Our last home had a wet basement and a lot of mildew as a result. One bureau still has black spots in the drawers and that musty smell–which then gets into the clothes, yuck.
The bureau is mostly maple and the drawer sides are oak. Don’t know what the drawer bottoms are made of, but they are warped, so I figured I’d construct new drawers, just keeping the maple fronts. However, the sides are dovetailed to the fronts and I *seriously* doubt I could create mating pieces. So I’m going with a KISS plan: Replace just the drawer bottoms, and try once more to get rid of the mildew and odor in the drawer sides.
What is the best way to rid the inside surfaces of mildew and odor? For non-wood surfaces I usually apply a 10% solution of chlorine bleach, then leave the item in our strong southern California sun for a few days–but is it a terrible thing to put a bleach solution on wood?
When the drawers were removed from the bureau the carcase lost sideways stability. I.e., if it weren’t for the back panel, it would probably slant like a rhombus instead of standing upright. Is this normal for a bureau-minus-drawers, or does it need better bracing?
Janet
Replies
I've done the bleach thing with drawers, lightly applied 2 or 3 times. You'll have to be careful about that "strong S. CA sun" though. Sunshine is good but strong, hot and directly overhead sunshine is liable to warp and crack things.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
What is the best way to rid the inside surfaces of mildew and odor? I spray the wood with you Ladies favoritr Parfume.....
Janet,
Your bleach idea will likely help. At least it will kill the mildew. If the odor remains, you can try the old baking soda trick (like in your fridge) to absorb the smell. Alternatively, you can try to seal it in, with a coat or two of shellac.
If the case is racking with the drawers removed, the moisture in the basement has probably weakened the glue that was holding the case joints together. You are not going to like reading this, but my recommendation is to knock the case apart, and clean and reglue the joints. If it was put together with hide glue, you can reglue with the same stuff without cleaning everything down to bare wood. It'll all melt together with the application of the new hide glue. If it wasn't put together with hide glue, or if you want to use another kind of glue in your repair, then you will want to carefully clean off the mating surfaces, before applying new glue.
Make sure everything is nice and square when you clamp the case back together, so the drawers will work easily.
Regards,
Ray
You are not going to like reading this, but my recommendation is to knock the case apart, and clean and reglue the joints....
You are SO correct... Not that hard to do... Just alot of work...
If you do this you can really fix that carcase up nice....
"Racking"--that's the word I was searching for!Thanks for all the advice. So, the carcase should not rack at all. I don't think I'm up to dismantling it, especially since the existing glue doesn't seem to want to melt. :(Just out of curiosity: A few years ago I made some trellises and found that a rectangular grid wasn't all that stable until I attached some diagonal pieces. Is it likely that a carcase would be braced with diagonal pieces?Janet
don't think I'm up to dismantling it, especially since the existing glue doesn't seem to want to melt. :(
Geeee... YOU CAN DO IT! Have fun... If it is old a hair drier and some water on the joints should work.. Just use a scrap block of wood between the real wood and your hammer!
Janet,
If the case is loose enough that it's wobbling back and forth, it'll likely come apart with a few raps of a rubber mallet, or a hammer and block of softwood. You may need to remove the back first, depending on how it is constructed.
The diagonal reinforcement will come from a securely attached back. and the strength of the glue joints between the drawer framing or divides, and the case ends. There isn't much to resist racking in the drawer divides, once the glue bond lets loose, but diagonal braces across the front would tend to interfere with getting the drawers open :-)).
Regards,
Ray
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