Can my chest of drawers be saved?

Gigervamp

I've got a solid wood (pine I think) chest of drawers that has been in a room that has a damp problem. The wood on the bottom drawer has swollen and won't open.
The damp in the room is being rectified, but I was wondering if once the chest has dried out, the wood will shrink back or if it will stay stuck.

Anybody know?

Norman_Castle

It should shrink back. Wait and see . If it doesn't a small amount of work should make it fit again.

Avoriaz

Can you easily move the chest into a dry airy room and leave it to dry for a month or so?

Don't try to accelerate the drying with heat or anything else as that will probably do more harm than good.

Unless it has been badly damp for a long time it should be ok when it dries out but that isn't certain without actually examining how much damage has been done to it.

Good luck.

macman

Dry it out, then plane or sand it to the correct fit. A little bit of candle wax may help.

Gigervamp

Thanks for the replies, they're very helpful. Unfortunately, there's absolutely nowhere else in the house it will fit, but the damp in the room is being rectified, so hopefully I can get it back to it's original condition.

brightonman123

leave a bowl of rice in bottom drawer, or some crunched up newspaper-
may help draw out the moisture?

TooTallTim

I had a similar problem, I moved it into our spare room and it did eventually shrink back, but it did involve some sanding down