Am designing cabinets for a large hospital and they will be made of MDF. The hospital construction supervisor told me to seal the bottoms of the cabinets because their cleaning crew soaks them with mop water and MDF comes apart when it gets wet.
We use automated systems to cut these things out so for the toe kick area, we can replace the MDF with marine grade plywood. I have larger end panels on these cabinets and don't think we can replace that MDF with marine grade plywood. Years ago I sold a cabinet system made in Denmark that had an opaque waxy coating on all the MDF that had to face mop water. I was told it was shellac. It looked and felt waxy to me but apparently worked well. Unfortunately the Danish manufacturer is no longer imported into this country.
Anybody got any suggestions as to what to use to coat the bottom edges of MDF to keep the water out. It should be an almost neutral color since the guys applying it will get some on surfaces that show.
Thanks