This was a nice job that produced a dramatic improvement while still being simple and easy.
The customer had a wall unit that had bowed, sagged and warped. The shelves were not longer even level. She asked if I could “fix” it economically and I told her that we would need to re-build it. No other “fix” would be worth the effort.
Including planning and material pick-up, it took me about 3 days and about $600 in materials. I have another day of painting and a few more hours to make the shelves. If I remember, I’ll post a final picture.
Here is is before I started. Believe me, it looks better in pictures than in real life.
The bottom shelf (basically, a counter) needed to be re-leveled. I used a new piece of MDF to overly the old shelf and shimmed it as needed. The front edge will be covered later.
A new header was needed. It only needed to be held up until the vertical panels are installed, so I glued it and used the old vertical panels as braces.
I bought a shelf pin jig from rockler and used painter’s tape to mark it up so I wouldn’t accidentally drill a hole in the wrong spot.
Here, the 6 panels are completed. The 4 center panels are doubled up for strength and appearance. The also have shelf pin holes on both sides. Notice the painter’s tape marking which end is the bottom. I don’t want to make any mistakes now.
I used gauge blocks to maintain a consistent distance between panels. This way, any shelf can go in any section except for the middle section which is a little wider.
And here it is almost done. It still needs painting and shelves. The room will also be getting crown molding which will help to finish it off and tie everything together.
Replies
Good save!
Did the shelf clips fail? I thought I saw one bent. Or did the holes waller out? I've seen both happen.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Did the shelf clips fail? I thought I saw one bent. Or did the holes waller out?
Both. The shelves were cut just a tad short and the clips were used upside-down causing the clips to bend.
Also, the holes were drilled a little large so the pins moved around reaming the hole larger little by little. That can happen again even with the right-sized holes, but hopefully, it will take another 30 years, which is at least how old the original shelves were.
Nice redo.
What materials did you use?
Chuck S
live, work, build, ...better with wood
What materials did you use?
Originally, I was planning on birch veneer plywood, but one of the local lumberyards had primed jointed 1 X 12 for 2.65/bf. After figuring how much labor I would be saving and that it really didn't cost much more since there would be more waste with the plywood, I went with the 1 X 12.
Since it's edge-jointed and finger-jointed, this stuff is a lot more stable than clear pine. The shelves will be the same material, but I'll rip 1/4" off to make sure that they fit.
Just finished painting and cutting the shelves. There's 20 of them.
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I used a home-made crosscut sled on my table saw. That way, there's no damage to the painted finish as it slides across the table.
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And here are the final pics. I dropped by the house to put in the shelves. The customer just moved in yesterday so she was happy to be able to start organizing. And overall, she was just thrilled with the final results. It does my heart good.
I know this thread didn't generate a lot of comments, maybe there just wasn't much to say about it or maybe it was simply boring. No matter, I enjoyed this little project. I don't get nearly enough opportunities to do this kind of work and I wanted to make sure that I had pictures for my portfolio... which I intend to put together one day.
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Very good job. Not boring at all. Glad she's a happy customer.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
I like it.
Thanks!Amateurs talk strategy, Generals talk logistics.
Great job, I throughly enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures!
Nice job, Don. Reminds me of something my Dad built when I was a kid.
IIRC last year you said you were doing mostly painting and small stuff, so I guess this is a nice job to get. Not an everyday job.
And you got to buy a new tool. And you had a reason.
Nice pics.