We've been in the southwest for a month and a half now and evidently the difference in humidity between PA and here doesn't agree with the woodwork. The center stand/cupholder is practically ruined. It's split in half a dozen different places. And now the fold out table is starting to split also.

Is there anything I can do short of running a humidifier in it? We're going to be storing it here in Albuquerque for at least a month while we travel in the car and I don't want to come back to find everything ruined.

My MH spent almost it's entire life in Lake Havasu City. The last 5 years the original owners left the paasenger side window open the whole time. I can't even start to explain the amount of dust that was in there. It took 2 weeks of solid cleaning to clean it up.

The woodwork is in great shape. It was just dirty as all get out. I used orange oil on the wood. It really soaked it up and brought the shine out. I have one spot that is cracked at the curve on the cabinet in the kitchen. It is a straight crack and appears to be a point where 2 pieces might have been joined.

I'm not much of a wood expert but a friend suggested orange oil and it seemed to work good. I have the opposite situation. My MH is from the SW and now is in NW Illinios. The humidity has been unbearable the last few weeks.

People in Az. put a 5 gallon bucket or two of water in their storage units or rv during the summers.

The furniture is splitting because the wood is drying out to quickly and unevenly. Your finish is probably worn thin on some areas allowing the wood to dry unevenly. You need to get moisture back into the wood either with a humidifier or as the others have said, by storing a bucket of water inside. Because you already have damage to the wood the humidifier might be better because the air movement will help circulate the moisture throughout the coach better.

Sadly, if the wood has split leaving an open crack, there's little that can be economically done to resurrect; replacement is the only reasonable course.

However, even under extreme conditions it's unlikely the wood planks themselves have cracked; more likely it's the joints that are separating, and these can be repaired (not easily, but practically with some tools).

Send photos so we can see the damage.

My corner cabinet was split like Bones'. I had some leftover pre-glued, iron-on veneer I bought to replace the deteriorated wood-grain plastic inserts on my Corian counter tops. I stained a piece of that to match the cabinetry, ironed it on over the split, & it looked like the cabinets had been made that way.

The veneer strip was 3/4" wide, while the plastic inserts were about 3/8". I made a stripper to slice it down to fit the grooves in the Corian. It took a couple tries before I got it right, & when finished, I knew where the glitches were, but you had to look closely to find them.

I ran a humidifier in the coach for three days. It was like a sweat lodge in there! I also put a couple of 5 gallon buckets inside too. No magic occurred, but hopefully I got some moisture back into everything.

Now, I'm going to apply some "wood restoring polish". It has orange oil and beeswax in it. We'll see.

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Now, I'm going to apply some "wood restoring polish". It has orange oil and beeswax in it. We'll see.

If you seal up the wood now, it may not be able to acclimate to the relative humidity as quickly. I would bet it takes a week or better. Additionally, might you want to fill the cracks with wood filler prior to the oil/wax once the wood has been stabilized? The oil may impede adhesive qualities if done the other way around.

I have had some success forcing epoxy into cracks and squeezing together with bar clamps or wedges and bench dogs. I leave them clamped for way longer than the glue requires in order for all the wood to readjust itself to the new order of things.

Anything that gets in the cracks will interfere with the glue bond.

Thanks! I would've totally screwed that up.

Your pictures show the wear in wood finish. The back side appears to have little or no finish at all. This is a common area that can cause warping and cracking. An unfinished side will allow that part of the wood to dry at a different rate than a finished side. As Corey mentioned, the wood needs to come back up to a normal level of moisture before you seal it and that will take more than a few days. A good woodworking store will have a syringe that you can use to get some epoxy in the cracks and as Bill said clamp it well and leave the clamps on for a while.

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Originally posted by TJ:
A good woodworking store will have a syringe that you can use to get some epoxy in the cracks and as Bill said clamp it well and leave the clamps on for a while.

I have had limited success with syringes and epoxy. It is just too thick to squirt well, and it doesn't run down into the crack deep enough. I keep dropping it into the groove so it overflows, and use my finger to keep working more in and deeper down. This, of course, means that you will need a good solvent to clean up afterward, but it also means a full glue bond. Doing it in the sun on a hot day thins the epoxy, too.

Do not use quick set epoxy. It is too quick, and doesn't bond as well. If you can get it, Shell Epon 828 resin and DTA catalyst @10% or less works well. It is thinner than a lot of other resins, but really sticks well.

Epoxy is carcinogenic, so wear nitrile gloves. US made ones.

I use West System epoxy with wonderful results. It is a marine grade epoxy with a selection of different hardeners and fillers. Typically I use the #206 hardener which gives about 20 minute pot life. If I have really tight areas I will use their #209 extra slow hardener (40-50min) and use a heat gun to warm it. The added heat will thin the epoxy but also cut the pot life in about half.

It looks like most - if not all - the cracks are at glued joints. For the tongue or rabbitted joints, I use Franklin's Titebond. For butt joints, I highly recommend Resorcinol; note that it's nasty stuff but easy to apply, and it's strong. It's the preferred wood adhesive for boats and airplanes.

Bar clamps are essential for any repair.

I agree completely with Rusty on the glue preference and I would add Gorilla Glue as a possibility. When using the barclamps add a piece of soft pine scrap at each end to take the pressure and prevent damage to the goods.
I remember plant managers saying they only could take a 2 year transfer to Denver before going back to the flat lands or their furniture was never going to be the same.