Expert: Eileen Cronk - 12/8/2009

Question
At auction, I bought a very large 3 door armoire.  The middle door and left door are very hard to open and close even though it is winter (at auction the doors worked fine).  Before we put it together, we cleaned each piece it with lemon oil - could this of caused the wood to expand?  What is the best way to fix - bees wax, sanding?  There are 3 parts to the back, my husband thinks we put the right/left sides in the wrong place, even though the pieces were exactly the same, could this be the problem?  

Answer
Hi Cindy
Nice to hear from you.
Rest assured the oil would not cause the wood to expand.
You are right on track though with your thoughts on the problem.
Even though it is winter, simply moving to a different house can cause swelling in the wood.
It could be your house has more humidity then its former home.
It could also be the back was put on incorrectly as you are thinking. They may look the same but could vary slightly.
My final thought is that the whole cabinet could have gotten slightly "racked".
Even a 1/4 inch off of the original way the cabinet sat at the sale could cause this.
So you have a few things to check out.
I would not resort to sanding. The cabinet just needs adjusting.
Great question.
Regards
Eileen