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How to Fix Loose Cabinet Wood Joints

January 30th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

How you fix a loose area on your cabinet is going to depend upon where the wood joints are that are in need of some glue. Check out this fast drying wood joint glue that will repair many problems with crown molding seams and even face-frame separations. A word of caution though, this glue dries like super glue fast, strong and hard.

When using this quick-drying- adhesive you will need to work quickly. This means that you should have made all necessary alterations to the area prior to putting the small drops on the two pieces and applying the glue-activator. You will not be able to wipe the glue off of the surface once it has fully dried. So, make sure that you DO NOT get any on the clear-coat finish or stain of the cupboard you are working on.


The other alternative is using standard type carpenter’s yellow wood glue to fix the damaged wood cabinet area. If you are trying to get a hard-wood frame or cabinet door seam, joint or split to come together, you most certainly will need to use some form of wood-working clamps. There are many various styles that can be purchased at your local Hardware store such as Harbor Freight, Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Clamps Used for Fixing Wood Joints that Have Separated

1) Bar clamps
2) C-clamps
3) Jorgenson clamps

It may be necessary to use some protective pieces of wood between the wood you are trying to clamp and the clamp itself. When clamps are over tightened they can leave a mark on the finish of your cabinetry. A rag can be used as a protective separator as well.

When using the carpenters yellow glue, you will be able to wipe the access adhesive off of the cabinet-frame, door or split area with a damp cloth. Once the area is clamped, stapled, or taped you should gently wipe the area with a water moistened cloth.

Most crown molding cabinet wood joints should be fixed using the fast drying wood joint adhesive.  This is recommended because it is almost impossible to get a good miter-joint to fit using clamps and slow drying yellow glue. Unless you are using a staple gun to reattach the loose molding with, then yellow glue is OK for re-gluing the separated joint.

Masking tape combined with yellow-carpenters-wood-glue will fix loose wood joints that have separated. Using the taping method can be rather frustrating at times if the pieces of wood seem to have a lot of stress on the joint area. When there is not a lot of force required to hold the broken area together, then taping will work OK.

How you choose to fix the cabinet parts that have become loose is going to depend largely on the size of the separation and the stress associated with it. Cabinet wood joints generally need to be fixed due to poor craftsmanship or changes in humidity. Wood expands and contracts as temperatures change and this causes separations to occur. Just take your time once you decide to fix the separated wood joint and everything should turn out just fine.

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