Building a "closet" - advice needed

Hello all;

I am by no means a carpenter, but I am going to be attempting to build a wardobe or closed for my bedroom. It will be about 7.5 ft high, 7 ft wide,

22inches deep. There will be about 6 1ft high shelves on either side and the middle will be for hangers.

Question is, would it be easier to build with with plywood, or MDF?

1/2 or 3/4 inch? If using 1/2 inch, would screws or wood glue and nails be better? Do they sell ply wood in 5/8 thickness?

I build a small shelf with 3/4 MDF. It was really heavy and used screws. Seemed to be ok, but just wondering if plywood on a smaller thickness would be doable.

Thanks

Reply to
Jon
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Jon,

Have you ever done this before? Do you have the tools? If it's a closet, then you'll probably frame it out of 2X4 yellow pine and cover it inside and out with wall board. Be sure to locate the wall studs since you'll use these studs and your framing studs to support the shelves or drawers. You'll also want to attach your closet to some of the wall studs There are probably library books on adding a closet. Also books on building a wardrobe. I don't see you doing a good job on a wardrobe without a table saw.

Dave M.

Reply to
David L. Martel

MDF is smooth, easily painted, cheaper than plywood. It is also much heavier, does not glue as well or take screws as well as plywood. There are screw made for MDF and it is also prone to poor fit when a screw makes a little raise section. This is best eliminated by making a little countersink on the mating side beforehand.

Plywood, IMO, is easier to assemble, can be made in natural or stained finishes. It can also have an exposed edge that looks crappy if not covered.

Take a look at some plans for such things, or large cabinets. Given the size, it would make sense to build a frame of 2 x 3's or 2 x 4's and put a plywood or MDF covering over it. If it is going to be a built in, you can use drywall instead of wood.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

3/4" plywood is lighter and stronger, have them cut it to sizes for you at the supplier. 1/2" may not hold the weight of anyone's foot climbing up its shelves to reach the top. build it strong to last.
Reply to
buffalobill

That's a sizeable wardrobe...you need to build it strongly.

  1. MDF is weak

  1. Ply is strong but doesn't glue real well face to edge. Screws help but screws into ply edges aren't great.

I'd use 3/4 ply and attach the bottom and top to the sides by gluing/screwing hardwood cleats to the sides and attaching the top/bottom to the cleats by gluing & screwing. You can position things so the cleats don't show. You could use thinner ply instead of

3/4 but it should be framed with solid hardwood. When I built a similarly sized room divider I used two pieces of 3/4 ply fastened together for the sides; i.e., sides were 1 1/2.

The internal vertical dividers should be firmly attached to the top and bottom.

The thing that will add a lot of strength and keep the cabinet from twisting is the back. Best would be 1/2" ply, next best 1/4" ply,

1/4" hardboard acceptable. Regardless, it needs to be well fitted to the sides/top/bottom and screwed/nailed and glued to them and to the internal vertical dividers. It can be lapped over the cabinet frame members - in which case the edge will show - or recessed into a rabbet.

Ply edges can be covered with either solid wood or veneer tape. The veneer can either be purchased ready made in common wood species or home made. To make your own, rip off strips 1/16 to 1/8 thick from a piece of stock about 1/8 wider than the ply thickness. Coat one side of the strip with white glue ("Elmers", eg) and let dry (best if ply edge is also coated). It can then be ironed onto the ply edge with a household iron. Trim excess with a small plane or file.

Solid wood is somewhat more difficult as there is more to trim and it is easy to damage the ply veneer. That can be avoided by not trying to make it cover just the ply edge...let it overlap and become a design element. Suppose, for example, you don't recess the back and instead cover it with a piece of wood 1 1/2" wide. Now, on the front edge of the side, use a piece of wood wide enough to overlap the side by a bit more than the thickness of the piece covering the back edge. On the side - behind the front overlap - apply another piece so that you have an "L" which is visually as wide as the piece covering the back. The front strip is a bit too wide to be flush to the strip behind it but - being solid wood - can easily be planed down without fear of damaging the ply.

Reply to
dadiOH

Nobody mentioned this, but you might want to double check the measurement you want for the depth. I bring this up as my wife and I just had plans made for our house, and one of the things she was picky on was the closet. I think normally they are about 2-1/2 feet, but when you put a heavy (thicker clothes) on a hangar, you barely close the closet door(s).

So she had the plans made up to be 3' depth. She just wants a bit of movement in the closet. So if you are going to hang things, verify your items you will be putting in there and what depth you really need.

One last thing, remember that it is the inside dimension that will need to hold the hangars and it's clothing which will make the outside dimension larger.

Just an FYI.

Tim

Reply to
Tim

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