Shelving out an Inbuilt Wardrobe - Help a Novice

[Richini]

Much as the title really, I have an inbuilt wardrobe that's crying out to have shelving built in.

I’m really looking for some tips and advice on how best to go about this project. This is my first proper entry into wood work, so have limited tools and experience, but I am keen to give this a good go and get the right advise to hopefully achieve a semi-respectable product at the end.

A rough idea of how I would like the interior of the wardrobe to look. Its currently just got one hanging rail installed all the way across and nothing else.

To get the material dimensioned I’m thinking to use somewhere like Cutwright or AvonPly which seems to get good reviews here. So I’m trying to prepare a cutting list and here is my first hurdle.

Material? 18mm PLY or 18mm melamine faced MDF?

How would you go about making something like this? Should it be 3 or 4 carcasses? Or where I have the option to secure shelves straight to the walls, should I just have strips cut and screwed straight into the walls for shelf support?

How should I be connecting the shelves to the verticals? Again my tools are limited, so should I be asking the wood merchant to cut a rebate, pre-drill holes for dowels or similar? If drilling/cutting into the verticals do I need to double up on each vertical for the left and right side shelves so I have enough thickness or is there a better method?

Apologies that these are all quite basic questions, just trying to get the process straight, before progressing to spending out on materials.

Grateful for any advice that comes my way.

Thanks.

Rich

 

[Terry - Somerset]

We had a similar issue in a house we just moved into. Time was limited - hence the solution.

Two bedrooms had 4ft wardrobe recesses (22" deep) with sliding doors and some hanging rails.

The cheapest quickest solution was to buy (from IKEA) shelving or bookcase units - just select the size which gives the optimal mix of shelving to rail proportions.

Easy to assemble, quick to fit, cost similar to simply buying melamine coated MDF which may then need cutting and edging, should end up square with adjustable shelves.

Not "proper" woodwork but gets the job done to a decent standard.

 

[Bingy man]

Hi rich - welcome to ukw . I’ve not heard of cutwright so I’ll stand corrected but I think you might find it difficult to get any timber supplier to cut dados, and drill dowel holes etc . Of course I may be wrong but it seems what you want is a “flat pack “ type wardrobe that you can just assemble at home . So in my opinion you need a company like sharps ,wren kitchens ,hammonds etc that will produce a custom bespoke built in wardrobe which will be extremely expensive even if you fit it yourself. As for limited tools and experience you are going to struggle so you will likely need some help from someone with a decent amount of experience or at least a good general understanding of diy.. I don’t want to in anyway put you off but it’s better to know upfront what you are facing. Good luck and I hope you get it sorted ..

 

[Richini]

Thanks for the comments.

Understood on the economics with buying something pre-made from IKEA or similar, but it's not quite the level of satisfaction i'm hoping to achieve. I have several similar projects like this in mind, so i'm happy to buy tools if that's the path, but need to understand the whole process first.

If I work on the basis of getting the sheets cut to size , is the best purchase a dowel jig or a biscuit jointer?

I'm not a complete DIYer novice, just trying to find a solution where I minimise risking wobbly cuts or making silly mistakes and wrecking the material, while I slowly improve my ability.

Thanks

 

[Cabinetman]

Not an easy thing to get right without the right equipment plus a lot of experience. So I would suggest two things that might help. Firstly I think it might be best painted, as you could fill in any splintering etc.
Plus you could use an Aluminium section to slot/slide the shelves into. You may need to do some research to find the channel that fits well.

 

[recipio]

It looks easy but thee are so many pitfalls, Firstly you must be in control of the project. Asking suppliers to dimension panels is inviting trouble and will cost you. A saw that cuts chip free and dead square cuts is essential. 18 mm stock is preferable - all the 16 mm melamine panels look too ' skinny ' in my view.
The back should be rebated and screwed to add stability - two pieces will make handling easier.
Lastly I would just use pocket hole screws for all the joints with plastic caps. One bracket to hold it to the wall will stop it tipping. You might also want to add a central bracket to the clothes bar and reinforce the shelves - clothes racks are surprisingly heavy.
That will get you a basic unit . A more professional look will require expensive tools like the Festool Domino or Lamello Zeta. Best of luck.

