Sealing MDF against occasional mop splashes

[Lower]

I'm just putting together a radiator cover to go in our hall.

The rad cover is made of MDF and will be sitting on the tiled floor of the hall. The hall gets mopped once a week so, being aware that MDF and water don't mix, i want to seal the splashable areas of the MDF prior to painting.

What's the best way of doing this? I've used PVA in the past when building kitchen units but they had a plastic coating on them and i was only sealing the cut edge. I'd be concerned about paint sticking to PVA if i seal the lower 100mm or so of the MDF with PVA.

Thanks in advance.

 

[big-all]

you cannot seal against water and be 100% sure
theres a 90% chance a fully protected cover will be damaged after a year or so

best you can do is fully paint it mop carefully to within a foot or so with a virtually dry mop
then use a squeezed dry cloth and avoid touching the cabinet to finnish

 

[Lower]

Fully painting them will happen anyway.

We have a cleaner who is prone to sloshing plenty of water about when she mops. Despite requests to the contrary, she just seems to like using lots of water. She's a very good cleaner and very reliable so we're loath try and find another one, hence the intention to seal the MDF as well as possible.

I accept the coating might get damaged, but its unlikely to get damaged underneath where the bulk of the wetness will be for short periods of time.

 

[foxhole]

Danish oil , can be overpainted and is water proof, coat all sides.