Bathroom door wood swelling issues. 2008 Scepter.

[96 EVO]

Anyone beside me live in a high humidity climate, and have issues with the bathroom door unable to open or close when it swells with humidity?

I usually get my dehumidifier in there running, but I guess I missed by a couple of weeks this fall 😖!

[Tom Cherry]

11 hours ago, 96 EVO said:

Anyone beside me live in a high humidity climate, and have issues with the bathroom door unable to open or close when it swells with humidity?

I usually get my dehumidifier in there running, but I guess I missed by a couple of weeks this fall 😖!

YEP.  First year.  I reckoned that the interior walls had shifted.  Mine was at one end….bottom….about 1/3 up.   Had a buddy pull the door and use his motorized planer.  Few swipes…and he is an expert….only person allowed to do “door and window” work at a 5 star hotel where all the doors and windows were custom, high $$ units.

Hit it with a small orbital sander…..he worked from the latch to the end so the small amount of wood removed was uniform and not noticeable.  DW mixed a stain, stained it.  3 coats of Polyurethane gloss varnish (maybe semi?) and no one could ever tell.

The Monaco/HR dealers often have to “adjust” Bathroom doors or the clearance between a slide header and the crown above the opening.  They use a table saw and just trim off 3/32 or so and restain on the headers and crown molding.

Our bathroom door would not close…there was at least 1/16” interference…..but never any issues after my buddy planed it.

[96 EVO]

Yeah, that's what I need to do as well.

Same as yourself... bottom couple of feet! Summertime I'll have close to 1/4" gap there!

[vito.a]

Come to Arizona and your problem will disappear overnight.  

[96 EVO]

Yep, it usually does 👍!

[Paul J A]

On 10/22/2023 at 10:11 AM, 96 EVO said:

Yeah, that's what I need to do as well.

Same as yourself... bottom couple of feet! Summertime I'll have close to 1/4" gap there!

SOMETIMES you can bend the hinge with striking it with a hammer enough to accommodate the adjustment needed.

[Tom Cherry]

4 minutes ago, Paul J A said:

SOMETIMES you can bend the hinge with striking it with a hammer enough to accommodate the adjustment needed.

if Ben and I had the same issue....the floor side of the wall moved... Now which one....the hinge or the striker side...I never figured out.   We, each, I believe had at least a 1/16" or more interference...which could not be fixed by hammer mechanicing the hinge. I got mine shut....with the use of brute force....as I tried to "move the striker wall" a bit with a block of wood and a 2 pound sledge...and regretted it.  Then I fixed it right....this was not just a bit of an interference where a little candle wax would work....and it was PERMANENT.  Ben's apparently moved based on humidity...I never saw mine do that....so I fixed it.  One can NOT notice the gap as being uneven or not parallel...

[96 EVO]

4 minutes ago, Tom Cherry said:

  I got mine shut....with the use of brute force....as I tried to "move the striker wall" a bit with a block of wood and a 2 pound sledge... 

HA...... I tried that the first fall without success as well !

Don't think anything has moved. Gap closes up each Fall, and opens back up each spring!

Maybe cherrywood absorbs moisture better than other hardwoods 🤔.

[96 EVO]

59 minutes ago, Paul J A said:

SOMETIMES you can bend the hinge with striking it with a hammer enough to accommodate the adjustment needed.

Paul, I really don't have any room at the hinge side of the door to try to get the door closer.

With all the wood expanded by humidity, there really isn't any gap left on that side of the door either!

[windsorbill06]

Funny.  I don't have the problem down here.  Actually add buckets of water inside coach to help increase humidity during most of summer.

We did have real issues however inside the house.  During early summer and early fall, instead of running HVAC, we run full house evap coolers.  I would have doors swell up enough to bind.  Wiffy didn't like that!   Ended up planing down the doors on the hinge side (don't do it on the strike side), just a little and had to re-mortise the hinges, then stain and seal.   It's alot of work and our doors are 8' solid wood and very heavy.  

 

 

 

[96 EVO]

32 minutes ago, windsorbill06 said:

Funny.  I don't have the problem down here.  Actually add buckets of water inside coach to help increase humidity during most of summer.

We did have real issues however inside the house.  During early summer and early fall, instead of running HVAC, we run full house evap coolers.  I would have doors swell up enough to bind.  Wiffy didn't like that!   Ended up planing down the doors on the hinge side (don't do it on the strike side), just a little and had to re-mortise the hinges, then stain and seal.   It's alot of work and our doors are 8' solid wood and very heavy.  

 

 

 

Funny, I didn't think yourself or Harry would have this problem 😁!

I've been running heat and dehumidifier the last couple of days, and the door is closing again!

I know I need to shave a bit off the door, and re-finish the edge, was just curious how many others!

Doesn't look like many!!

PS.... I always monitor your temp down there and see your still hitting 100F, mid Oct!

That's crazy!

Edited October 24, 2023 by 96 EVO

[Ivan K]

I don't have a door problem but some of the overhead cabinet inserts slide slightly off center when in Arizona so I just move them back where they should be when eventually going north. I suppose I could glue them from  behind but they just shrink anyway. It's maple wood, I guess it likes the northern weather better.

Edited October 24, 2023 by Ivan K
SP

[96 EVO]

Yep!

We have maple's up here! They love it 😁!!

[StephenW]

I had the same problem with our bathroom door in our ’01 Dynasty. Spring and fall it would catch on the bottom 1/4 of       the strike side of door frame. Summer was fine, but DW did not want to put up with the problem so last spring I took off the door and used my power hand planer to shave the bottom 1/3 of the strike side and used a little stain and polyurethane to refinish. Door has worked fine since.  BTW here on the north Oregon coast we run a dehumidifier full time. 

[96 EVO]

12 minutes ago, StephenW said:

I had the same problem with our bathroom door in our ’01 Dynasty. Spring and fall it would catch on the bottom 1/4 of       the strike side of door frame. Summer was fine, but DW did not want to put up with the problem so last spring I took off the door and used my power hand planer to shave the bottom 1/3 of the strike side and used a little stain and polyurethane to refinish. Door has worked fine since.  BTW here on the north Oregon coast we run a dehumidifier full time. 

Seeing a pattern here.

The three of us that have had this problem, all been the bottom of the door 🤔!

[Happycarz]

When my coach was less than a year old I had Monaco fix my “shrunk” door.  They rebuilt the hinge side wall to make it longer. Not a small feat.  
Then as years passed by the striker side of the door kept getting farther from the jam.  I bought some hinges to cut into shims. That worked for a while.  Finally Bill Willard and I added a ¼” strip of wood to the jam side, removed and reset the interior strip that the door hits when closing. (Sorry, don’t know correct nomenclature of all the pieces.) Sanded and finished the new wood, removed the hinge shims and all has been good for last ten years.

Fortunately I have natural oak, so no staining necessary. Also, Monaco must have thought they were building a Dynasty when making my Camelot. They hung a heavy solid oak door for the bathroom.  And, I haven’t had any issues when in high humidity regions. Not yet, anyway.