Housing joints have different monikers, such as trench joints and dado joints. Woodworkers favor this joinery in constructing frames and shelves. It consists of a three-sided channel cut out against or across the wood’s grain to fit into the other member. Cutting the joint should be at most three-quarters of the board’s thickness. Housing joints are popular in carpentry and woodworking as they are easy to make and assemble. A stop-housing joint creates a clean look on the board’s face.
How Strong is Housing Joint?
Housing joints might be simple and easy to construct, yet it does not mean they are weak. It requires machinery to get the accurate cut and right fitting. Beginners can use simple woodworking tools, but more is needed to guarantee a tight fit and attractive appearance.
A housing joint can be a dado joint if you cut a channel across the timber’s face, three-quarters of the timber’s depth. This joint protects the back of the drawers from pressure when opening and closing the drawers. It becomes strong once you insert the end of another member before securing it to the channel.
Housing joinery is versatile, as you can use it in most woodworking projects due to its strength and ease of construction. MDF and particle boards use housing joints to give additional support while working on a particular woodworking project.
The housing width has the exact measurement of the thickness of the partition or shelves in cabinets and bookcases. For a better result, glue the joint into place to ensure it is square and clamp to let the glue dry.
Types of Housing Joints
Housing joints have various types, but they follow the same pattern by creating a shallow trench across the wood’s grain and then glue into a simple housing. Here are the types of housing joints:
1) Through Housing Joint
You can tell if the joint is through housing if the cut is across the piece of timber to allow visibility to the joint.
2) Tapered Housing Joint
Tapered housing joints have additional strength through their dovetail slope on the side of the timber, adding holding property to resist heavy pressure. It is ideal for building deep cabinets.
3) Tapered Stopped Housing Joint
This joinery is similar to a tapered housing joint, where the housing stops at 9 to 12 mm from the front to hide the joint. It is not visible outside to give the furniture a clean and good-looking surface.
4) Stopped Housing Joint
This joinery is concealed for decorative purposes while adding more strength to the woodworking project. This method is complex compared to through-housing joints. The housing stop short, and the outside edge is not visible from onlookers, which makes it an ideal joint for panels and shelving.
Advantages of Housing Joints
Ease of Construction
Cutting is not a requirement in making housing joints. You can use various hand tools and styles, such as chisels, knives, planes, and table saws. Although not a requirement, you can use dado blades with carbide tips or machinery for a precise fit.
Offers Strength to Fiberboards
Fiberboards use housing joints for additional support as these wood materials are weak. A Dovetail housing joint is not advisable for making MDF shelving as it does not have strong joints.
Wide Gluing Area
Housing joints have a wider gluing surface, adding extra strength to the members. They do not require you to glue up the entire area (end grain and face grain), but you can glue the face-to-face wood grain. This characteristic of the housing joint makes it more advantageous than biscuit and butt joints.
Resilient
Trench or dado joints become more robust if you do it properly. This joinery offers extra strength through its joint that works like a mortise and joint. The joint’s groove is on a piece of wood that lies on the other board’s protrusion, making it resistant to twisting and racking. This method offers strength to the back of drawers to withstand pressure from different directions.
Disadvantages of Housing Joint
Housing joints have fewer drawbacks. Their strength is less muscular than tongue & groove or mortise and tenon. Here are some disadvantages of housing joinery.
Lack of Aesthetic Appeal
Since the joints are visible outside, it does not look appealing to onlookers.
Difficult to undo
Once you have finished cutting the timber, the members could be challenging to move or undo, which can cause damage to the wood grain.
Guide to Making a Housing Joint
- Step 1: Scribble lines on a channel across the timber’s face where you will create the housing joint. Ensure that both channels and the wood you insert are the same widths.
- Step 2: Cut the channel half of the timber’s depth using a router or table saw.
- Step 3: Clean out the excess wood using a hammer and chisel. This step allows the other timber piece to insert easily into the joint.
- Step 4: Glue the joint and leave it dry. Mechanical fasteners can help increase the joint’s strength when gluing it.