Jim Elbrecht wrote in
:

"The Henchman" wrote:

Tight budget, and I'm a novice diy'er.

My wife wants my to build a wall to wall bookcase that is floor to
ceiling. There will actually be 3 sections because we want the end
sections to have workstation or desks. These units will be fastened
to the wall. My wife and her
family suggested I make everything out of MDF which is cheep, easy to
treat and easy to buy decorative faces and mouldings for.

However I'd like to seek opinions on how long 5/8" or 3/4" MDF will
last if two adults and two kids use this type of configuration for 20
or 25 years or hopefully 40 years?. What's the life span of MDF for
this type of application? We are in Ontario Canada so air
conditioning 3 months a year and forced air heating for 7 months a
year from a humidity standpoint. Is there plywood that is affordable
and nice to prime and paint and that we can nail some mdf moulds to?
Melamine is prolly out of the question cause of looks and it's really
tough to paint ( it's a home office library, not a kitchen)

About 20 years ago my wife was in a rush to get a bookcase in the spot
where I kept promising a 12' built in. 'Lets just buy a pre-made
4footer- and when you have the time you can build a nice one.' I
had looked at lumber & was considering cherry. I knew about what
the lumber would cost- and figured I"d be tinkering with it for about
3 months.

We went to a warehouse store & looked at knock-down 'furniture'. I
couldn't believe how good it looked, or how cheap it was. I could
fill that space completely for less than a single 4' section would
cost me in lumber. So we did. Those shelves have been full of
books and stuff for 20+ years and look as good as they did when I put
them in. [in 1/2 day] The Mrs. has long since forgotten that I was
going to build real wood shelves there.

These are MDF but each shelf has a stiffener in front and back.

I don't think I'd try to make MDF shelves myself- but we've bought
some more of the knock-down ones since. I'm looking at my latest
piece & maybe it is just that my eyes aren't what they once were- but
I couldn't tell that it isn't real cherry without scratching the
surface off.

Jim

Yes, indeed. We have almost a dozen IKEA Billy bookcases, oak, some with
the glass doors on them, and they are really great. Some shelves do sag
just a little because spouse has put very heavy books in them, but most
are just great. No sign of anything bad where the coffee cups go back in
after dishwashing, when they usually aren't quite dry grin.


--
Best regards
Han
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