The Final Two Feet
Well this is the final part. It was a little longer than a short description.
This closet has 10 foot ceilings. While that space can only be reached with a stool or a ladder, it is still valuable storage space. There is a major flaw though in just using this space as shown in the picture. The two 45 degree bookcase have a triangular opening behind them. If something falls into this opening, it is 8 feet down. Retrieving any items that fall down there would be difficult to near impossible.
My solution was to build a topper. Unfortunately I dont have any pictures of the build process, so I will describe in some detail. I started with a 4'x8' piece of 1/2" sanded plywood (ACX type) I purchased this at Home Depot and they cut it length wise at 2'. The was mostly so I could transport it home. I then took some 24" wide butcher paper and made a template of both sides. The left template covered from the back wall to the front wall (within about 2") and the right template from the back wall to the end of the bookcase on that side.
Placed the templates on the two pieces of 1/2" plywood and cut them out using a Dremel Saw-Max and a hand held Jig saw. Performed a dry fit and made some minor tweaks to the cuts. To provide proper support in the far corners, I placed two ledger boards of 1"x2"lumber in each corner to provide the corner support.
Putting these plywood pieces in for the dry fit, was difficult, especially the left side. There was not a lot of room to maneuver. This led me to build this last two feet with dowels so that it could be assembled in place if necessary. Using standard melamine shelving, I ripped this down to same width as the Billy Bookcases are deep. On the left side of the closet I used four pieces, one 18" long and two 22" long as vertical support pieces and then one long piece as the top. I did cut dadoes in the two 22" vertical pieces for the top piece. The reason for the 22" will be explained later. Finally I cut a piece of the 1/2' sanded plywood to form a back. To better accommodate the back, I cut rabbits or reduced the width in all the melamine support pieces. The one center vertical support piece I lined up with the vertical side pieces of the bookcases below. This is where the 30" and 15" bookcase meet.
NOTE: In retrospect I should have lined this up with right side of the 30" bookcase instead of the left side of the 15" bookcase. If you know what to look for, you can see a large gap under the vertical style that covers this vertical piece. This gap would have been on the far side when looking at this area from the closet entrance and would have looked much better.
The right side of the closet was similar, except there was no vertical support piece, just the two 22" end pieces and the long top piece. The remainder was built the same as the left side.
I knew from the dry fit that the left side would have to go in first. I would need the space on the right side to maneuver this into place. After a few unsuccessful tries to place the assembled shelf in place, I gave up. It was not going to fit. I was fairly certain that without the bottom plywood, it would fit. So I took a chance and screwed in the top melamine piece and the back plywood piece. Also this would be needed for this shelf piece to have the necessary stability to be maneuvered into place. The bottom relied on the dowels and the weight of the upper part. I then placed the bottom plywood piece in place with the dowels protruding. This was the easy part. Through some careful maneuvering and a little help, I managed to move the shelf into place and it slipped down onto the dowels. I then realized I could slide the entire shelf out. That allowed me to place screws from the bottom through the plywood and into the left vertical support and the middle vertical support.
I carefully moved the entire assembly back into place. At this point I secured the entire assembly by using screws inserted into the vertical sides of the bookcase height extensions below. This is why I was not concerned about the attachment of the height extensions. These two top shelves secure and stabilize the extensions. The right side moved into place as single piece and was attached to the height extensions.
The final part was to finish off the bookcase trim. Finished off the bottom with the baseboard I removed from the closet in the very beginning. Installed a 4" piece of melamine on the top in the shelf between the to two 22" vertical supports. This was done on both sides. A small soffit was built out of the melamine and place on the back wall between the two sides. This was needed to support the crown moulding. I then wrapped this top section with high density MDF casing material to provide the final support for the crown moulding. To cover up the vertical joints between the individual bookcases, I ripped down high density MDF casing and place this over the joints. Finally I did the same thing to cover the horizontal transitional between the top of the height extensions and the 1/2" plywood.
The final result is shown below. A careful look will show that two vertical styles are missing. Some of the items in the back wall bookcase consume the entire width of the bookcase. For the styles to work, they need to be cut with a 22.5 degree angle on both sides. That would be a trapezoid with about a 1" base and a less than 3/4" top. Ripping this on the table saw was not something I was up for right now. So I have left them off while I use the bookcase and determine what might happen in the future.
To Do List
- Not sure I like the Sheetrock showing on the back wall at the top. Maybe I will place melamine board over this or just paint this area white.
- Make a final decision about the last two styles.
- Some painting to coverup some dings I created while installing the bookcases.
