Timber is one of the longest surviving building materials around, and it used to be the front-runner for internal mouldings, but MDF is fast becoming the material of choice for skirting, architrave, window board and door frames. Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t invest in timber skirting and architrave unless you want to achieve that rustic solid wood look.

  1. Timber in its raw state is beautiful but as it is a natural product, it is prone to shrinking, swelling, twisting and bending with temperature or humidity changes. This can play havoc if you want to achieve a clean, seamless painted finish as it can lead to wood splits and paint cracks.

  2. We are all busy, so our time is precious.  If you opt to invest in timber skirting and architrave for painting, you will have a minimum of 4 hours preparation time before painting can begin.  This seems very lengthy when compared to the 10-15 minutes needed to prepare primed MDF before painting.

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  3. Timber is a natural product, so you will find characteristic knots along the lengths or skirting and architrave. While some people may prefer this rustic look and simply apply a varnish to get their preferred finish, others wanting to achieve a smooth painted finish might find having to cut down lengths to avoid the knots a bit of a pain. The eco-conscious out there, or if you just want to look after the pennies, might even consider it a waste of product and money.

  4. As we all know, timber comes from trees and in order to get as much material from a trunk as possible, you will receive packs of timber product in random lengths. This could be problematic when applying timber skirting to long walls as the joins on shorter lengths will be visible. On the other hand, MDF is manufactured in consistent long lengths and therefore requires less or no joins.

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  5. Solid timber skirting and architrave can be more expensive than alternative materials, which is absolutely fine if you are trying to achieve that stunning natural wood look, but if you plan on painting afterwards then you will be paying more unnecessarily.

  6. Timber skirting and architrave are only available to buy in their raw state, which means there are far less options when choosing timber mouldings for your project. With MDF, you can choose between primed, unprimed, wrapped in paper, real wood veneer or PVC or even fully finished meaning you wouldn’t need to paint at all!

It may sound as if we don’t like timber, but that isn’t true. Without timber there wouldn’t be MDF, as it is made from recycled timber off-cuts and chips. Wood is a beautiful product in its natural state and it is a great option for lots of different applications, but if you are planning to paint your internal mouldings there is definitely another option that offers a better painted finish, takes less time to prepare and saves you money – we manufacture it!

 

For more information on any of our MDF mouldings, please contact us or call our sales team on +44 (0)28 9442 8288.