Apparently there is an outdoor durable MDF being produced and possibly available at Menards. Has anyone used it or heard of it or know pricing and availability? Thanks for any info you can share on this.
------------------ Colleen Henderson Signs Now, Thunder Bay, ON signsnow@tbaytel.net
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
What kind of guarantee do they give concerning it's outdoor durability?
Past experiences with MDF outdoors, means that I would look at it with a very jaundiced eye!
------------------ Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA (714) 521-4810 ICQ # 330407 "SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
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Posted by Cam Bortz (Member # 55) on :
Given all the horror stories about MDF, I wouldn't sell it as a permanent outdoor sign. The operative word here is SELL. Buy a piece, finish it as you would any other material, and put it outdoors for a year. If it doesn't delaminate, degrade, rot, or swell up like a tick,(all things that have been reported about MDF in the past) you might be okay. The thing that bugs me is this stuff SHOULD be able to be made durable; my suspicion is that whatever it takes to do so also makes it more expensive, and it was always marketed as a "low cost" alternative to wood and HDU for dimensional signs. Maybe it's been improved. So use it and find out. But I would not expect to read anything good about it here, given what's been experienced in the past. As for their guarantee, that might get you your purchase price back - it won't pay to replace a sign that's gone bad. If you spend $60 on a sheet of MDF and try to collect the six hundred you charged for a sign, they're going to look at you like you've been sniffing glue! I have yet to see a product guarantee that is better than testing the product yourself under field conditions.
------------------ "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson)
Cam Finest Kind Signs 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988"
[This message has been edited by Cam Bortz (edited January 10, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Cam Bortz (edited January 10, 2001).]
Posted by Colleen Henderson (Member # 906) on :
Cam, I totally agree with you about the MDF. I personally wouldn't use it for a sign unless I knew it would stand up. We have switchd almost exclusively to Dibond from mdo because the mdo isn't what it used to be. I was inquiring about outdoor durable MDF for a friend who does our computer routing. He heard someone is producing it now and the claim is it is weather resistant ie. pressure treated, so I was just curious if anyone knew about it. We can't seem to find out about it locally. I wouldn't use for signs-it's another one of those "been there, done that" from many years ago, our humidity is way too high!
------------------ Colleen Henderson Signs Now, Thunder Bay, ON signsnow@tbaytel.net