Closets help keep clutter out of the way.
Many older homes don't have sufficient closet space to hold all the clothing and possessions of a modern family. With a few tools and a weekend of work, you can create another closet in your home and get a lot of your clutter organized. Look over your whole house before beginning and choose a location that is convenient but out of the way for your new closet. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Draw the wall locations of your new closet on the floor using a straight edge and a pencil. If you are using standard studs and ½-inch drywall, your closet walls will be 4½ inches thick.
2. Cut your bottom plates to length, position them inside the lines you drew on the floor, and screw or nail them down. Although wall frames are usually assembled flat and then stood up and installed as a single piece, this method isn't possible when installing a closet in a finished home, because a full height wall will jam against the ceiling when you try to lift it to its vertical position.
3. Install the top plates for your walls directly above your bottom plates. Determine where they go by hanging a plumb bob from the ceiling until its point touches the edges of the bottom plates and marking where the string touches the ceiling. Extend these marks to create lines showing the outlines for the top plates. Screw or nail the top plates into the ceiling, being sure that the screws or nails contact a joist above the ceiling.
4. Measure the distance between the top and bottom plates and cut studs to fit. Install studs every 16 inches along the walls of the closet, remembering to frame an opening for the door.
5. Attach drywall to the inside and outside of your closet walls using drywall screws.
6. Tape, spackle and sand the drywall joints, including the joints between your new walls and the ceiling and your new walls and the old walls that they abut.
7. Install the finish trim around the doorway and the baseboards around the base of the closet. Add a hanging bar inside the closet.
8. Hang the door in the door opening. Orient it so that it swings out.
9. Complete the project by painting the closet to match the existing decor of the room.
Tags: bottom plates, your closet, your walls, closet walls, your bottom