Expert: Greg Scholl - 10/7/2010

Question
QUESTION: I recently bought a 48" solid cherry dining table consisting two halves that open for insertion of expansion boards.  The boards don't align well with the top making installation very difficult.  The retailer claims that the top is warped and the warping is due to the shipper having shipped the table on its edge.  It is estimated that the table may have been in the truck for 10 days to two weeks.  I think it unreasonable to conclude that wood would warp so quickly and the more reasonable explanation is that the table was misaligned during manufacture.  Also, the misalignment results in one half of the table being higher than the boards at the joint, an uneven joint.
Thanks for your comments.

ANSWER: Hi Ted, either way...this isn't your fault, and they should be doing whatever is necessary to make it right....unlikely that warpage would cause a serious misalignment of the dowel...and a serious enough warp to cause that would really be noticeable ...if the other alignmnet dowels line up, then it is likely a factory issue, but it's odd that it would make it past quality control.....baking in a truck for that long at high temperatures could have dried out the table quite a bit....but again, it wouldn't shrink in a side to side direction to cause this type of misalignment...do the other dowels line up? And what are they offering to you to make it right?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Follow-up:  The issue is who is responsibile for correction and/or replacement--the trucker or the retailer (the trucker was hired by me).  If there is warpage (and there may not be) then was the shipping responsible for the warpage?)  
None of the dowels line up correctly--they are all off by the same amount in the same direction (the photo is typical).  They can be forced into alignment by pulling sharply on one side while pushing on the other side.  Even then, the joint is not level where the boards and table meet.  NOTE:  If the dowels don't align, the edges of the table don't align--and there is a gap as shown in the photo.  My own take on this points to a factory problem in squaring everything off.  A small discrepance in squaring the table would multiply by the time the three boards were inserted.  So far they are offering nothing to resolve other than to agree to examine the table which the trucker has agreed to bring back to them but they have theorized that the problem is due to warpage and that the warpage is due to trucking (a cop-out in my opinion).  Please note that this is solid hardwood supposedly kiln dried before use.

Answer
Kiln dried means between 8-12% moisture content....baking in a truck in Summer heat for ten days could 'cook' this table to half that....but to me this sounds like an alignment problem that could be caused by rough handling. The top is attached to the apron/base with screws, and if the top did shrink slightly from the heat, it could loosen up the screws just enough to allow the top to possibly shift it was handled roughly, dropped,etc.This could knock it out of alignment.....if you turn it upside down and check the top with the apron using a Carpenters square...it should be 90 degrees square to the edge....also inspect the mounting screws and see how it's mounted and if it looks out of square there...sometimes there are brackets, blocks, or other mounting components....