Drawers sticking

Gers

Boohoo said:

molerat said:

Gers said:

Rodders53 said:

Take drawer out --- then look at runners --- provide pic if necessary.  Wood or plastic?

May just be an accumulation of crud: dust, lint etc, that a good clean of runner and groove will fix.  May even be damaged/broken runner(s) on the affected drawers.  Plastic ones often push into holes on carcase sides and may not be fully home?

Better furniture will be wood runners in a wood groove when furniture wax would be the likeliest 'lubricant'.  Or even a careful sanding to reduce the size of runner slightly if it's swollen due to humidity.

Drawers don't come out - that's part of the problem! Think the grooves are plastic.

Unusual for that type of runner. Are you sure there is not a little wooden toggle on the rail above the drawer that catches the back, swivel it up and pull the drawer out.

My Dad has a built in wardrobe in his bedroom and the 2 sets of cabinets with drawers can't be pulled out as is.

On his you have to pull the drawers/s out as far they can and on the inside of the drawer they were 4 screws that when undone would release the drawers from the runners that were still attached to the cabinet sides.

OP system may not be like this but just an idea.

No, not little things to unlock the drawers - will look for screws when I go up for bed.  

And thanks for the furniture polish idea too. Don't think there's much wood, probably MDF and plastic runners but still worth a try. I've also got some Renaissance Wax which I'll also try.

Thanks. 

Yorkie1

Are you sure that the drawer bottoms aren't dropping, and rubbing against the drawer below? Sometimes the bottom can come out of its 'groove', if that's how it's constructed.

Gers

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81820243#Comment_81820243

No dropping, just sticking. I've asked a neighbour to have a look, he's good at this kind of stuff.

Gers

The neighbour came yesterday to sort the drawers. They turned out to be held in place by two wee wooden dowls, one on each side. Once he figured that out he then saw that it was the inside battens which needed to be planed. He took them off, then outside and used his sander (didn't have his electric planer in the car) to rub them back a little. A wee squirt of WD40, reconstruction and now all's well. No idea why they started to stick, the battens are beech and perfectly dry.

He did the three top small drawers, the ones I use daily for underwear, and will do the other four big ones at a later date. One of the small ones needs another revision but it's still so much better.

Happy Gers.