Linen closet shelving should hold what you need to store.
The traffic generated by the contents of a linen closet mean frequent organizing and reorganizing. Having adequate shelving for items you store in the linen closet can save a lot of energy and time. Since linen closets are often created from odd bits of leftover space, putting up shelves will take careful measuring. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Design and Supplies
1. Decide what you will store in the closet. The number of shelves and the amount of space between them can be customized to contents. In general, shelves deeper than 18 inches are hard to keep organized, but shelves that deep are good for storing bath sheets or quilts.
2. Measure and mark closet walls for shelves. Unless there is an obvious slant to the floor, an easy way is to measure bottom-up from the floor, then check and correct markings with the carpenter's level.
Record your measurements and calculate how many feet of 1-by-2-inch support lumber you will need to hold the shelves in place. For each shelf, calculate support on three sides; add the width of the shelf to the depth times two. For example, if your closet is 38 inches wide and your shelves are 16 inches deep, add 38 to 32 for a total of 70. Multiply 70 by the number of shelves. (In this example you would need four shelves, making 280.) Divide 280 by 12 to determine how many feet of support lumber you will need. (In this case 23.3 feet.)
3. Paint your closet, if necessary, and allow paint to dry.
4. Find the studs in your closet walls with a stud finder. Usually, they are 16 inches apart. Drill holes into studs for wood screws to hold the support lumber. You may need to secure support screws with butterfly wallboard anchors to compensate for oddly placed or missing studs.
5. Cut your lumber or have it done where you buy the wood. Having lumber precut can save lots of work time and usually costs very little. If you have any doubts about measurements or your closet is of odd dimensions, cutting your own lumber to fit will produce better results.
Building Your Closet
6. Cut and/or paint lumber if needed. Allow painted lumber at least eight hours to dry.
7. Line up support lumber strips with the markings you made on the closet walls. Drill holes and secure with screws and/or anchors, across the back wall of the closet and both sides.
8. Tip the shelf slightly on one side to fit it over the supports. Some carpenters will secure each shelf to support lumber with another screw or two. Usually the weight of items stored on the shelves is adequate to hold shelves in place. If children will regularly be pulling items out of the closet, additional screws are a good safety measure.
Tags: support lumber, closet walls, lumber will, your closet, Drill holes, each shelf
