Cabinet door cracking

[Rick Fisher]

Hello

I have been asked to go and look at a project where maple 5 piece doors where sprayed with white lacquer. On some of the doors, the finish cracked at the 4 joints where the style and rails meet.

To me, it seems like an almost normal thing. Wood moves. I wondered if there is any association or standard for such a thing ? What are others experience with this type of claim ?

[Mark Bolton]

Its an issue that is well covered on other forums (commercial). Your right, wood is going to move, and that joint is more than likely going to appear at some point. I would say the issue will reside in how big is the crack and how well did you write your contract?

[J.R. Rutter]

It helps to get glue in that joint during assembly - enough for a bit of squeeze out. It seals the end grain on the rails and on a good portion of the doors that I have seen years after assembly, it leaves a nice smooth joint provided it is fully dry before sanding. But yeah, wood moves and that is typically what happens, along with exposed panel edges on solid wood, and sometimes cracks in the ends of the stiles (where the stub tenon ends) if a ply panel gets glued in and the frame shrinks.