My Bathroom Truss Rod
© Frank Ford, 2/10/99; Photos by FF
My house was built around 1925 in that classic California Spanish revival style so popular in those days. When I moved into the place in 1971, I noticed that most of the original cabinetry was still in place and in pretty good shape, except for this little bathroom cabinet. It had a powerfully twisted door, which just wouldn't close.
So, I figured it needed a truss rod to correct the warp.
I took a couple of banjo truss rods and screwed their fixed ends together for extra length, and mounted them on the backside of my cabinet door:
Gotta replace that missing screw some day.
Sure enough, the truss rod system worked just fine. Today, 28 years later, the door is still straight and closes perfectly!
Just for fun, I loosened the truss rod, and the door resumed its twisted shape.
I'm presenting this little scene as a reminder that this kind of external truss system has been around for a really long time, and it works just the same as the internal compression rod system. In this case, the rod compresses the back side of my door diagonally to take out a twist.