Expert: Jamie Yocono - 8/10/2009

Question
Dear Jamie,
I had two cabinet doors made approximately 27x40. Typical tongue and groove construction, wood. Designed for indoor use. I wanted to use them outdoors. The humidity sprung them apart.  I have re-glued after storing them in a warm dry place and now want to put in large air vents as the cabinet houses a refrigerator. Will I be able to seal the well enough to prevent a recurrence? It was obviously the center panel. If I cut a large enough hole in it for the vent and seal it with, say, marine varnish. Your thoughts please, Thanks, Dick Schlueter
Richard Schlueter
Senior R & D Engineer
Ikonisys, Inc.
Five Science Park
New Haven, CT 06511
Ph: (203) 776-0791 ext. 210
Fax: (203) 776-0795

http://www.ikonisys.com


Answer
Richard,

If your cabinet doors were approximately 27x40, then the panels were probably around 23x36, or something close to that. I'm assuming the panels were solid wood, and the humidity is what caused them to swell and pop those joints. Depending on the specie, wood can swell quite a bit over the width of a board, I've seen it move as much as a quarter inch per foot over the width. So on a 23" panel, that's (potentially) nearly a half inch of movement over the face of that panel.

Add to the fact that the tongue and groove joint contains end grain, which doesn't hold glue as well as side to side grain, and it's a recipe for disaster. I hope you cleaned those joints thoroughly when you reglued that door together.

A vent in the cabinet to relieve some of the heat will help, as will sealing the doors with marine varnish. But I suspect that the grooves on the door stiles and rails might not be deep enough for this application, and should have been a little deeper, to allow that panel to move a little more. When I know there is going to be some potential movment, I'll take that into consideration when making a door set.

So I guess my answer to you is... that depends!

It's possible that doing the two things you mentioned will help, but it's also possible that the size of that interior panel will always have the potential for popping those joints again. It's just hard to say, and I know I'm suppose to be the expert!

My best advice... try it. What do you have to lose? The doors will either stabilize or not. It's just hard to say. But if they split again, I would consider having them remade with a little deeper dado for the panel, and use space balls to allow that panel to move without splitting the joints, and not rattle. Here's what I mean by that: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2020

A panel that is made of plywood will also reduce that movement, as plywood is much more stable than solid wood, as far as movement goes. Solid wood seems a bad choice for this application.

I know this answer isn't completely helpful, but wood is just too unpredictable when humidity is involved. Good luck, write back if you have any other questions.


Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com
My woodworking blog: www.wooditis.blogspot.com