Painted interior door questions: MDF, poplar, or something else?
Hello! You were all very helpful before when I had questions about replicating some historical trim, but now I’ve got a door question that’s less about style and more about materials…
So, we’ve got about 10 doors to replace in what ended up being a total gut of two floors (all the original detail had already been stripped out by the 1930s and replaced with Depression-era “cheapest-thing-they-could-find.” While we’re trying to restore the appropriate look and feel on the parlor floor, we’re running into our own Covid-era “cheapest-but-still-nice-looking-thing-we-can-find” issues.
My fiancée wants to paint all the doors white, which is fine (though I’d have preferred stained wood), so our contractor is very strongly recommending Trustile MDF doors. They do have frame-and-panel/rail-and-stile construction, and they’re supposed to be high quality, but… I’m kind of balking at the MDF part. The contractor likes MDF because it reduces expansion/contraction and warping issues, but I’d rather go with actual wood both for more abstract ideas of “quality” but also for warrant ed or unwarranted concerns about health risks due to formaldehyde.
Of course, the wood that would be recommended for paint-grade would be poplar; and there are also less expensive options from Homestead doors that come in both in all-poplar and a poplar-panel/MDF-panel options.
What does everyone here think? I do want to (re)-build a home that will last for decades, and while MDF seems to be the preferred paint-grade material, I can’t really find much evidence that it’s been used that way for a very long time. Thanks!
Guest User | 5 years ago
3
Please log in, in order to post replies!
3 replies
andy | 5 years ago
I installed TruStile solid core doors (painted white) and personally, I love them. They have that great “heavy” feel. Don’t forget – hardware is expensive and a good carpenter will charge you a tidy sum for a proper mortise job.
stevecym | 5 years ago
OP, it sounds like you and i have been conferring by email so you know where i stand on this. and while MDF looks ok in those houses in the burbs that people want to look anticeptic new, bklynbabes point is correct.
for others reading this, mdf has a narrow wood strip up the sides to hold the screws and hinges and no wood on the top. when these screws let go, especially when they use these as pocket doors , it is difficult for a guy like me to repair them. it is not a matter of putting a longer screw in becuase there is nothing there for the screw to grab. they should not even be selling these as top hung pocket doors and any real tradesmen would refuse to hang them and would push back against the boss or architect or whoever for suggesting using them, in that situation. but we all want cheap, underpaid “yes men” around so they hang the doors and the customer suffers when they fail six months later.
op is right to question all of this –
bklynbabe | 5 years ago
You would notice immediately that MDF looks fake, especially if you have older natural materials in its vicinity. It’s too perfect looking, just like those white backyard fences from Home Depot etc. And when you close the doors they don’t sound like a door.. You will be much happier with poplar.