Thread: Safest Plywood and MDF?

Originally Posted by Emdalco01

Is having this much of these two products in a closed two car garage safe?

It depends on the amount of product, ventilation and conversely how well sealed the garage is.
Personally I would not worry about the ply vapours.

If you had say a cube of MDF, garage was fully lined and had a sealed door, and only opened once in a blue moon then there could be a vapour build problem.
If garage has open eaves or even a roller door (they're quite leaky) that was opened twice a day then I doubt even a cube of MDF would be a problem.
If your garage is sealed even a simple bathroom exhaust fan on one wall and a vent in teh opposite all or door would be enough to vent the vapours emitted durng storage.
Something like 4 bathroom exhaust fans strategically located opposite the main door would enable you to safely work inside the garage pretty much all the time.

I've read painting MDF can seal it and help reduce off gassing and also cutting by hand saw reduces the amount of dust.

Painting and hand tool use does make a difference and so does the sharpness of tools.

Also cut it outside with a good filtered vacuum cleaner and a mask.

Unless it's an organic vapour mask, regular masks, Vacs and DCs wont do anything about capturing the vapours.

FWIW I lost my sense of smell for some 6 weeks working with (mainly sanding) MDF outside about 18 years ago - this frightened the hell out of me and would not like to go through that again.

Hi BobL,

Thanks for your kind advice.

I have thought about the exhaust fan idea, but my garage is to be fitted with reverse cycle air-con/heating and I’m worried about my cold/warm air disappearing through the roof.

I am also worried though what sort of extra off gassing might occur in a heated sealed room?

I am planning to have a least one exhaust fan fitted though.

The roller door still operates so I’m wondering if I opened it for maybe 10 minutes before starting work would help?

Also I don’t have to sand the MDF. Only cut, paint and mount it to the frame work.

I do have a top end respirator to wear.

Is there a safer alternative to MDF that moves the same way? I have read Aussie MDF has a much lower toxic content.

Regards Daryl

Biggest risk is probably cutting and sanding MDF.

Hopefully you will post your model railway build as I would be interested. At the moment, living in Melbourne all tourist railways are shut down so I am unable to "play" on my little 1000mm:1M railway.

I'd be cautious using ply as a surface to build on (I'm assuming you plan to use it as the base of the railway); unless you're going for the more expensive stuff, it's not exactly flat (read: I have seen bananas that are straighter). The imported hardwood ply is usually alright, but the standard cheap pine stuff would likely not be suitable without a lot of framework to screw it down to.

While many people have strong opinions against using MDF for pretty much anything, if you want a flat, stable surface on a budget you can't do much better.

As the others have said, the real danger is the dust, the vapours are little to worry about.

Originally Posted by Emdalco01

Hi I'm a clueless newbie and I'm building a model railway in my two car garage.

I will be using a lot of untreated structural pine,




Should I paint the structural pine?



Regards Daryl

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought all structural pine was treated with something, I know the stuff I get from the big green shed smells so, so bad.
Rgds,
Crocy.

No, standard structural pine for interior framing is not treated.

Formply is an option if you want very flat, smooth and don't intend to modify thickness.

The dust is the biggest problem - the fumes etc. would not be anymore than the kitchen, lounge, carpet ,paint that is already in your'e house. Both the glue in ply and mdf are probably similar. Not of real concern -seal it if you want -however the paint will have it's own fumes.