Share it with us! The new bottom should fit snugly into the dado grooves. Tip You can purchase a new bottom panel from the local hardware. I laid the dado of the first piece on the blade of the saw and adjusted the blade height so it started to pop the board up, then backed it off slightly. Measure the length and width of the drawer and cut pieces of the square wood molding according to these lengths. D. Drill in the brace down into the timber beneath. If you knock on the plywood bottom, you can feel how more solid your improved drawer is. Sagging drawers are incredibly frustrating to me. The bottom of old drawers can easily break under a lot of weight. When I put something away in a drawer, I don't want to worry about how heavy it is, but a lot of furniture comes with flimsy hardboard bottoms in the drawers. Its double-wide compared to other braces, so itll provide added reinforcement for your drawer bottom. Step 4: Slide your new drawer base in place. Fasten the wood moldings in place by nailing them through to the sides. Problems arise, though, if the wood or particle board has split or chipped out -- then you may have to use wood filler. Remove any extra nails, staples, splinters of wood etc. 36 how to fix a saggy dresser drawer!?! This timber should not go beyond the lower part of the drawer; otherwise, you wont be able to fit the drawer back in its place. You want to allow for expansion, but if the plywood is just a little tight in the dado it will firm up the drawer a bit and prevent it from racking when it is pulled from one side or the other. If I take the drawer out and place it front down, I can easily push the bottom back into the groove and press down on the back to make it all fit. on Introduction. Take out everything from the drawer, including the dowels and screws. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "aff670357a947679de37874d6c8d27e1" );document.getElementById("gb7d402fff").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); See where Roots & Wings Furniture has been featured. For the front-facing screws, ensure their length matches the width of the front of the drawer to avoid screws popping outside to the front of the drawer. Step 1. Some drawer bottoms are lightly tacked to a piece of molding nailed to the inside edges of the sides and back, and some drawer bottoms are set on triangular glue blocks. This was actually the prototype project for this process, but I didn't take enough pictures to document it. I even take the dowels out of their holes so they don't get lost or damaged while I make my cuts later. Wow this looks like a great technique and what a money saver. As a landscape builder, he helped establish two gardening companies. 7 years ago You could also probably just put a reinforcing piece of 1/2 x 4 across the middle of the bottom and call it good as well. Contest Sponsored by Dremel. Lay down the plywood. Step 3. You can ignore it until the problem eventually destroys the furniture, or you can repair it before it ruins the drawer frame and ensure that the furniture will last. I then adjusted the fence so it left a little gap at the edge of the board. 37 super simple broken drawer hack; Here is an easy way to prevent the bottom of your drawer from falling out. Required fields are marked *. As a result of some of the comments I received, I decided to include some other ways to repair these drawer problems. Weve outlined three methods of fixing sagging drawers; replacing the thin and flimsy bottom with a more sturdy panel, using angle metal braces to hold the bottom in place, or reinforcing the drawer bottom using square wood moldings. You can correct this by adding square wood moldings along the edges of the drawer bottom. 7 months ago. H x 55 in. H x 56.34 in. If the edges are sagging too much and cannot stay in position, you can use the woodworking clamps for support. Otherwise, secure the drawer with bar clamps to hold it tightly together while the glue sets. Due to aging and arthritis its getting hard for my folks to bend over to get into bottom dresser drawers.. Take it apart and re-glue it. I recommended this one in another comment http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/m/skill-builder/0, Nice job. We have two dressers with this same problem. How to replace a drawer bottom. You might want to hit the plywood with a little sandpaper before putting the drawer back together because you might have some splinters otherwise. Drawer bottoms are typically cut from thin plywood or hardboard. 7 years ago One efficient set of braces you can use is the BIG TEDDY Corner Brace. You should be left with a nice groove where the new bottom will fit. