Even with downsizing of homes, residential architects are reporting growing interest in outside living spaces, home offices, and mud rooms.

All stress tests require a uniform moisture content throughout the piece. Pieces with a gradient will give confusing results.

Q: Can you tell me what has caused these cracks in the enclosed red oak square? Can you tell me how to avoid this defect? Is our dry lumber storage shed too hot?

Q: We are gluing two or three pieces of wood together to form a panel. Our joints seem very strong, but sometimes they are very weak. We are looking for a way to test our joints so that we can identify the factors that result in a weak joint. One person has recommended a shear test block and sent us some info on how to run that test. Would this be a good way to proceed?

Q: We will store assembled, finished bath vanities and medicine cabinets in cardboard cartons in an unheated warehouse throughout the coldest months of the year (below zero). We do not know what amount of stress this will have on the wood of our product. We are also worried about condensation build-up. Your thoughts?

Q: We rip a long, narrow stile (about 72 x 3 in.) and then send it to the moulder for profiling. We test for proper MC and casehardening stress. However, more than 50 percent of the pieces have 3/16 in. lengthwise bow, just after molding or a day or two later. What are we are doing wrong?

Q: I recently applied a sheet of "peel and stick" veneer to a cabinet end panel. The cabinet looked fine from time of application until several weeks after installation. Now many bubbles appear under the veneer. How can I avoid this in the future?

Q: What causes end checking in lumber and how can I minimize it?

Q: I have a rip-first mill with a Comp-U-Rip input. We have received advice and suggestions from several people about how to handle lumber that has side bend. What do you suggest?