Every year, around July, the calls start: the bedroom door is sticking, the wardrobe will not close, the kitchen drawer drags. Warri is humid most of the year and soaking wet in the rainy season, and wood breathes with the air.
Wood takes in water
Timber is made of fibres that absorb moisture from the air and swell across the grain. A 900mm door can grow by two or three millimetres between the dry season and the wet. That is enough to rub on a frame.
We cannot stop wood breathing. We can slow it down and give it room.
What we do in the workshop
- Dry timber to match Delta air before we cut it, not to a dry climate standard.
- Seal all six sides of a door, including the top and bottom edges nobody sees.
- Leave a three millimetre gap around doors in frames.
- Use laminated cores in wide doors so they stay flat.
What you can do at home
- Keep doors and wardrobes closed when it rains heavily to reduce humid air inside.
- Run the AC or a fan in closed rooms in the rainy season.
- Do not plane a door in July. Wait for the dry season, or call us to adjust the hinges.
Our rainy season visit
Every door and wardrobe we fit gets one free adjustment visit after its first rainy season. Most sticking doors are fixed in ten minutes with a hinge screw.
