Block counter top warping

[marky harvey]

Hi

I've just fitted an iroko block worktop. Part of the worktop is hinged to allow accesss to a floor mounted boiler. Unfortunately after only a week the section of worktop over the boiler is warping.  Does anyone have any suggestions how to prevent this?

Thanks

Mark

 

[grobkuschelig]

If I have hinged doors or flaps or such, I mostly use some form of metal profile/inlays to build in rigidity from the get-go.
But I also really tend to build quite "durable".  [scratch chin]

 

[Roseland]

Is it because the wood is drying out unevenly from the heat of the boiler?  If so, could it improve as it all dries out?

I guess I'd leave it a while before I did anything to let it stabilise.

Andrew

 

[Tinker]

My guess is unevn drying.  The unnderside gets very warm and the drying is forced.  The top is exposed only to normal air nd probably exposed to moisture from air as well as spills.  Wood is not very stable under such conditions.
Tinker

 

[Bob D.]

Maybe it's obvious but I have to ask, by 'floor mounted boiler' do you
mean an under the counter water heater for domestic hot water?

To me a boiler is for heating water used in a hydronic heating system
and a water heater is for generating domestic hot water using in washing,
cooking, bathing, etc.

 

[richy3333]

In the U.K. The term refers to what I think Americans call a furnace? A UK boiler normally runs the heating system and also heats the domestic hot water.

We have an oil fed boiler that is internally floor mounted with a flue coming off it. It generates a lot of heat so I think Tinkers comment is possibly correct

 

[Bob D.]

Ok, we have a similar setup in that the boiler can be used to heat your domestic hot water too. There are a couple variations. But this equipment is not normally located in a living space, usually in a mechanical closet or room or in a garage or maybe even a outbuilding.

From the way he was describing this I was thinking his 'boiler' was under a kitchen counter which would not be a space where you would find a heating boiler in an American home. That is a space where we might put a point of use hot water heater or maybe in a smaller home the water heater for the whole house.

 

[marky harvey]

Hi

The boiler is indeed for heating the hot water and providing the central heating.  It's in the utility room and sits under the counter.  I think the problem is due to the underside of the counter drying out faster due to the heat but I don't know if over time the top side will dry out to the same extent and thus reverse the warping effect?

 

[leakyroof]

Hi

The boiler is indeed for heating the hot water and providing the central heating.  It's in the utility room and sits under the counter.  I think the problem is due to the underside of the counter drying out faster due to the heat but I don't know if over time the top side will dry out to the same extent and thus reverse the warping effect?

  If there enough room under the wood to add a heat reflecting panel of some type that prevents much of the heat from getting to the wood in the first place?
Or, can you add a vent to help lower the heat level on the underside of that counter top somewhere near the boiler?