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Warning: Don't trust old MDF you find in a basement demo
I was helping a buddy pull out some old cabinets from a house built in 1986 near Cincinnati. The stuff looked fine on the surface, but as soon as I took a circular saw to it, the blade started smoking and the dust was pitch black. Turns out water had wicked up from the concrete floor over decades and the whole bottom section was swollen and delaminated inside. We spent an extra 2 hours trying to get clean cuts for the dumpster. Anyone else run into nasty surprises with old particle board or MDF?
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the_elliot1mo ago
That blade started smoking" part really got my attention. Did you check if there was any hidden moisture damage higher up on the cabinets, or did it seem like it was just the bottom few inches that were wrecked? I'm wondering if that water creeped up the walls too and messed with the framing behind them.
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