MDF or Pine crown moulding (4 1/4" charleston)?
janesylvia
11 years ago
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millworkman
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Crown moulding, is it fine bathroom's and family room's different
Comments (6)We have smaller crown in our powder and master bath. I don't know the name of the type, but they are similar in style. It looks great in the powder room and since we have crown everywhere else on the main floor except the laundry, it made sense to me. I could have lived with or without it in the master since most of the upstairs rooms do not have crown, but my husband really wanted it. He wants to add it to all the bedrooms as we repaint each one. I think if you want it and the size is in scale to the height of the room, then I'd go for it....See MoreBaseboards, trim, crown...MDF of primed pine?
Comments (11)We used a combination of pine/MDF. We used MDF were we could, as it is quite a bit cheaper than pine. In my experience, the MDF is easier to paint and cut, and won't crack if you nail close to the edges. We wanted to recreate a more "old farmhouse" look without too much work. Our house would never have had any "fancy" woodwork to begin with. For the pine, we used high quality, well sanded, and you can't see the grain through the paint anyway. I used a brush as I wanted the old, hand painted look. We created "corners" also. These are sort of like the two we found in a back closet. I think you would want to match the windows with the doors. And in case you are wondering, the flat peices are clear pine, and the moulded peices are MDF. We used a combination of MDF and pine to build the caps. The trim was cut and painted before getting put up (after the walls were painted). We uses 1x6 pine for the base with an MDF top. The top peice is flexible enought to conform to the variations in the wall, so helps to minimize those rather large gaps that can happen when using thicker base boards. Or you can use a lot of caulk and repaint (done that too). BTW- the actual window will get primed and painted once the weather is warm enough to have the windows open all day. Cathy...See MoreMatching base moulding to door casing and crown
Comments (4)Ranch case and clam shell base are a plainer pair. Colonial case and more ornate base are another. A real lumberyard should have samples or a booklet with available molding that you can select from. There is a large price difference between paint grade (often with finger joints) and stain grade (no joints allowed), and poplar is more expensive than pine. Hardwood (cherry, oak, Gum, poplar, ash, mahogany, etc) molding can be very expensive (especially in wider sizes) since outside of poplar it is always stain grade and require clear wood to manufacture. Over the years molding has gotten plainer and narrower. Older door casing was often built up from a couple pieces and could be over 1.5 inches at its thickest and 6+ inches wide. The same applies to base molding and crown. Larger crown can have pine filler behind it to provide a nailing surface for the 'show' wood....See MoreMDF or Pine Baseboards?--Painted White
Comments (31)I'll resurrect an old thread to provide perspective from 12 years later. The house I'm referring to is located in north west Mississippi so it does get moderately humid here - inside is usually 50%-60% RH during the summer. I built our house 12 years ago and used 5 1/4" MDF baseboard identical in profile to what you'd find at lowes/homedepot. I did not have them paint all sides (probably should have). In the wet areas near the shower and tubs, I should have used wood - I'm not sure if painting/priming all sides would have made any difference. When water gets behind or under MDF baseboards, they will eventually blister, bubble, and crumble. The base 'cap' was integrated (very common) on ours and seems to be less tolerant of bumps and bruises than I'd expect wood to be. Our house is high traffic with lots of kids and there is one narrow hallway where several pieces of the "ridge" on the base cap have chipped off. The painters I used were good not great. They used a Sherwin Williams product for the trim which I believe is supposed to be a 'fast coat' and from what I can tell, they did one coat. I repainted all the baseboards in prep for selling with the ProClassic and I can tell the difference - they look much better. The painters also did a terrible job of sanding the nail holes - lots of tiny bumps where the nails are. Had I known/seen it, I would have made them re-do it. That said.. after 12 years, we are relocating and it wasn't hard to touch things up. I wouldn't hesitate to use MDF again, but I learned a few lessons: - Allow MDF to acclimate to the room (they did this on mine) - Prime the back/sides that are not already primed - Glue all outside mitered edges - Proper touch up on filling nail holes - Sand well before painting - Use a high quality finish and take your time doing it - Use wood in areas prone to heavy moisture like bathrooms....See Morebrickeyee
11 years agojanesylvia
11 years agoUser
11 years agojanesylvia
11 years agoUser
11 years agojanesylvia
11 years agomillworkman
11 years ago
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