It's time to work on the buffet and I have a question

[nlswitz]

You've all been so helpful with advice on the various stages of my major wood refinishing project I'm sending another question your way...

It's almost time to start stripping the built in buffet. None of the doors open and close properly and this is due to shifting. I'm probably going to hire someone to fix it but want to have a bit more understanding. By using a level we've figured out that the whole thing is sloping a bit to the right. I'm hoping that's better news than it collapsing inward (towards the middle from both sides). Anyway is a fix as simple as shoring up the right side of the buffet from under the house? Or what opinions do you all have?

Thanks!

[Sow's Ear Mal]

Nice original finish. Why are you considering stripping it?

[nlswitz]

That's a good question. It doesn't show up so well in the photo but this buffet actually has three different finishes. One is so glossy that it looks like plastic, another is glossy but not so much and the third is a satin finish. At some point someone wanted this Douglas fir to be redwood and so they put a Cabernet stain and the other finished over what was already in place. This has been the case throughout the living room and dining room. If you want to see what I'm moving towards I have photos in a post titled, What I've Been Doing For the Last Year. The buffet will be the final stage of this giant project.

[wletson]

Anyway is a fix as simple as shoring up the right side of the buffet from under the house?

First of all, great looking builtin! Really nice.
Your suggestion of shoring it up does make sense, but it depends, possibly, on how long this problem has existed. Will shoring up effect the walls? Has anything else been patched, cracked, etc because of the slight sag.
Depending on how it was built in, and can't tell from the photos, perhaps just shimming the built-in? Like I say, not there and don't know.

Certainly worth the trouble to tackle it. (sorry, just newly come back to this forum, haven't read the rest of your dining room saga and will try to update myself)

I'm Warren btw

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

Assuming your house has reached its final position (no more shifting or sagging), and from what I see in the pictures, I would seriously consider just refitting the doors and drawers. It looks like some shims may be required behind some of the hinges. Once they are shimmed correctly the doors may then need to be trimmed a little for finalize the fit. Jacking up the floor or shimming the cabinet may cause more problems than you now have since it was probably built in place vs. a free standing unit.

[matchbookhouse]

Unless your house itself has settlement issues that might be causing the buffet to sag (and it would have to be a pretty specific area for that anyway), I wouldn't recommend jacking anything under the house. I had my main beam jacked a fraction of an inch this past spring to improve support and correct a cracked spot, and there were a number of cracks in the walls.

[nlswitz]

Assuming your house has reached its final position (no more shifting or sagging), and from what I see in the pictures, I would seriously consider just refitting the doors and drawers. It looks like some shims may be required behind some of the hinges. Once they are shimmed correctly the doors may then need to be trimmed a little for finalize the fit. Jacking up the floor or shimming the cabinet may cause more problems than you now have since it was probably built in place vs. a free standing unit.

Thanks. I was originally thinking of adjusting the doors and then someone started saying I needed to do more extensive work. I'm pretty sure the house is done settling as it's 99 years old so I think I'll stick with refitting the doors.

[CS in Low Hud]

Agree about shimming & refitting doors.

It's also worth noting that staining fir a reddish brown was a common period treatment. Are you sure your stain color isn't original (even if the surface coat isn't)?

Here's my original doug fir stained woodwork:


Chris

[phil]

If you want to fix the sheen, try this wool lubricant with fine steel wool, it will bring it to a nice satiny sheen and take the plastic look away. I wouldn't worry about the level being off a tad. Just readjust the doors , unless the stain really bugs you that much? mine is doug fir also and I can appreciate that you are looking for uniformity, but it looks nice in the photo. It just needs a little fitting so the doors work nice and maybe some wavy glass are you sure you are not just fixated on that detail because that has been what you have been thinking about and working on lately?

http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog ... ictNbr=243

[nlswitz]

Hi Phil and Chris.
I'm including a photo of where the latch once was on the buffet. I had to remove it because it was broken (and luckily I found the exact same latch in Los Angeles!). You can see that at some time in the past another color was added over the previous, and they didn't remove any hardware to do this so you can also see the build up around the latch area.

To explain how I chose to do this project I have to say that I often work at home. I'm a pastor, so some of this work is contemplative... reading and writing and spending (it turns out) a lot of time staring at the walls. Over the course of time I noticed a few things:
1. The finishes were incredibly uneven... we had it all... matte, satin, gloss, and super high gloss.
2. Then I realized that much of the "wood" was really paneling (from 50s or 60s) that was covering up the real wood.
3. Flaws in previous application of the finish, such as runs. And alligatoring of the finish in various places.
4. The color was the least of the concerns, except that the crown molding was almost black.

So I embarked on the journey of refinishing all the wood. The buffet is the last piece and it will be refinished to now match the rest. Maybe some won't approve of what I've done but the response from people who have seen my work has been very positive... to the point that the head of our local cultural heritage board saw it and immediately asked us to be on a home tour as a "restoration in progress."

I hope that's a good enough explanation of why I will be refinishing the buffet. Also, the other photo is kind of cool as it shows unstripped wood, stripped (bared) wood, and refinished wood. While the refinished wood is lighter, it and the wall color are not as light as they look in the photo, it is just the sun.