large built in book case

[Green Dog]

Hi all. I've searched google but haven't come across anything specifically on what I'm trying to do. I'd like to build a wooden book case which will span the width of a smallish room and also go pretty much from the floor to the ceiling. The wall is nine foot wide by eight foot high. I have a pretty simple design. From the front, with the shelves taken out, it will look something like:

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Actually it will sit on a small "pedestal" to lift it about half a foot from the floor. The shelves will be adjustable in height within each of the vertical sections. The back will be done using sections of ply and the whole lot will be attached permanently to the wall.

My problem is that, while I'm not at all particularly skilled at this sort of thing, I'd be confident enough to build the whole thing if I had a large work area. However, it is going to have to be built in place in the little room hich is going to be a bit tricky. In particular, I'm stumped trying to think of a way of getting the ply onto the back of the thing. Once he above shape is put together, I wont be able to get behind it to screw the ply on. I can't even think of a way of doing it in sections. I want ply at the back because I want an "all wood" look to the thing.

Any ideas? I hope I've managed to convey what I'm trying to do. cheers, gd.

[Paul Mc Cann]

1/ Could you build it face down, apply the back and then stand it ? 2/ Not sure how you intend to construct this but you could apply the ply to the wall first. Trouble is the back of a unit like this is integral to its overall strength so you would have to find an alternative method to strengthen it. There are many ways to do this, or you could just fix the unit to the back (on the wall) when it is up. 3/ Build the unit, brace it as necessary, apply 2 x 1 or whatever around the individual interior sections, at the back. Put unit in place and then fix ply to each individual section on to the 2 x 1. You'll probably have to trim it off after with a piece of quadrant moulding or whatever. 4/ Make 4 individual boxes. Double thickness sides on the the outer face of the two outer ones to match what are going to be double thickness where the unit will abut. Put them in place and fix them together. This would probably be my preferred method as making 4 modules identical is easier. Just a last tip. If doing it this way (trial) install the outer units first and then insert the inner ones. The boxes will have a little give in them if you are tight for space, whereas the wall won't. Also don't assume the walls are vertical or the corners are right angles.

[Adrian Berry]

Build the unit 5-10cm narrower than the wall - this makes it much easier to fit in place as a pre-built unit and removes the difficulty of meeting imperfectly square walls or cutting around skirtingand also gives some latitude to your measurements. Once finished, any gaps can be filled with an appropriately matched architrave, scribed to fit. You could also make the unit slightly shorter - the top gap could then be filled with cornice, pelmet, coving or matching architrave.

Build the plinth section separately - perhaps a simple trussed box, close to the height of the skirting board. This can be faced with plain timber or a matching skirting. The finished shelving unit can then be slid into place and secured before the gapfilling trims are added.

Because the unit is no longer so dimensionally sensitive, components need not be cut and trimmed in situ - the shelves can be built without glueing elsewhere, checked for accuracy, and then dis-assembled for final construction in place.

It's best to have a few fixed shelves to help brace the unit. Have you thought about using bookcase strip in routed grooves for the shelf adjustment?

HTH Adrian

[stuart noble]

You'll save yourself a lot of hassle if you build it in 2 sections. Trying to stand floor floor to ceiling units up is a bugger because the distance from the top front edge to the bottom back edge is more than the ceiling height. Get the pieces cut to size on a panel saw with a couple of "spacers" so that you don't have to keep measuring and locating the distance between shelves.

[Rob Morley]

Here's how I'd do it:

Fix the ply to the wall, making sure it's flat and vertical, and the joins will be hidden behind the uprights. Fit the plinth and the bottom board, place the outside uprights and fix them to the wall using packing pieces as necessary to make sure that they're absolutely vertical and parallel. Place the other uprights, drop the top board onto them and pack it against the ceiling. Finish with architrave around the top and sides.

Everything can be held together with dowels - these only keep the uprights lined up while you're fitting the shelves and don't need to be glued into the horizontal boards, just the uprights. Once everything is assembled it's held together by the walls, the shelves and its own weight.

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