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Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE
Would the MDF work well in a 1962 ranch home? We would like to replace our trim at the floor level, around the doors, install new trim around the windows and add crown molding. Nothing spectacular about our home other than the fact that we love it and would like to make improvements in the look and feel of the home.
We refinished the old "honey oak" floors that had been under carpet for 30+ years with a darker stain and replaced the old 4" plain-jane baseboards with 5 1/2" colonial MDF baseboards, replaced all the door casing with a simple colonial and added a basic crown. Works great for me. That house has never looked so good.
Dykes doesn't sell to the public. They only sell to lumber yards and contractors who have accounts with them.
You will less movement with MDF board plus it will be a lot more uniform then real wood but the dust can be a PIA when cutting. One thing to watch for with MDF is it will mushroom where you nail it and it can be hard to sand the mushroom area off.
busta
i don't know if we're talking about a different Dykes lumber or not, but I was at their store last night, and I assure you, i can buy there.
The MDF trim actually has some advantages. I was extremely nervous about putting it in the kitchen thinking that it would be exposed to dogs, toddlers, water and locusts. They have held up great in spite of some serious abuse and are not at all as sensitive to liquids as I would have imagined. The only person that sees it who knows that it isn't wood is me. A wood baseboard, particularly oak or harder, is going to highlight any bulges or imperfections in your rough framing whereas an MDF baseboard will follow the contours.
I haven't seen a lot of MDF casing but I'm sure it exists. It will have enough flex along it's stiff axis to follow imperfect old door jambs and window frames and it will not warp, expand or contract so your miter joints will stay pristine for years.
Also, that primer coat means that you put about ONE coat of paint on. Try that with raw pine stock.
Oh, one more thing: For inside corners with baseboards, try coped cuts rather than miter cuts. It's really easy with MDF stock. A dremel with the little sanding drum makes it go extremely quickly. Here's a decent walkthrough - Installing Baseboard With Coped Cuts At Inside Corners
It's a bit more time consuming but the finished product is well worth it.
unfortunately due to time constraints and travelling for work, this isn't a DIY job for me. Fortunately because I know a good carpenter, it's being done at a great rate, so no biggie. But i'll keep those tips in mind for future rooms when I do DIY. i'll be doing the painting though.
MDF is a downgrade, in my opinion. If you've got the original wood trim on your house, by all means keep it. Sand it or do whatever you have to, but don't replace it with fake wood crap.
Locusts???!?
the amount of work to get the original wood trim looking acceptable is just too great. it looks pretty horrible right now. but, i'll look into it. if i can get it off the walls cleanly to work on it, that would be nice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimboburnsy
Are you thinking of the cellular PVC? I hate that stuff too but it seems to be all the rage in exterior trim work. Everyone with a new door or in my neighborhood seems to wind up with cellular PVC brick moulding.
my dad told me absolutely do notget the pvc junk. haha
Floods, frogs, locusts, harvest of first born children... Biblical plague type stuff.
The MDF isn't plastic. It's basically very fine sawdust compressed with a resin and cuts like wood.
If you're going for period restoration this isn't a good option but it is a good utility stand-in that will control costs to a great extent, especially suitable if the original wood trim is in really bad shape or was just plain ugly in the first place. A lot of 40's and 50's homes had that ultra-plain, minimalist stuff that really doesn't look good even when restored.
the original trim looks fine when it's stained, but the upstairs is all white trim, and my wife likes it. so it's staying, i'm not changing it downstairs. the stain on the wood trim, although simple trim, looks great. the previous owners (or someone at some time) added nice crowns also nicely stained. upstairs it looks like the trim has been painted 10+ times, so there is caked layers of paint, and it just doesn't look good at all.
we'd be looking at paint scrapers, sanding, etc etc. all to just paint very basic trim white again. with new trim, i get to add a bit of detail to it, and make it look nice with a simple coat of paint...i could just do crown and casings, but i think if i'm starting i might as well do the baseboard too.
Is your carpenter certified by the EPA to work in your house? Recently enacted rules regarding lead paint require anyone disturbing painted surfaces in any home built prior to 1978 to follow strict safety guidelines to avoid getting lead dust into the air. Especially in a nursery, I wouldn't cut corners in that regard.
First, avoid MDF as it is expands and contracts in with the change of seasons, and second, Dykes does sell to the public and they are a great source of wood mouldings and trim. If you are painting the moulding, I strongly suggest poplar as it is more durable particularly for chair-rails and baseboards and it paints up very well.
Is your carpenter certified by the EPA to work in your house? Recently enacted rules regarding lead paint require anyone disturbing painted surfaces in any home built prior to 1978 to follow strict safety guidelines to avoid getting lead dust into the air. Especially in a nursery, I wouldn't cut corners in that regard.
i'll ask. he's been constantly saying how important it is to clean up every single piece of dust and any chip that results in disturbing anything in the room that's been painted. so i'm comfortable seeing his concern. he's mentioned numerous times that "especially since it's going to be a nursery"
First, avoid MDF as it is expands and contracts in with the change of seasons, and second, Dykes does sell to the public and they are a great source of wood mouldings and trim. If you are painting the moulding, I strongly suggest poplar as it is more durable particularly for chair-rails and baseboards and it paints up very well.
i thought i've been reading and have been told that MDF does NOT expand, but that regular wood does...
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Locusts???!?
