Photo courtesy of SierraPine
This is the third installment of my top ten list of green building products contained on ThisNext. As I indicated in my prior posts, I would only recommend products that I used to build my house a couple of years ago. There are some great eco-friendly products that exist today that did not exist when I built. However, if I had to build again I would still use these ten products I listed on ThisNext.
My third item on my favorite building products’ list is Sierra Pine’s no added formaldehyde medium density fiber board. At the time, when I built, Sierra Pine had two brands of this MDF called Medite II and Medex. Both Medite II and Medex are medium density fiberboards, which are comprised of post industrial/pre-consumer recycled wood fibers bonded together with a formaldehyde free resin (glue). Medex can be used in high moisture applications.
I used Medite II for all of my wainscoting and some shelves. It can be painted or veneered, and does not need to be edge banded, if you are just painting the MDF. In my house, the wainscoting is painted and you would never know that it was not wood. In addition, all of my bathroom cabinets were made of Medex. I was worried that the bathroom moisture would make the MDF swell, and opted to use Medex because it can be used in high moisture applications. I was being overly cautious, and could have used Medite II.
I live in the northeast, so wood is susceptible to shrinking or swelling during the year. Since I used these eco-friendly MDFs, my cabinets have held up beautifully and my wainscoting pieces have not separated from each other like wood does in the winter. It looks as good as it did the day it was painted.
Why not use Columbia Forest Product’s no added formaldehyde resin plywood if given the choice, you may ask. It did not exist when my cabinets were being made. I have never used this plywood, but it sounds like a great product. However, I like the fact that both Medite II and Medex are made out of recycled wood fibers.
On a side note, since I built, there are more eco-friendly wood composite products on the market. Aerris is another Sierra Pine no formaldehyde added MDF, which is less expensive than Medex and Medite II. The newest eco-particleboards are Skyblend, a product made by Roseburg, and Encore, made by Sierra Pine, which both contain a phenol resin which binds the wood fibers. Phenol resin emits a very low level of formaldehyde. In addition, Columbia Forest Products makes a no formaldehyde added plywood.
What is the difference between all of these products? It depends on your application and your budget. Before using anyone of these products, throughly investigation which of the above is the correct product for your project.
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