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Of course the answer is to have had painted the panel prior to assembly. But that is inefficient and is almost never done.
At this point, your only option is to repaint and pray.
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Also possible is that the left panel is not bound in anyway, and it's shrinking was even from both sides and does not show, while the right panel is stuck on the left side somehow and forces all the movement to come from the right.
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Just be happy that it isn't splitting in the middle of the panel. You could try using some caulk to fill the gap, but that becomes problematic in the summer. If it really bothers you, (I'm thinking outside the box and haven't tried this) maybe glue a little painted fabric to the edge of the moulding so it looks like the panel, but isn't attached, sort of a trompe-L'oeil effect.
Train to be miserable...
that way when the real misery starts you won't notice.
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03-01-2018, 03:44 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-01-2018, 03:46 PM by Cecil.)
Right panel is near the knob. People pushed on it. It was washed prior to painting and remained expanded while painting. The left panel was dry when painted and shrinking was done.
Just a wild guess.
I tried not believing. That did not work, so now I just believe
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it was significant!
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OP here. I’ve enjoyed reading the comments and speculations. My own suspicion is that the shrinking panel is more flat sawn than the other. We have a dozen such doors in our old house, and most of them show some level of shrinkage. When summer comes, they will all expand again. Just part of life, like daylight savings time.
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I had the same problem a few months ago, plus one of my panels was split. I carefully pulled the profile pieces holding the panel off, removed the panel, re-glued it, sanded and painted the split plus all edges of the panel on both sides, waxed the edges and put it all back together. I posted a thread here about it. Looks good now. But in your case, I'd just scrap/sand the panel edges in place, and paint while the panel is still showing the bare wood. Much easier and it should look fine.
