Skirt for a dresser?

[David Wadstrup]

Hello,

I've been working on the dresser below for quite some time now, and would love any and all advice. As you can see, there are 2 joined cases that have been glued together. The miters have been joined with dominos. The back is made of solid wood planks that have been tongue and grooved. Drawers are all 3/4" solid wood. It's one heavy dresser!

Anyways, I was wondering if you feel like some kind of support structure is required on the bottom. I'd rather forgo a skirt or platform or any undergirding and simply attach feet(6 of them) to the bottom of the piece as long as I wouldn't be in danger of compromising the existing joinery. I'd really hate for one of the miters to give.

What do you think? Support or no?

Thanks for your help!

PS You'll notice in the photos that it is currently sitting on a base. This base is not attached and is simply there to keep the case off the floor and to help stabilize it on my incredibly wavy uneven floors.

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[Pat Barry]

I would say yes, purely because I think it would be good to get the drawers up off the carpet / floor a bit. I don't think it needs anything for appearance sake alone

[David Ragan]

Nice work!

Probably, your glue joint is fine.

I would be equally ambivalent. If the floor it will be on is uneven, then a solid base will make that unevenness more apparent.

A middle foot should span the joint, of course. Plus you can put those adjustable height feet on it.

[Jim Dwight]

Well if they were just miter joints with end grain joined to end grain I would be worried about the joints - but in that case the existing base under them would be enough to potentially cause a problem. But the dominos give you long grain to long grain connection and it should be fine. The highest stress is at the bottom miters where the sides are bearing the weight of the drawers and top and could want to slide off the miters on the bottom. But that stress is there now and it is together. With a tight fitting miter joint it would probably be fine and with the dominos almost certainly so. I think you can base your treatment of the base on asthetics, not strength.

[David Wadstrup]

Thanks for the advice everyone. So it sounds like I might not need to attach any sort of undergirding to the dresser bottom. That's good news as I'd rather not have to add this as it wasn't something I wanted aesthetically.

I I still can't help but being a little bit worried, though. I have about five mitered dominos at each joint. I was wondering if I should consider adding a couple of locking dominos to the bottom 4 miters. In other words, sinking a domino from the bottom of the dresser up through the sides.

What at do you think? Necessary or overkill? Or should I just not worry about the strength of these joints at all?

thanks again!

[Jim Dwight]

I took your reference to Dominos to be across the miter which would be best. I don't think adding them up from the bottom will add nearly as much strength because there wouldn't be much material outside of the joint on the bottom. I think you are good.

[Marion Smith]

I like the levelers on the legs idea. You can take any stress off the joints that way I think. Is that a recumbent bike?

[Jim Becker]

I personally would build a base to provide better support, including taking stress of the join between the two units that were originally separate, but "ease" the profile to provide contact with the floor that resembles feet. I wouldn't just go with feet unless there were some in the center to support that joint.

[John TenEyck]

To use separate feet, I would add some screws or bolts through the center panels where they are joined together. That will handle any extra stress the cabinet gets when it's moved or if it happens to sit on an uneven floor. It would be best to have all the feet supporting the sides directly, but I don't think that's an absolute requirement. Domino reinforced beveled joints should be plenty strong.

John