Built In bookshelves, dressers, Etc

[Durnik]

To all,

Some design advice and any "don't do that" would be helpful.

So, I have a finished attic with 4' knee walls around 3 sides (the 4th wall is tall and leads to one exit, the full bathroom and a HVAC room). It's about 700+ square feet (lots of room). It was my daughter's suite before she moved out and I'd like keep it as a bedroom with one wall (the 4th one) a sitting area with a small 5.1 home theater setup (already wired in). So, the plan would be to turn the 3 remaining walls into built in book shelves (I have a ton of books), with built in shelves, dresses, night stands and all the rest.

So, some questions I have run into the following:

1) I'd like to do 4' long sections that are either book shelves or a dresser, nightstand, Etc. I realize 4' long 20" deep bookshelves are large, but I'm thinking the actual shelf length would be about 46" approximately and I could add shelf pins in the middle and use 1" plywood with a hardwood front as the shelves. They'd be deep enough for multiple rows of books or handling albums and nick nacks. Is that too much (the sag calculator doesn't include what the middle shelf pins would add to it). Since I'm going to cut downstairs, I'm going to have the hump the parts up 3 floors to assemble and looking at a 3' ruler, 3' seems way small. Note: I do realize I can't cover the access panels in the knee walls (fire code), so maybe put something in front of those that is not built in (maybe just only nick nack shelves). Note: I'm planning to use pocket hole, glue and pin nails as much as possible
2) If you were doing this, would you pull the carpet back and build onto the floor directly, or just cut the baseboard and push the shelves up against the wall resting on the existing carpet?
3) If I build it so it sits on the carpet and leave the baseboard in place, I'd have about a 1" gap to shim and then extend the outlets into the shelves. Not scared of this, electrical I can do easily, but would you see any downfall to this?
4) I'd like the tops to appear as seamless as possible, e.g.multiple units in place and then lay a long piece of top wood so it appears as one piece as much as possible. E.g, like kitchen cabinets with a granite top
5) I'm looking to do painted shelves, would a Graco airless sprayer work (I'm buying one anyway to paint the attic and other places in the house).. If so, what's the best paint. I've read many posts on paint types and with books my biggest concern is "sticky" paint marring the books or the books sticking to the shelves

I know it's a lot of questions, but before I get in to deep, I'd love to hear from people that have done built ins before and find out any pitfalls I may be causing myself (e.g, I'll cut the big pieces in the garage shop and can do the finish work with small miter saw with plastic sheeting to protect the room. Humping 4x8 sheets up 3 floors seems silly to me

My thanks,
Bob

 

[chris_goris]

First off, 20" is too deep and it seems itll really cut into your floor space as well. It may not seem like it but once its in there, it will. Make the sitting area only 20" deep , otherwise these will become the land of the lost for whatever goes in them!. DO NOT build on carpeting. There are many choices for topcoats but make certain its either 100% acrylic latex or Lacquer to avoid "sticky" surfaces (latex never truly hardens). I prefer Sherwin Williams Pro/Classic myself.

 

[Roy G]

In my pantry I have shelves that are 16" wide. I got some supports from HD that fit onto vertical pieces that have slots to receive the supports. It's like the inset pieces in bookcases with adjustable shelves but on a bigger scale. You could position these supports every 2 feet or so for good support regardless of the weight on the shelves. I think Lee Valley shows these supports in their catalog.

Roy G

 

[kelLOGg]

My "office" has a 4' knee wall separating the room from the attic. I installed bookcases recessed into the attic, insulated them and it has worked well for about 40 years. If your 4' wall has unused space behind them maybe this will work for you.

 

[Durnik]

Thanks all for the replies. I was thinking that pulling up the carpet and building on the (is it called the sub floor or underlayment), the proper choice. Also, thank you for the paint recommendation, do you think a Graco airless sprayer would work well, or do I need to spring for a HVLP system? Finally kelLOGg, wish I could recess them, but behind the knee walls is more HVAC ducting that I've ever seen with the feeds for the Attic and the floor below (including the returns). Also, I'll cut back the depth to just deep enough to hold LP records.

You all are awesome and thanks so much for the replies, I'll post back some picks when I get started and show some progress

Bob

 

[Wilsoncb]

Agree, 20” is too deep. Albums are less than 12”…books are even less.

Graco airless sprayer will work fine. You can shoot enamel or laytex without thinning. Just be prepared to move fast, especially on vertical surfaces. Do some experimenting with dialing the pressure back. I highly recommend Benjamin Moore Advance. It lays flat, covers well and will dry hard, but not right away. It’s sandable after a day, but might take a week to fully cure. BM also has a decent product called Command, I have not tried it yet, but from what I have seen, it’s like Advance, but sands better (and sooner). Many people swear by SW Pro Classic, but I have found it harder to get right…and takes even longer to get hard (so you have to wait longer between coats to sand).

 

[mikeyt]

I painted my kitchen cabinets with a Graco airless and BM Command.
I have painted before but definitely not a pro and it was an easy process that turned out nice.

 

[Durnik]

To all,

Thanks so much for the guidance. Birthday coming up and Graco on the list so I should be set (have everything else other than the plywood). Once again, can't thank you all enough for the guidance.

Bob

 

[Barry W]

Bob, I am sending you a PM with information regarding bookcases that you may find beneficial.

 

[Wilsoncb]

To all,

Thanks so much for the guidance. Birthday coming up and Graco on the list so I should be set (have everything else other than the plywood). Once again, can't thank you all enough for the guidance.

Bob

I don’t know what type of airless unit you are looking at, but here is some food for thought. There are two types, handheld that has the paint, pump and sprayer together. Then the type that has the paint at the pump feeding it 20 feet through a line to the sprayer.

I had the latter and got it to stain fences but later used it to do some cabinets. It worked fine but it was a pain to clean and you end up losing a lot of product because of the set up. You can recover some of the product in the line, but it was tricky, especially since it was something I didn’t do on a regular basis. The plus is, even the economy units $300-400 are more than capable of handling thick paint. The minus is the clean up. Graco has some good videos to show the process, but I found it impossible to do without the step by step card in front of me the whole time.

I never had a handheld airless, but it seems like clean up would be easier. I looked into them and thought I would need to go with the Ultra. The TC Pro seemed to be as good, but it can’t use the better tips. The Ultra and TC Pro are the most expensive, but the models below them seem like they are very low use, almost disposable. Then there is the weight having everything together combined with the size of all that when trying to get in tight spaces. So, based on that and their cost level, I decided to look at the Fuji/Earlax turbine systems instead. At that price point I think it gives you a more reliable and flexible system.

It all depends on what you want and if it’s a long or short term buy.

 

[Durnik]

Wisoncb,

That may be where I wind up, but I have a whole interior to spray/roll so I was hoping the Graco could serve double duty. I know Graco says NOT to use any flammable things in it so a different system will be needed in the future for finishes. However, right now it's just going to be painted cabinets. Thank you so much for the insight and recommendation. That looks like the next steps

Bob

 

[Wilsoncb]

Wisoncb,

That may be where I wind up, but I have a whole interior to spray/roll so I was hoping the Graco could serve double duty. I know Graco says NOT to use any flammable things in it so a different system will be needed in the future for finishes. However, right now it's just going to be painted cabinets. Thank you so much for the insight and recommendation. That looks like the next steps

Bob

The roller attachment works good. Get a 5 gallon bucket of paint and just keep rollin'.

 

[Dee2]

This might make a great build "article" for our Resource forum. Please consider.