The Baseboards Strike Back

I’ve come to a horrible realization over the past week as I have been cutting and installing the baseboards and door moldings in the basement: I’m allergic to the wood that I’m using.  Well, that’s somewhat misleading because I’m not using real wood.  I’m actually using medium-density fiberboard or MDF as it’s more commonly called.  MDF is an engineered wood made by breaking down softwood into wood fibers and then combining it with a wax and resin binder.

Something that I’ve learned about it is that formaldehyde resins are commonly used to bind MDF together, and testing has consistently revealed that MDF products emit formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds that pose health risks at sufficient concentrations, for at least several months after manufacture.  Well, I think that I have some recently produced MDF in my basement.