Xtra tall bookcases - how?

[patrick conroy]

Thinking about doing floor-ceiling bookcases in my study. Ceiling is 9' in there.

In another room I'm doing base cabinets with the bookcase on top of them - to overcome limitations of a 8' sheet of hardwood plywood.

Just wondering - if I want to skip the base cabinet approach - and make a 9' tall bookcase, what are some of the techniques involved? How do you folks get 9' of sides out of a 8' hunk o' plywood?

I've considering asking the same dude that auctioned off the Time Machine to see if he has a plywood stretching machine. Or warping the space time continuum. In the meantime, I thought I'd ask the wreck.

Thanks!

[Charlie Self]

Patrick Conroy asks:

Look for some place that sells 9' plywood. It's available, usually fairly easily found if you check local lumber dealers, plywood dealers, but don't expect to find any at HD or Lowe's.

Failing that, build it 8' tall in 2 sections, with a 1' tall center section with, maybe, a drawer or 2 in it. Might also be a bottom section.

Charlie Self "It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man." H. L. Mencken

[Leon]

Something more important to thing about first, If you build the 9' bookcase as one unit to fit in a 9' tall room, how are you going to stand it up in the room? You will have to get through a door way which means leaning the cabinet over. Now consider that to stand a 9' cabinet up, you need more than 9' of clearance. From front bottom corner to back top corner is more than 9' on a 9' tall cabinet. If your cabinet is only 12" deep at the widest part, a 9' cabinet needs 9'

11/16" of clearance to stand up.

Now for your question of how to stretch 8' to 9', cut the 8' long plywood panel and frame each piece it. let the framing make up the difference. Framing 2 side panels with 3 pieces of 1x4 stock will give you about 10.5" more length overall.

[Tom Watson]

You can set your eight foot bookcase on a six inch plinth and apply a six inch cornice to the top.

Regards, Tom.

Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Stephen M]

Is it a full 9' and almost 9?

Toe section at the bottom and a crown at the top to make up the difference perhaps?

-Steve

[Stephen M]

Sure Tom, go ahead and fing words around like "plinth". You're making me look bad.

;-)

[jo4hn]

[snip]

You can sometimes find 4x10 ply at local outlets. Noticed some at the orange borg once. Then make them in two sections as Charlie says. This has the added benefit that you can get close to nine actual feet (you slide the top part in place, rather than standing the whole thing). mahalo, jo4hn

[patriarch]

"Stephen M" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I was really happy that I didn't have to go and look them up, on Google or otherwise. ;-)

Patriarch

[Pat Barber]

Two units... A five footer and a four footer...

BUT

How are you gonna get to those books up at 7' or 8' ???

patrick c> Thinking about doing floor-ceiling bookcases in my study. Ceiling is 9' in > there.

[Pat Barber]

[Tim Douglass]

I've got a lot of books that I only get to once in a great while (like when I move). A 9' shelf would be great.

Personally I'd build it with a 6" base and close the top with 6" crown. You are going to need to have a bit of working room height-wise anyway because it is very difficult to get a 9' piece stood up in a 9' room.

[patrick conroy]

Thank you Charile, John, Leon, Tom, Stephen, Pat, Tim and Patriarch!

[patrick conroy]

I learned two things, the second being there's no 'e' in plinth.

[RemodGuy]

fabricated and installed floor to ceiling (9') wall to wall cherry bookcases in a den this spring. built a 2x6 base to set each 8' unit on. wrapped it in a cherry base we made. installed a valance backer at ceiling. covered it in a cherry valance and added crown. looked awesome. have pics. will try posting later.

building 9' units is risky. in 10+ years of construction/remodeling/carpentry i have never seen a perfect ceiling or floor. plus, you can't stand a 9' cabinet up in a room with 9' ceilings.

[Tchswoods]

[e-mail] asked

snip:

I would use solid wood for the actual sides: stronger and more species available

[patrick conroy]

Thank you all - got some great ideas!

[Robert Bonomi]

Odd that you should mention that. See Wood Magazine, the June/July 2004 issue. Page 18. Lower right.

[Mike Berriman]

"patrick conroy" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

'fraid I don't know about sides - when I had to do the same thing for a

10' ceiling I used solid pine sides and just ply for the back (which I used two 5' sheets that met behind a fixed shelf in the middle.

As for the walls/ceiling not being square - no biggie - just screw it to the wall and it won't fall over.

And you actually *can* get a 10' bookcase to stand up in a 10' room - IF you have cornices in the room. I cut the cornice profile into the back edge of the side, and it went up without a drama.

And those pesky books getting to the top shelf - build a ladder. Nice one with wheels on it so you can slide it back and forth (although that's kinda pointless for a single bookcase - I had a total of just over 3.6 metres in width by 10' high along a wall).

Hope something in here helps.

[RonB]

Charlie: Think about how you will install and trim the boxes. You can probably make up most of the 1" with the way you construct:

1) You are going to have to be short of 9" just to stand the cases up.

2) If you put your bottom shelf up about 6" - 8" off of the floor, this will allow you to set the "boxes" on a 2x platform and trim up to from the floor to a location on the front of the hardwood box. This trim might consist of several pieces that suggest base trim and some detail. This will give the illusion the bookcases extend all the way from the floor.

3) Likewise you can leave space between the top of the box and ceiling to fill and trim with appropriate mouldings. This will also keep you from dinging up the ceiling when you set them up. As a previous post suggested, you cannot expect the ceiling to be flat. Your top layer of moulding will have to be a little flexible to make for up some of the waves you don't notice now.

[RonB]

Sorry - meant to say 1' not 1"