 

[ChaiLatte]

Lastly I would just use pocket hole screws for all the joints with plastic caps

We might need to know the material and thickness of the existing carcass in order to make such specific recommendations.

Especially on the left hand side of his picture, all the new interior detail will be fixed to the wall of what is there so it has to be thick enough and strong enough for the screws to grip sufficiently to resist the weight of what is on the shelf.

For all the horizontal shelves, I too would be going to Ikea and buying them as pre-cut and edged items. At worst, you'd have to trim non-edged side and back of them to your own dimensions (https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/komplement-shelf-white-30277959/ and https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/komplement-shelf-white-70277957/). That is a lot of the job done for £60 spend.

 

[Richini]

Some interesting ideas coming in thank you. I'm struggling to find any pictures of what's in place currently, but essentially it's a large alcove with block wall on 3 sides and a sliding on the front. I wasn't planning on putting a back panel on inside the space

 

[Richini]

The space is similar to this, just probably twice as wide with sliding doors to the front. This was one we had a carpenter shelf out out for us.

 

[SimonStevensCanes]

Asking suppliers to dimension panels is inviting trouble and will cost you. A saw that cuts chip free and dead square cuts is essential.

Sheet goods supplier with a beam saw should get you perfect cuts with no tearout. In this instance, since the OP is fitting into an existing space and the width/height is therefore critical, I would enquire what the tolerance of the beam saw is and plan accordingly.

Definitely go for paint grade, filler and paint will hide damn near anything.

 

[recipio]

Handling panel boards is certainly difficult. I have found that a hollow ground blade in the table saw works best but I don't own a track saw for comparison. If you can find pre cut panels that fit the project then go for it. All the melamine faced boards are tricky to cut and can leave razor sharp edges. I wouldn't entrust cutting to a supplier unless they can guarantee exact and clean edges.

 

[TRITON]

The cheapest quickest solution was to buy (from IKEA) shelving or bookcase units - just select the size which gives the optimal mix of shelving to rail proportions.

+1

 

[Bingy man]

Thanks for the comments.

Understood on the economics with buying something pre-made from IKEA or similar, but it's not quite the level of satisfaction i'm hoping to achieve. I have several similar projects like this in mind, so i'm happy to buy tools if that's the path, but need to understand the whole process first.

If I work on the basis of getting the sheets cut to size , is the best purchase a dowel jig or a biscuit jointer?

I'm not a complete DIYer novice, just trying to find a solution where I minimise risking wobbly cuts or making silly mistakes and wrecking the material, while I slowly improve my ability.

Thanks

I certainly admire your passion for wanting to have a go yourself and construct your own units but you will need a track saw as it will be far cheaper to buy 8 x 4 sheets of ply or mdf etc . Problem is a decent track saw is not cheap but essential to produce your desired boards to the correct size and equally to achieve consistent results. Next imo would be a router and a selection of bits to achieve your dado cuts , rebates and any profiles you want to produce . Then of course chisels, block plane , drill and multiple bits tbh the list will go on and on. You might want to view the for sale section as there are some really good offers and they will most likely of been looked after . This is why other members have advised you to buy from ikea and adapt it to your needs as it’s cheaper and easier but I guess we all have to start somewhere. Good luck

 

[ColinDeVelen]

I have done something similar with just a good router, good selection of bits, guide bushes and a straight edge. Lot dustier than a saw though, and will take longer. Depends really on how quickly you need it.
If you are able to buy 8 × 4 boards, then so much the better. For a built in like this the factory edge would be a good enough straight edge to guide the router.

