Bathroom closet door-Wood or MDF
I will look. By the way, anyone who wants to see how staves are made, there is a company who makes them in Georgia. They have an informative website.
stevecym
in General Discussion 3 years and 11 months ago
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mstamib
in General Discussion 3 years and 11 months ago
I’m remodeling a bathroom in my brownstone and expanding an existing linen closet. I’ve talked to two different well-established wood/door companies. One recommended wood doors over MDF because of the moisture. The other said the exact opposite, recommending MDF over wood, also because of the moisture. Both carry both products, sl have no incentive to steer me one way or another. Do people on this forum have any thoughts on which is best?
stuyheights | 3 years and 11 months ago
whatever you do make sure you paint the top and bottom of the doors. This is where the moisture gets in and will cause the problems.
markwalker | 3 years and 11 months ago
Wood. Yes. Be sure it has a good finish.
Our old original bathroom door has held up for 120 years.
But bear this in mind when shopping: The term “solid wood” as per the industry these days, means a sandwiched product without hollow spaces in its interior. It’s not made of thick lumber. All the same It will resist warping.
MDF is garbage if it gets wet. But it’s not going to get wet unless you have it in a shower or you have a very dysfunctional exhaust system in the room. A bathroom door does get opened/closed far more often than any other door in your home. A linen closet will be opened a lot too. . I’d say wood will wear better long term. It’s stronger. Your hardware — hooks, latches etc.—will stay in place, and you can repair it.
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 11 months ago
ok, to what stuy is saying. yes, all doors but more importantly entry doors, if you see the damage at the bottoms: that is caused by moisture coming up from the bottom of the door. bathrooms the same, seal the bottoms.
whoa pretty much says it about mdf. let me add this, we get calls to repair doors and often do so on site with things like enlarged hinge screw holes. when this happens with mdf, it is very difficult to repair them because we cannot simply put longer screws in as there is no wood inside the door for the screws to grab. also, humidity will cause the mdf to swell which cracks the finish all over the place and then moisture really gets in a works on it. better off going with wood the first time around. mdf is so useless we can probably not even burn it.
to what whoa says about the manufacture of wood doors. sadly, whoa is pretty close to correct. i had to help someone source and modify a new door and about 20 years ago and we went with a Jeld Wen. i had to take it apart to modify it and that Jeld Wen was made the old way, soli d stave core with a facing on it. a month ago, someone asked me to help them find a wood door which i could modify so i looked at Jeld Wen and could not find a solid wood stave door on their website so i called them. they told me they no longer make stave wood doors (what many in brooklyn would call a “solid wood door”.
we are going through this right now with someone else and i conveyed to them what i just wrote above and we are in the process of looking for solid wood stave construction doors. i am currently looking at Simpson and Rogue Valley doors for them or possibly a small mill as i do not want to make these. some years back i relied on Simpson and Rogue Valley and they were stave construction. But still, when i get a minute i will have to read the language carefully and then call them as we have to watch out for what Whoa is saying, which is basically misuse of the term “solid wood”. we want “solid wood stave construction” and nothing short of that.
Simpson and Rogue Valley are available to order at Dykes. if anyone else knows of any door manufacturers who still use stave construction, I would like their names.
Guest User | 3 years and 11 months ago
I regret doing mdf. wood all the way.
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 11 months ago
back to what stuy said about doors and i know this does not apply to op, but when we put sweeps on old entry doors, we put them on the outside of the doors to keep the moisture off the bottom of the door. and we never put two sweeps on a door (inside/outside) as we are afraid it will trap moisture and the only way out it up into the wood.
dorkofwindsor | 3 years and 11 months ago
first rule for me is never a door (or vanity) with wood veneer for a bathroom. you would think that would be obvious, but it isn’t.
I have a high aversion to mdf in general, more for structural issues at the hinges, but there is literally no reason to have MDF near a bathroom given its performance with water. I leave MDF to built-ins and loudspeaker cabinets. But realistically, as long as the rails and styles are wood, it shouldn’t be a disaster if the panels were to be mdf – as long as the door is not I close proximity to the shower or bath.
cate | 3 years and 11 months ago
Old House Journal can be useful for sourcing things like this. The other day I saw a mill in Pennsylvania that makes pine clapboard that will last hundreds of years they said. Anyway, some names in a recent issue claiming to make historic doors (so perhaps that might include solid wood ones): Adams Architectural Millwork, Arch Angle Window & Door, Christie’s Wood & Glass, Architectural Components Inc., Historic Doors LLC, and Vintage Doors (real wood, they say),.
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 11 months ago
for real wood doors, this is the only terminology: “stave wood construction”. that is what all of the brownstone doors are. staves faced with mahogany or oak or even better pine or some interior doors are those or even birch. unless someone can tell you “stave” construction it is not solid wood. no one is making solid “oak” or solid “mahogany” and many shops are using all sorts of mumbo jumbo to fool unsuspecting consumers into believing a 1/16th oak facing over some glued up refuse is solid wood.
that said, the small shops cate mentions may very well be making them this way. i just wonder if they approach everything as a custom item or stock a lot of product for off the shelf delivery.
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 11 months ago
when i said “shops” in the post above, i meant mass market manufacturers (jeld wen; i had to call them to punch through the verbiage on their web site). i am hoping that Rogue Valley and Simpson have not got that way yet and i think someone on here mentioned trustile a few months back and i think i checked, i seem to recall 3 grades of trustile doors – the best being stave. they are all lining themselves up to market lower grade products or charging a premium for what should be a plain and simple “good” door.
cate | 3 years and 11 months ago
A quick check of some of these companies’ websites might reveal the details you mentioned.
corneto | 3 years and 11 months ago
I just had my MDF bathroom door replaced with a solid wood door for exactly this reason. Over time the moisture from the air started to swell the corners of the MDF door. Our contractor recommended switching to solid wood.