My new desert front door swelled up after 3 weeks of monsoons

I installed a solid wood door in late July here in Tucson and the bottom edge swelled so bad it scraped the threshold and stripped the bottom hinge screws. Turns out the builder grade weatherstripping I used trapped moisture against the wood instead of letting it breathe. Anyone else had this issue with wood doors in high humidity desert summers, and did you switch to fiberglass or just adjust the hinges and seal it differently?

2 comments

2 Comments

nina_hall481d ago

Dude, did you try just letting it dry out before you went at it with the planer? Cause I did the same thing last year with a solid core door on my shed here in Tucson, except I waited too long and the bottom got so swollen the lock wouldn't even line up. I ended up having to sand the whole bottom edge down by like a quarter inch and then hit it with a coat of waterproof sealant after. The weatherstripping thing is so real though, I used that cheap foam tape and it just held all the damp right against the wood like a sponge. Swapped it out for a rubber sweep that has gaps on the sides so air can move, and so far so good this monsoon season.

troychen2d ago

Moved to Phoenix in July once and my garage door swelled so bad it looked like a wave, but that was from a broken sprinkler, not monsoon. Ended up just shaving the bottom with a plane and called it a day.