How Humidity & Temperature Could Affect Your Cabinetry?

We all want our custom kitchen cabinets to last a lifetime but even our best efforts fail to maintain it when it comes to the damage caused by the external weather conditions and changing climate. Kitchen cabinets, especially the ones made from wood can be easily damaged by humidity and moisture. It is important to implement a wood-friendly environment in order to offer the best care for your kitchen cabinets.

How Changing Weather Affects Cabinetry?

Cozy Home DIY as experts in the home renovation and home remodeling industry has curated this article to help you understand how the changing weather climates affect your cabinetry.

#1 Moisture

Repeated exposure to excessive moisture even if it’s for a short period of time can be fatal for your wood cabinetry. It can cause the surfaces to splash from a sink and even will result in irreversible damage to the wood. Apart from this, steam coming from crockpots, cooktops can also affect the doors of your cabinets especially when they are sealed improperly.

To avoid this damage, immediately wipe out any moisture that gets accumulated on the surface of the wood. It is also recommended to avoid direct heat coming from flames and instead of using dehumidifiers or cloths to remove the moisture. If you act quickly, you can actually save your kitchen cabinets from being damaged from moisture and also the formation of mold or mildew.

#2 Humidity

Humidity affects the wood cabinets by making them expand and the absence of humidity actually makes the wood shrink. The most dramatic change will be faced by unfinished or exposed wood. However, if humidity is exposed for a long period of time then even finished wood can experience some damage. The laminated surface of the wood is also not immune to it. Apart from this, even solid wood can change dimensionally across the grain.

As compared to this, your particle wood and fiberboard are more stable dimensionally. But when they are exposed to water directly, they will dramatically expand in thickness. The swelling of wood and any other changes is directly related to unity and even the appearance of cracks is also the cause of the same. These effects are more visible on light paints than dark ones.

#3 Humidity Continued (Dryness)

Most damage to the wood is certainly by the over-exposure to humidity but the absolute absence is also equally damaging to your wood cabinetry. The extremely dry conditions can make cracks appear in your cabinetry. If you have paneled wood doors in your cabinetry, then it can experience some shrink and the panel edges of the doors can also get exposed.

If you by chance have exposed or unfinished panel edges, then they will automatically appear different than the rest of the cabinet. These signs are an indicator that humidity levels are too low in your area.

#4 Temperature

Temperature variation can also be the cause of the damage to wood cabinetry. The change in temperature is often related to the variation in humidity. With the increase in temperature, the material is also destined to expand and on contrary to this, when the temperature decreases, the materials will start to shrink.

The more dramatic the temperature variation will be, the more damage it will cause to your cabinets. This phenomenon can also lead to cracking of the wood and even splitting, and along with this, it can also cause wood warping, cupping, and bowing in the components of wood.

The temperature and humidity of your house are also affected by:

• Adequate Insulation
• Adequate ventilation
• Proper drainage of outside
• Proper vapor barriers

Remediation

Here’s how you can manage these effects and ensure a healthy and long life for your kitchen cabinets:

• Use a dehumidifier or air conditioners to fight the effects of excess humidity.
• On contrary, place a humidifier to fight excess humidity to avoid the climate from being too dry
• Make your home more wood friendly by maintaining the climate control
• If possible, your wood cabinet should be placed in the room where they are going to be installed prior to the installation. Avoid storing it in the garage or any other place.