painting damaged(?) drywall and adding adjustable shelves to closet
I have a question about painting a kitchen closet. The closet is about 30 inches wide and 12 inches deep. It had removable shelves that sat on wooden supports attached to the sides and back of the closet. I am going to paint the closet, so I took out the shelves and pulled off all the supports. The closet was obviously painted after the supports were installed and the paint on the drywall piled up thicker next to the supports. I used a random orbit sander to feather the transition where the painted drywall meets the unpainted drywall. I guess I got too aggressive because I roughed up the paper facing of the drywall. My question is: Will it be okay if I prime the walls and then add the topcoat of paint, or do I need to do any other prep work on the roughed up drywall? I pulled off several supports, of which the largest is about 30 inches by 4 inches. By the way, I pulled off the supports because I want adjustable shelves. I plan to use two vertical boards on each side of the closet to support the shelves. I am going to route a groove in each board to accept those metal shelf support brackets that use the flat metal tabs that can be inserted at various heights. Comments on whether or not this is a good way to put in adjustable closet shelves are also welcome.
Replies
The wood standards that you attach the shelf standards to are going to sitck out and leave a gap next to your shelves.
I'd be inclined to get a sheet of 1/2-in MDO plywood, and cut two pieces to be new side panels for the pantry, and drill two rows of 1/4-inch holes in them to receive shelf support pins.
Another alternative would be to check your local home center, and see if they have predrilled melamine panels in 12-inch widths. One of the HomeDesperates near my old place used to have 8-ft lengths, 12-inches wide predrilled with 5-mm holes every 32-mm, with a 37-mm set back, (this conforms to the "Euro" stnadard). They also had 4X8 sheets of 1/4-inch vinyl covered mdf panels to match. So you could put the white panel in the back of the closet, then cut the sides to width so they would slide in, and have a nice white easily cleaned pantry.
Either alternative would cover up the damaged drywall, and give you a good adjustable support system for the shelves, sith a minimal loss of space.
Regarding your first comment, I planned to put the uprights in each corner of the closet and then notch the corner of each shelf for a nice fit.
I like your idea of MDO plywood, however, since it takes paint well.
Sometimes it helps to use a shellac-based primer on roughened drywall, then sand lightly or scrape to remove the "slubs".
You could also skim over it with some drywall compound first, light sand, drywall prime, prime, and paint.
Thanks for your reply. I was hoping to avoid that, but I am in the process and it's easier that I thought. Guess I'll reserve the random orbit sander to wood!