Last summer, I build and installed a cherry, curved front corner vanity for our upstairs powder room. It was a perfect fit, and I assumed that as winter came on and the humidity dropped, the gaps would be larger and all would be well. Imagine my surprise.
The curved doors no longer close!
The construction is basiclly a face-frame made of 1-1/2″ wide strips of cherry with a 7-1/2 degree cut on each side. Glued and screwed with the Kreg jig then sanded roundish. Doors done the same. The last piece of the face-frame, attached to the wall on each side, is not straight. Grain runs vertical. The counter top is Anigre (sp?). The vanity was finished with a bunch of coats of tung oil. the top was finished with tung oil, then polyurethane.
So, how come the doors fit when it’s humid and don’t when it’s dry? An ideas?
Replies
Are the house walls moving? From your description it seems that the doors are mounted to the house. Houses often shift around as the seasons change. That's why some house doors fit in some seasons and not in others. Either the lumber is moving, or the ground itself is moving non-uniformly.
Jamie and Uncle Paul.Doors are mounted to the face-frame, which is mounted to the house. For the face-frame to warp like that, the floor would have to rise or the walls tilt in. But that is a possibility.The grain orientation is opposite from one board to the next.If the boards shrink across the grain lines, the doors would become flatter, not affecting the fit.What I will do is post a photo on my blog on my website, chesapeakeyachtsystems.com so you can get an idea as to what it looks like.Thanx for the ideas.
Edited 12/27/2005 4:40 pm ET by CapnJohn
Could it be that as the doors lost moisture the have flattened out a bit? That would explain why they appear to have "grown". Inspect growth ring orientations in the pieces you assembled, the wood will want to flatten out it's growth rings as it dries.
-Paul
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