Neighbor talked me out of using MDF for my basement shelves and I'm glad I listened

I was dead set on using MDF for a big shelving unit in my basement because it's cheap and smooth. My neighbor Dave who's been doing woodwork for like 20 years saw me loading up my truck and said "you're gonna regret that down there" because of the moisture. He explained that MDF swells like crazy even with just a little dampness and after one humid summer you'd have warped shelves. So I switched to plywood instead and it cost me about $80 more but after 6 months down there everything is still dead flat. Has anyone else had MDF fail on them in a basement or garage?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaron8961d ago

Glad Dave caught you in time, that would've been a tough lesson.

william_taylor19h agoMost Upvoted

@aaron896 yeah, but how many of us actually check our email before hitting send on something dumb? Probably zero.