Expert: Eileen Cronk - 9/26/2007

Question
I have my grandmother's dresser with a mirror.  It is solid wood and the drawers have no railings I want to get it so that my 6 year old daughter can use it for her bedroom.  The drawers come in and out with great difficulty.  This is frustrating for me and my daughter.  Any way to make it smoother.

Anna

Answer
Hi Anna
Nice to hear from you.
I think when you say railings, you mean a slide on either side of the drawer.
This type of slider cannot be installed on an old dresser because the drawers do not have the 1/2 inch clearance on either side that is required in order to install the slides.
So that option is out.
So lets consider what we can do about this.
First off, remember that when the dresser was made, the drawers were perfect.
So something has happened over the years to make them stick.
First check to see if the dresser has come out of square.
This happens if the dresser back is loose, or a board is missing from the back, or some of the nails that hold the back are missing.
Next take the drawers out.
On the bottom of each opening at the sides and running from front to back, there should be wood about 1 inch wide and 3/4 of an inch thick.
These pieces keep the drawer going in straight.
Both could be missing, or only one and that will bind the drawer on opening and closing.
These pieces could also be loose and binding.
So check this.
In most cases that I see, this is the problem.
But....not always.
I have had dressers that it was actually the sides of the drawers rubbing on the dresser face that caused the difficulty. I have no idea how the drawer hole can get smaller or perhaps the drawer got bigger LOL, but I have seen it. This is easy to check. Just watch carefully as you are putting a drawer in and see if its rubbing at the top.
If it is, I get out my sander and sand the top of the drawer sides down. No harm done to the dresser, and everything works fine.
So you see Anna its just a little detective work on your part and now you know what to look for you can solve the problem.
Good Luck and great question
Regards
Eileen