 

[HOJ]

Your design is actually very simple to construct, I don’t see the need to buy any expensive tools or equipment, before you know it you’ll end up down a rabbit hole, with having to consider dust extraction as well, a few basic hand tools is all that are needed, such as a fine-tooth panel saw, or even a jigsaw with a good blade, a good square a drill and drill bits a screwdriver, some chipboard screws, screw covers, iron on edging and obviously an iron.

I've spent plenty of time in customers rooms building things like these, with no space to set up a track saw, and with just a pair of trestles, you adapt to the environment and just need to keep it simple and effective.

All the "sheds" sell the prefinished MFC boards in given widths, so all you need to do is cut them to length and screw it together, use some masking tape where your marking the cut lines, with regards the shelves, stagger them and fix with screws through the side and middle panels, you don’t need dado's, I would make some of them adjustable by using shelf pins, a simple jig can be made for drilling the holes for them.

Depending on how much room in the room you have to build this you could just make the shelf unit as a standalone carcase box, I wouldn’t make a plinth, it can just stand on the floor, and then fix the hanging rails and middle shelf directly to the right hand masonry wall, oh, and fit some angle brackets to tie it to the back walls.

 

[Doug71]

Good advice above from @HOJ, it can be a simple job, don't overcomplicate it.

 

[Richini]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. It's amazing all the different approaches that can be taken, appreciate the time everyone's taken to leave some wisdom.

@HOJ I like your approach thanks. How would you keep the carcase square for screwing together? And which screws would you recommend please?

 

[Doug71]

This popped up on my Youtube last night, he's selling his square jig really but it does show building shelves can be easy with just basic tools.

 

[recipio]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. It's amazing all the different approaches that can be taken, appreciate the time everyone's taken to leave some wisdom.

@HOJ I like your approach thanks. How would you keep the carcase square for screwing together? And which screws would you recommend please?

About two years ago I build a black laminate wardrobe for a customer. I would have settled for black ash panel boards but couldn't find them. In my naivety I decided to use those spiral cams that hold most IKEA furniture together.
The whole thing was a disaster. First I let the supplier cut the 8 x 4 panel down to size - they were a few mm out of course.
Secondly the fixings required a hole to be drilled near the edge which them crumpled as the panels are laminated wheetabix essentially.
The whole thing stood like a large rhomboid and I wondered how I would ever get it square. I hit on the idea of routing a rebate on the back edge , inserting a 6 mm back which had been cut dead square and pulling the unit square using a long clamp across the diagonal. It worked thankfully. The rest of the shelving was fitted with pocket hole screws - I would consider screws with plastic caps on the outside to be ugly and amateurish.
I obviously learnt a lot. I think large carcass units like this are best put together using dependable K/D fittings like the Festool Domino or Lamello Zeta fittings. Pocket hole screws are OK as long as you have a back to stabilize the unit.
Panel boards cannot be treated like plywood - they are simply not suitable for routing dadoes or just screwing them together. Fail to prepare .......and all that. Now I'm saving up for a Lamello Zeta.

 

[HOJ]

How would you keep the carcase square for screwing together?

I use similar solutions to the one in Alistair's vid, that @Doug71 linked to, but a more simple construction, one consist of 3 pieces in the form of an L shape made with 2 pieces and the 3rd square piece to make a web brace (screwed together) the other is simpler still and just a square board with holes drilled through, so my Bessey clamps pass through, as in:

And which screws would you recommend please?

I typically use these: Carcass screws

I would consider screws with plastic caps on the outside to be ugly and amateurish.

I do get what you say, I try not to, if its in a situation where they would be very evident, or on show, but if you see any of the Sharps builds for instance, it is an acceptable and functional option, and in this case, its all in a cupboard with doors on, being made by someone for themselves, who has limited tools, so certainly not going to spring for a Domino machine or a Zeta (which still uses cover caps to hide the locking screw holes)