Howdens solid wood facias / damp penetration / suggestions

[Paene Finitur]

I bought a Howdens kitchen with solid wood doors (ironically, because I wanted to avoid the damp damage that I've seen in MDF/chipboard) back in October last year. At the time, the project manager assured me that we'd be no more than 6 weeks away from fitting it.

 

Sadly that has turned into eight months and the kitchen has been stored at the house (which is watertight) waiting to be fitted. We've just started to fit it and the kitchen fitter has advised that it looks like all of the doors/draw front facias, are suffering from damp ingress and have warped making them difficult to fit. He suspects that this is simply condensation absorbed from building work carrying on in other areas of the house. It's slight, but a millimeter or two are preventing doors from closing etc. Naturally, I'm very annoyed about it, particularly since I've been pressing the PM to get the kitchen fitted for ages, but I don't think I really have a leg to stand on. I shall speak to Howden's but am not expecting too much.

 

Has anyone else been in this position that might have any advice? Since I'm expecting the damage might well run to four figures, I'm wondering whether it might be a better approach to get a carpenter to reduce/level them slightly, if possible, and then get them re-painted. Not my ideal solution but I'm at the end of the build and, if it comes in really expensive, I might not have the cash to simply replace them all. Thanks!

[George]

If they are truly solid wood, as a natural material they are liable to warp especially if not stored in ideal conditions. 

 

I would imagine no luck with Howdens, although you might be able to get touch up paint.

 

Carpenter time will run into a chunky bill, but they're there anyway doing the fitting.

[Radian]

On 06/07/2022 at 22:42, Paene Finitur said:

I shall speak to Howden's but am not expecting too much.

There should have been storage instructions with the delivery. This is usual for solid wood worktops for example. If there wasn't anything outlining the conditions for storage you might raise that with them and use it as leverage.