Kitchen Cupboard Door Water Damage

When particleboard gets wet it can swell or even disintegrate.

Kitchen cupboard door water damage.

Blushing is common in older pieces as condensation permeates the lacquer or shellac finish. Over time water can destroy the outer shell of your kitchen cabinets damaging the finishing and darkening the wood. Once the water makes its way down the cabinet door it settles either in the cabinet panel seams or in this case between the base trim and the base of the cabinets. This is what happens when you hang wet rags from the cabinet doors.

Particleboard is a composite wood that is used to construct furniture door cores floors and cabinets. Most often it is due to water that has spilled on the door or transferred from our wet hands when we open the doors. Water caused the cabinet to swell and the glue broke open at the seams. These images are all mdf cabinets that have been damaged.

This exposes a consistent weakness in the finishing process of many manufacturers. While most companies use very high quality varnishes or lacquers the problem is they do not apply a thick enough coat to protect the wood. The damage might be confined to the lower half of the. If your cabinet has black spots the water damage has permeated the protective layer and has damaged the veneer and stained the area.

Electric or air sanders can even out raised particleboard from water damage. This can happen if the piece was washed with water rather than using a tack cloth for surface preparation. If it has sustained long term damage from a persistent leak or high humidity however the glue joints may be loose and the plywood warped.