My architectural client forwarded me a letter from the casework subcontractor. The sub said that due to MDF shortages that they would like to use particleboard instead for school casework.
Has anyone heard of recent MDF shortages?
Not personally, but doing a web search (DuckDuckGo) brings up several articles and blog comments.
Make sure to check the AWI new standards before OKing this substitute. The two materials have different characteristics which may have an impact.
I’d make them use Baltic birch ply before I’d let them use particleboard.
I’ve specified particleboard for commercial and healthcare casework for years for everything but countertops.
Why was MDF specified?
Either way, I would call BS on the assertion that MDF is harder to get than particleboard, both have gotten more expensive during the pandemic. I think that the shortage was not the product, but the $$ in the bid.
I apologize for replying to an old post.
I’m not sure on this one. Lumber prices have skyrocketed, so feed stocks for panels probably have, too. I don’t know how readily production facilities can be switched from MDF to particleboard, if at all. I also don’t know whether the feed stock for MDF differs from PB - probably? Taken together, I could see shortages of one but not the other.
But in the end, Ed may be right - MDF was simply a lot more money than expected, not that it wasn’t available.
The shortage was recently commented on by our contacts at Masonite. The wood door industry eats a lot of MDF and it is straining other sectors.