Wood Dresser Drawers Sticking

If you can t find any obvious obstruction and your drawer still sticks your next step is to sand the drawer.

Wood dresser drawers sticking.

Changing humidity levels cause wood to absorb or expel moisture. Take the sticky drawer out and turn it upside down. Remove the drawer completely that is sticking from the dresser. One of the most popular household items that helps with sticky drawers is a regular paraffin or beeswax candle.

Paraffin or nylon tape keeps wooden drawers from sticking. This works best with the smaller problems as the graphite is only a lubricant not sandpaper. Another problem we run into with dresser drawers sticking is when the side of the drawer is broken under the bottom panel of the drawer. Take a regular pencil not mechanical and where the drawer is sticking shade that patch of wood in with the pencil.

Just rub it against all the areas of the drawer where there s friction when you open and close it especially on the tracks and around the outside edges. Also rub some wax or soap on the drawer itself where the bottom slides on the dresser. If you don t mind a marking on the inside of the drawer there is another method. Take the wax or soap and rub it on the runner where the drawer slides on.

Cabinet builders and other woodworking craftsmen know that a piece of wooden furniture constantly expands and contracts. Wooden drawers can become stuck over time. Put the drawer back in the dresser and test. Use medium grit sandpaper and a sanding block to remove some wood from the bottoms of the drawer edges.

Apply nylon drawer slide tape to the wooden drawer runners if the wax lubrication doesn t free up the sticking drawer. Once the wood of the drawer starts to swell it s possible that it will become too large for the dresser or cabinet and become stuck inside. The most common reason for a wooden drawer to get stuck is swelling of the wood. For drawers fitted with rollers and guides photos 1 and 2 wipe them clean and spray the rollers with a drying type silicone lubricant that doesn t attract dust.

Instead of fighting sticking drawers take about two minutes per drawer to clean and lubricate them so they ll glide in and out with the touch of a finger.