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Slide the bottom into the grooves and ensure that it fits securely, and then take it out. How to Unstick a Drawer From a Warped Dresser, Copyright 2022 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Lifestyle, All Rights Reserved. Even so, its still not too complex, as you will soon see. We have the same series dresser, with the same problem. I have seen a few other fixes that would also work and might take fewer tools to complete. We bought this dresser from a store that rhymes with tortilla and although it's not the cheapest they make, the drawer bottoms are very flimsy. Place the original bottom on top (aiming for a good corner) and race it out onto the plywood. So, what is the solution to this furniture problem? H x 60.55 in. How to Fix Dresser Drawers That Fall Off Track, How to Remove the Drawers From a Frigidaire Pedestal. How to fix drawer bottoms? You can also choose this method if you want a more sturdy bottom that will last longer and withstand the heavier drawer contents. Once the bottom is replaced, the drawers feel much more solid. Can i replace the bottom of a drawer? Put your drawer back in its place. Thanks for sharing this neat idea. This will keep the piece of wood from sliding around and gives more support to the drawer overall. Let filler set completely before proceeding. Cut out a similar length of the piece of timber and position it underneath the drawer bottom. If you are the one who put together the furniture after purchasing it, then disassembling it simply involves reversing that process. Once I have enough, I bring them to the store that recycles them. The bottom typically fits into grooves cut into the sides of the drawer, and when the sides start separating, there's nothing to hold the bottom piece in place. My daughter's dresser drawers are always getting overstuffed with clothes. It would firm up the drawer itself and lock the bottom in the dado groove. Type above and press Enter to search. Go for plywood thats thicker than the original. I was about to buy this cabinet, to put all the kitchen dishes and so, and now I know i should buy a reinforcing piece!!! Replace the Thin Bottom With a Thicker Plywood, Disassemble the Drawer and Remove the Bottom, Smoothen the Bottom Panel Using Sandpaper, 2. 7 years ago. It can easily take all the clothes that are crammed into it and the bottom stays firm and in place in the dado. If you still cant figure out how to do this, then follow the instructions that came with the furniture. Attaching the spacers for drawer for every drawer opening, you will place 13 boards inside gradually. Scrape dried glue off each joint, using a sharp chisel. The drawers in higher-quality desks and cabinets often have dovetail joints; these rarely come apart, and when they do, you simply need to fit them back together with fresh glue. They are a little thicker than the original 3mm hardboard, but the store I went to doesn't sell plywood thinner than 1/4" in these small sheets and I don't think I would want it if they did. Mix the filler with hardener, according to the instructions on the container, and apply it with a putty knife. Thats the story with this piece, so I thought it was a good opportunity to continue our series on furniture repair. You can now put in your clothes and other contents. Most drawers are not built to take punishment. Thanks for sharing. The first step in this method is separating the flimsy bottom from the drawer. Like most flat-pack furniture, it came with 3mm hardboard for the drawer bottoms that fit into a dado groove in each of the drawer sides, face and back. on Step 7. what about if the reason the drawerbottom is sagging isn't the material of the bottom, but the backboard bending outwards? If broken or cracked, you can replace the bottom panel with thicker plywood. This drawer bottom had already torn in the corner so I needed to completely replace it. on Introduction, Reply These drawers at the bottom of the basement entertainment center get packed with all kinds of heavy stuff. Widening the dadoes should be done very carefully and patiently to ensure you dont take too much material from the grooves. H x 50 in. This one will work on the front and back to back up drawer dadoes, but because the drawer slides have a bit of this built in for the sides, this won't work on the side pieces. Please call us at: 1-800-HOME-DEPOT (1-800-466-3337), Please enter in your email address in the following format: you@domain.com. Between her own clothes and the endless stream of hand-me-downs she inherits, it was more than the cheap drawer bottoms could take. You can also glue the timber in place, as this will also help reinforce it. Go step by step, dismantling the joins and putting the drawer apart one piece at a time. 2000-2022 Home Depot. Remove the existing drawer bottom (if there is one). I have seen 2 other methods on the "This Old