Expert: Jamie Yocono - 1/13/2009

Question
To make a dresser safer for children it is recommended that the drawers have stops. For the dresser I have only the top drawers have any wood where a nail or such would hit and stop the drawer so we have decided to change from wood sliders to drawer glides which will stop the drawers.

My husband installed full-extension drawer glides and now the drawer seems unstable when at full extension. Also he used very small screws and a piece of wood to mount the glide to the drawer bottom but the screw tips came through the drawer bottom. He says he can file them but is there a better way to install these?

Answer
Amy,

I'm pretty sure I understand what you're describing, but I'm a little confused about one thing. It sounds like your husband installed the full extension glides on the underside (bottom) of the drawer. Unless I'm not envisioning this correctly, most full extension glides are attached to the drawer sides, which are usually thicker than the bottom. So that could be the first problem.

Of course, most drawer glides require one half inch of clearance on each side of the drawer. So, for example,  if your drawer is 12" wide, the cabinet opening must be 13" wide. Maybe he didn't have that clearance, so that's why he put them on the underside. Still, if they're mounted on the bottom, that could be the reason why the drawer seems unstable when it's fully extended. This instability could be reduced if the glides are properly installed on the sides.

OK, on to the screw length problem. Once again, if I understand what you've written, he mounted a piece of wood to the bottom of the drawer, and then the glide to that piece of wood. To eliminate the screws popping through the bottom, he could have screwed the wood to the bottom by going down through the bottom and into the piece of wood. I think he did the opposite.

I'm just guessing, but let's say the drawer bottom is a quarter inch thick, and the piece of wood is 3/4" thick. He could use a 3/4" screw, and go through the quarter inch bottom first and then into the 3/4" wood. It just makes sense to go through the thinner piece of wood first. Yes, the screw heads will show, but they will also hold MUCH better.

Once that board is well attached to the drawer bottom, then he can use 3/4" screws to attach the glide to that piece of wood.  The longer screws should help quite a bit.

I hope that made sense, that was hard to describe in writing!

OK, I hope I covered everything you asked about. Feel free to write back if you have more questions.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com