cabinets cracking and seperating at the glue joints

tntm7le

Member
I am posting this to see if anyone else is having issues with there cabinets and drawers thoughout there Rigs. I have a Razor, 2009 after last winter all the cabinets swelled up and split apart. I mean every cabinet in the trailer. The trailer had some major warranty issues and was in the shop for almost 6 months and i have no idea what kind of exposure the cabinets had throughout the warranty repairs. I sent heartland pictures of all the cabinets and they gracefully replaced all the cabinets and drawers for me. But would not do the install. well after first trip on repairs made from all the warranty issues I had relized the leaking roof had still not been repaired. so i held of on installing all the new cabinets thinking the moisture from the original roof leak is what was a major contributor to the warping and cracking of all the cabinets. Finally my leaking roof issues have been resolved and the trailer has had few nice warm weeks to totally dry out and full of fresh air. I took trailer to cabinet shop to have the new cabinets installed that heartland was so kind to provide and when the cabinet shop opened the new crate of cabinets and doors, 50 % of all them had already started seperating at the faces where the wood was glued together.
I am at a total loss. any wood savy people care to chime in and give a hint as to what could be causing these new drawer and cabinet faces to be cracking. they have not been exposed to moisture that I am aware of, show no signs of moisture, have been in a reasonable enviroment in my garage, its much more friendly then the tempature extremes the Rv sees.
I am beggining to feel like my nightmare that started on this trailer when it was a week old will never end. But I have to say, heartland has tried so very hard to make my nightmare end and has really put in a solid effort to try and make the multitude of issues I have faced right.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Wood will move due to the relative humidity of the ambient air. The movement can be manifested in all directions, but normally it is most pronounced across the width and seen as warping. Raised panel door inserts can tear apart the frames if they are assembled such that their movement is restricted. The glued joints within the panels can also develop splits due to the stresses.

I am but a hobby woodworker who has made several cabinets with raised panel doors, none of which have fallen apart. I don't wish to write a thesis or imply a lack of care on a professional cabinet maker that supplies product to HL. But you're not the first person on this forum that has had a problem with busting doors.
 

Chuck Richard

Well-known member
I am also no expert just a home hobbies but I also had about 6 or 7 of my raised panel doors split last year. I have not had any problems with drawer faces splitting. The first winter I just has swelled doors where they would not shut unless closed together, then the next year I had all the split frames at the joints. I do believe the inserts were made too big with not enough room for expansion. I had two ezy dry units in last year when I had the problem. My trailer was closed and covered from Nov - Mar. After squeezing the frames back together and adding staples I had good looking cabinets again but was concerned about this winter. I used three ezy dry units this year and added a small radiator type heater. I did not like leaving the heater in the closed trailer but since it is totally sealed and low power I risked it. To my surprise when I opened the unit in Feb this year I had no splits and the doors even closed correctly. I would have liked to take the doors apart and shave down the inserts but with all the staples from the original build it was impossible. Good luck with your new parts and hopefully the cabinet makers will look at this problem and allow for more movement.
 

tntm7le

Member
the cupboard faces have all the room they need to expand and retract, they just close over the face of the frame, but they just split apart. The new parts in the garage are exposed to very moderate climate, clean and dry as I have equipment in there such as lathe and mill that the ways and table rust on with the slightest hind of moisture.
The drawer faces are glued together to make the larger size and all those cracked apart just sitting on the shelf. It seems as if the wood was still green when it was glued together and as some of the wood has side open grain and the other long open grain the wood is drying at different rates and causing them to tear themselfs apart. They are not warped, just cracked but there cracked on the ends but centers are still intact.
looks like it maybe time to cut my losses on this trailer and jack up the license plate and drive new trailer under it.
 
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