Expert: Jamie Yocono - 11/19/2007

Question
A friend has a sagging undersink (2-door) cabinet floor.  The doors to the
cabinet are separated by a center support strip.  What's the easiest, cleanest way
to remove this strip in order to replace the base floor of this cabinet?  The base
floor is particle board and has water damage as well as sagging.  Size:  30" x 36"

Answer
Hi Dave,

I'm just guessing, but I think that center strip that you want to remove (to replace the sagging bottom) is part of the face frame. A face frame conceals the plywood edges of the cabinet box.  And it's usually doweled and nailed in place. It's doweled into the top and bottom rails, then the whole unit is nailed into the cabinet box.

Removing it shouldn't be too hard, I would get a jigsaw or a small hand saw and simple saw the center strip out. Cut it up at the top rail, and low at the bottom rail. You might want to peek your head behind it, to ensure that there isn't some sort of metal fastener holding it in place. If it's a relatively new cabinet, it could be held in place with some pocket screws, which is much easier to remove. Take out those 4 screws (2 on top, 2 on the bottom) and the piece should pop out. But I sort of doubt it's screwed in place, just a guess on my part.

Anyway, saw the piece out, you may need a small block plane to clean the edge up on the rails. Then after you replace that sagging bottom, you can replace the center piece with a couple of metal brackets, probably an L-shaped one at the bottom, and a flat one at the top.

Hope this helps, write back if you need more help, or just a little moral support for that sagging bottom... isn't getting old a *****?

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