Organize your closet with a custom-built rack.
Keeping a neat and tidy closet can pose a challenge for many people. If you hesitate to open your closet door for fear of loose garments and shoes crashing down on you, it's time for you to organize your closet. It doesn't have to cost a lot to put your closet in order. Instead of buying a pricey organizer from a retail store, you can build a closet rack for your clothes, shoes and other items. A hanging closet rack allows you to store large items as well as have room underneath for shoes and other accessories. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Determine the height and width you wish to make your hanging closet rack. Your hanging closet rack should be high enough off of the floor to hang your longest garment and as wide as the closet. You can adjust the size to suit your personal needs. Determine if you want the hanging rack to fit snugly in your closet or on the wall in one section of the closet.
2. Locate the wall studs using a stud finder. Mark the locations of the wall studs with a pencil. Studs are usually 16 inches apart. Also, mark on the wall where you want the top of the closet rack. Your custom closet rack can be as high as you desire. If you want to store items on top of the rack, you might not want the top too close to the ceiling. A good height guideline is 5 1/4 feet.
3. Cut a piece of two-by-six inch lumber about 1/2-inch shorter than the width you plan to make the closet rack. This forms a ledger board, which will serve as a sturdy surface for attaching the rack.
4. Place the top edge of the ledger board on the mark that you made for the top of the rack. Use a level to straighten the board. Drill pilot holes in the board. Attach it to the studs with lag bolts and washers.
5. Build a hanging box, or mounting box, for the rack. Use the measurements of the ledger board to design a mounting box that fits over the board and holds swivel hangers (Hangers that lock into multiple positions). Wearing safety glasses, set a miter saw with the blade at 45 degrees and cut four pieces of birch plywood. Two side pieces should be the same length as the height of your closet rack; the top and bottom pieces should be an inch longer than the ledger board.
6. Lay the four pieces of wood you cut in Step 5 on the floor in the shape of a box. Use wood glue, nails and a nail gun or hammer to secure the four plywood pieces together.
Place a compound miter saw blade at 90 degrees. Cut a piece of plywood so that it fits securely in the box and attach it to the box frame with wood glue and nails.
7. Put wood filler in any joints or cracks in the box and allow it to dry. Sand any rough surfaces.
8. Paint the box with primer and let it dry thoroughly. Paint the box with semigloss paint and allow it to dry.
9. Attach gudgeons and pintles. (Pintles have a pin and gudgeons have a hole for a pin.) Place 1 1/2-inch gudgeons about one to two inches apart on the front of the mounting box and mark the holes with a pencil. Remove the gudgeons and drill a hole in the marks. Place the gudgeons over the holes and secure them with bolts, washers and nuts using a socket wrench. Screw the pintles into the ends of 10- to 12-inch long wooden dowels. (The dowels support the weight of hanging items.)
10. Cut PVC pipes the length of your dowels. The PVC pipes need to be wide enough to slide over the wooden dowels. Slide a PVC pipe over each wooden dowel.
11. Put the mounting box over the ledger board. Attach it to the ledger board with three screws at the top. Place the pintles into the gudgeons. Slide the PVC pipe over the dowels and secure the dowels to the pintles. Each PVC pipe-covered dowel can hold a hanging item.
Tags: ledger board, your closet, closet rack, closet rack, hanging closet, hanging closet rack, blade degrees