How to keep wood from warping and shrinking

It has been hot. It’s going to get hotter, then chilly — and dry. Doors might be sticking. Some windows might be stuck. Weather does affect wood. What should you do?

Wood will take on or give up moisture. One thing that will help or minimize the problem is staining the front, back, and edges of wood paneling or wood siding before you put it up. Staining all four sides helps maintain the moisture content in the wood, but it’s an investment in time and money that few are willing to make since a small amount of shrinkage isn’t noticeable.

The doors and windows that are sticking are already up, right? You can take a hand plane to a door if it swells and stays that way, but then it may be “off” a bit. Only do this if you’ve had an ongoing problem with a door for a year or two. It won’t hurt anything to plane it down; it will prevent it from happening again. Another option is to turn the air conditioner on if you have one. It will help maintain the correct humidity for the wood. Air conditioners take moisture out of your home. They also keep everything the same temperature.

A dehumidifier will help, but you’ll be dumping water out of it all the time. Running your air conditioner and maybe adding a dehumidifier to the mix is really all you can do with warping wood in the summertime. If you have a moist basement, definitely get a dehumidifier.

It’s the opposite in winter. Winter heat will dry out the air. Keep your house at 40 percent humidity (not lower than 35 percent) if you have lots of wood in your house. Keeping your humidity (moisture in the air) at this level really helps with shrinkage since the wood will acclimate to that moisture level. When the humidity is high, it’s the exterior air that’s humid. So managing your indoor air is a great help.

You can’t do a whole lot with windows. If they have moisture on them, you clearly have too much humidity in your home. It’s time to adjust your humidity level by turning down the humidifier or have your windows inspected for failure.

At WoodHaven, we eliminate most of the shrinkage problems because we dry down all of our wood paneling, siding, and other specialty products to a specific moisture content. When wood is properly dried, it greatly minimizes warping or shrinking.

We’ve been in this business almost 30 years and take great pride in what we do. You will have minimal warping, twisting or shrinkage with WoodHaven products. So the next time you consider your options for wood paneling or siding, think WoodHaven.

In the meantime, lower the humidity in your home or cabin.

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