. For the rails, stiles and baseboard I am considering either 3/4 “poplar or 11/16 ” MDF. I think I will use some kind of PVC base shoe. I will be using pocket screws for the joinery and glue and brads to connect the panels to the wall. The MDF will save me some money. Should I be concerned about using MDF in a ventilated bathroom with a shower? Or, will it be more stable than the poplar assuming a proper paint job?
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MDF with an oil primer and two coats of paint should be fine with certain limitations. Painted up the panel faces will be fine. But the edges, if exposed to humidity, over time the "grain" of the exposed edge of the MDF can sort of swell, and the milled profile edge can go from being satin smooth to sort of having a fine sandpapery texture.
It won't be a "blowout" type of edge-swelling like if you left MDF outdoors. In this case, the "smooth" profile just gets rough. It doesn't always happen, it depends on the room ventilation, etc. But it could.
Poplar is fine.
There are a few things you can do to the milled edge of MDF, one is to paint the milled profile with thinned down titebond. After the titebond dries, give it a light sanding. Then prime and paint.
I've also treated the milled edge with Bartley's Pore Filler. I usually do that on large raised panels where I'll have a 3" to 4" milled raised edge. Let the pore filler harden, then sand, then oil prime and paint.