Hi,
I’m doing a rather “unorthodox” build of an inbuilt cupboard.
As the walls are made of brick, I don’t want to use traditional cabinetry/boxes which would cover the brick / reduce air
circulation and very possibly lead to mold problems.
A very rough drawing of the 3 wall cavity (left) and frame which breaks down the builtin (right) into sections (see attachment or link at bottom).
Brief description of builtin construction
The builtin will be some 2,6m tall, 0,75m wide and 0,6m deep.
The builtin is basically the frame, a drawer case and 2 shelves.
Looking at the drawing on the right we have (looking from floor to ceiling):
-toe kick (a board will be attached across the width of the builtin)
-2 drawers – drawer case slides into frame and at back sits on adjustable legs/
screwed to wall/frame as needed
– shelf screwed to drawer case top (for next section above)
– 2 doors for the section for hanging clothes .
– smaller 2 door section at top eg for blankets (there is a shelf which is supported by 3 boards
screwed to the 3 walls)
Doors are eurostyle, inset at carcass level attached to the vertical members of frame
I would appreciate help with following points:
There are tiles laid vertically on walls at floor level (cca 10mm thick) , frame is cca 25mm thick and I want to have 50mm wide trim molding around frame(do I pad the whole frame
or parts of it with pieces of wood (eg screwed/glued) to allow trim to be nailed near the wall ?
How is it best to attach the frame to the walls ?
When using expanding foam, I guess I need small shims just to get frame plumb, trim nailed on one side, then fill with foam and later trim foam and attach trim on other side.
If using screws , are small shims good enough or a substantial piece of wood scribed to the wall ?
Would 3 screws through each vertical member be enough (I guess the horizontal member at ceiling level doesn’t need to be screwed to the ceiling)?
Is it better to screw the frame or use expanding foam ?
Drawing:
http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu108/vjekob/apartment_new_builtin.jpg
Replies
Vjeko,
It is one of the curses of my professional shop that we need to make this type of unit from time to time. So allow me a very opinionated view, based on far too many of these kind of built-ins...
I will never agree to make it the way you are suggesting, because it means fitting every single part to the niche on site. Without even knowing what price you quoted, I can tell you that it's not nearly enough. And the odds are that at some point you will lose patience with the crooked walls, and do a job that you aren't proud of in the end.
Take the measurement of the opening, and build an entire face-frame unit to fit the space. You then need to deal with only the coping of the 4 external frame pieces to the walls, floor, ceiling. The inside will be finished before it leaves the shop.
Your concerns about air circulation are unfounded. If you are certain that there is a source of humidity coming through the brick, find a way to vent it.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?lang=e&id=1
Hi David,
Thanks for the reply !
As I can see from your web page, you're a pro
and have this in the tip of your finger (although you don't like
these solutions ;)) but I'm a beginner, so your description skips a few details which are stopping me - could you please elaborate on a couple of these points / check if I "read between the lines
correctly?(a) I will be hanging eurostyle doors and the frame I was planning was - 25mm * 100mm vertical and horizontal frame pieces
- stopped dadoes in vertical pieces
- screws through verticals into end grain of horizontals to hold everything together
Is this the type of frame you were thinking of as I want eurostyle look ?(b)I was unsure of how to attach the frame to the wall/shimming.
Did I understand you right, you would:
- build the frame
- cut the 4 pieces which go between the frame and wall (not sure if they are exact width/thickness/lenght as the frame pieces they mate with)
-scribe the 4 pieces to the wall
- screw/glue the 4 pieces to the frame and screw through the frame into the wall (I was thinking of using 50mm plastic plugs and screws).
I was thinking 3 screws in each vertical member would be enough.
- cut and scribe trim molding (simple 50mm wide, 15mm thick round-over edge)and nail to front and back.How do you take care of drawers and shelving - is it as I described ?
(build drawer case which slides into frame / shelves supported by wood pieces screwed to the walls)Is the above procedure better than padding frame for nailing trim molding and fixing with expanding foam ?
Vyeko,I don't have a drawing program handy, so here's a simple sketch on how I'd do it. Basically, build the entire box as one integral unit in the shop. I make the face frames flush with the inside of the box, and ripped at 45° on the outside edges to make it really easy to hand plane them to fit the wall opening. Once the box fits its niche in the house, the fixing becomes trivial. It's often enough to use adhesive caulk around the unit, but you can always send 2 screws and anchors right thru the cabinet back into the rear wall to really hold it in place.David Ring
http://www.touchwood.co.il/?lang=e&id=1
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