Replies

1. 
   JDRHI | Jan 25, 2005 09:23pm | #1

   I usually find it easier to build modulars, and install them individually. If only to be able to work comfortably on the gound. Even if its just the boxes themselves....hang em and then add the faceframes as required.

    Be sure to stay several inches from ceiling....height of crown and then some. Don`t want to find out how out of level that old porch ceiling is the hard way.

   Be sure to incorporate a least one fixed shelf about mid height of the floor to ceiling units to ensure units don`t bow over time.

   Paint or stain grade plywood is my choice depending upon your desired finish.

   J. D. Reynolds

   Home Improvements

   "DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"

2. 
   DougU | Jan 26, 2005 03:10am | #2

   rip

   A lot of what Jaybird says plus,

   I'd build them as modules, make sure you have some allowance for scribe, nothing looks worse than having to put a piece of molding to hide your space between the box and the wall.

   I would install the faceframe on while I was building the case. Do the whole thing, that way all you have to do is install them.

   Make sure you account for the crown as Jay mentioned, also for any base that you may want.

   Plan it all out, build it in the shop/garage and then install.

   Doug

3. 
   DanH | Jan 26, 2005 05:11am | #3

   Before you go too much farther, how well insulated is this place, and how cold does it get there? Placing bookcases against an outside wall is an invitation for condensation to form behind the books.

4. 
   Piffin | Jan 26, 2005 05:18am | #4

   here is my concern about this - just something to check out...

   Too many places from back then had porches thart were woefully inadequate structurally and from a viewpoint of the foundation. They were only intended to be a sort of umbrella for sitting out in.

   Then they added the weight of the windows and walls

   Now you want to add the weight of books and cabinetry...

   Do you see where I'm going with this?

   spend a little time analysing the structure of the floor and foundation first.

    

    

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1. 
   tuffy | Jan 26, 2005 07:01am | #5

   But what to do with the waterbed, then?

2. 
   ripmeister | Jan 26, 2005 03:45pm | #6

   I understand this concern but to answer it as well as a previous one this room is fine structurally as well as in terms of insulation.  I'm not sure I agree with putting face frames on the cabs prior to installation.  It seems to me that I would have a little more wiggle room by mounting the boxes first and then applying face frames piece by piece.  I didn't note before that this room is paneled in solid pine.  I plan on doing the job in pine and staining to match which would allow me to use the existing wall as the backs of the cases if I were to in some way come up with a method to simply mount a shelf around the perimeter of the room as well as a nailer along the ceiling plane set out from the wall a depth equal to the shelf  to which I could then attach face frames.  This would save a tremendous amount on materials as well as labor.  The big question is whether there is a way to do this that would be structurally adequate to carry a load of books.  I do have a couple of spots between window banks where I plan on floor to ceiling units which could act as "posts" so to speak for a shelf but the problem would be in the two outside corners where the windows don't allow any sort of floor to ceiling application.  The bottom line is a shelf at this point would essentially be cantilevered from the wall out.  I'm thinking that the full cabs attached to the wall may be the only way to go.