Sourcing Note 14 · Product & Craft
The cut end drinks moisture. Seal it
Swelling almost never starts on the panel face. It starts where the board was cut.
Most laminate board swelling in a wardrobe starts at the cut end, not the face. A panel that leaves the factory with its raw edge exposed will pull vapour the day it sits in a humid room, and the lip lifts before the doors misalign.
I now write a PVC or edge-band seal on every exposed board end into the spec, and I ask the workshop to show me the first carcass before the rest are cut. The end seal is a two-second line in the drawing that costs you a whole replacement door later.
Tell me the room your cabinets are going into and I will tell you which board edge needs sealing first.