House" website that might help. Make sure to go slow and only take a little material with each pass. Measure the width of the drawer. I laid out the original on top of a good corner of the plywood and traced it onto the plywood. This one would make a very solid and permanent repair. Participated in the DIY University Contest, Participated in the Teach It! Be sure to measure the beam of wood as close as possible to ensure that the beam is not visible while viewing the dresser and it will not impede the drawers in any way. Especially since I ran these pieces through my table saw, you really don't want any loose pieces that could cause the saw to jam in any way. Depending on your model, you should have one of these two. Step 2. With the timber in position, place the two corner braces on the inside of the drawer directly above the timber on the two opposite ends. I will also mention that you have to take everything off of the drawer. If you dont want to replace the bottom of the drawer, you can use an alternative solution to fix sagging drawers. To replace a drawer bottom, remove one end of the drawer and slide the bottom panel out. Using the wood glue, glue every piece of square wood molding underneath the drawer. Dresser drawers are wider than normal drawers which is why they usually come with a center metal slide. Measure. This method is going to reinforce the drawer bottom and reduce any chances of it coming off from the grooves of the drawer. If you are working alone, youll have to secure the supporting timber in place as you move to the next step. Now you no longer have to pass up that beautiful piece because of the wonky drawers. Related: How to Fix a Drawer That Falls Out. Chris Deziel has a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in humanities. Make sure here your drawers are square (or as square as possible for an old drawer) as you measure. This one looks simple enough and you could probably do it with a hand saw and a drill. Many times the drawer bottoms need to be replaced or repaired. Remove each of the sides in turn and spread carpenter's glue on the back end, and then reassemble the drawer. Do not use water to soften the glue; it will swell the wood and make reassembly difficult. Now I'm tempted to replace all of the bottoms this way because it is such a drastic improvement over the original design. Repair split wood or chipped-out particle board, using epoxy wood filler. Luckily, these are not very complex carpentry jobs, so you can do it yourself and restore your drawer to normal function in no time. Thanks for sharing it!! Because the dado only needs to be widened less than the width of a standard saw blade (no dado blades used), once the first board is ready, you can run the other drawer side and back of the drawer through the saw and they should be just like the first one.Depending on the drawer you are working with, the drawer front may be more or less like the other 3 sides. I wish I had a set up to implement your fix. Be sure to measure the beam of wood as close as possible to ensure that the beam is not visible while viewing the dresser and it will not impede the drawers in any way. Step 5. Below are a few other fixes that would also work and might take fewer tools to complete.This one looks simple enough and you could probably do it with a hand saw and a drill. Products shown as available are normally stocked but inventory levels cannot be guaranteed, For screen reader problems with this website, please call 1-800-430-3376 or text 38698 (standard carrier rates apply to texts), Scottsdale 6-Drawer White High Gloss Double Dresser 27.60 in. How do you fix the bottom of a drawer? D), Portland 6-Drawer Double Dresser in White 26.89 in. Feel accomplished. Hmm you wiggle a bit, finally get one of the drawers to come out and find that the bottom of the drawer is duct taped in place. Besides having an abiding interest in popular science, Deziel has been active in the building and home design trades since 1975. As a bonus, if your DIY skills are really poor, you can purchase a quick fix for your faulty drawers. Using 1 nails simply attach into the back and front. I replaced this about 7 months ago and have not had a problem with it since. If the bottom panel of your drawer is cracked or outrightly broken, then this is your go-to solution since replacing the broken bottom is inevitable. This is another reason I think this is a huge improvement over the hardboard. How to fix drawer bottoms? Make sure here your drawers are. Allow the glue to dry overnight. Thanks for sharing this neat idea. Assemble the sides and bottom of the drawer without glue to ensure that everything fits. Knock each joint apart, using a rubber mallet. Now you can confidently store things in the drawer without worrying about it falling apart.