Built in wardrobes, having problems, any ideas?

[arobinson1984]

Hi,

I'm looking to build a large built in wardrobe in my master bedroom. The wardrobe will have 1 long clothes rail, approx 2.7m long.

The problem is supporting the weight, obviously I'll need 2 or 3 supports along the length of the rail to prevent bowing. The end supports are not a problem, its the middle supports. The problem being the ceiling is plasterboard so I'm not happy about using supports attached to the ceiling due to the weight of clothes etc.

I'm looking to find some sort of bracket that I can fix to the back solid wall of the wardrobe and extend out to the rail but I can't find any that extend far enough. The rail will be roughly 25cm away from the back wall.

I'm looking for something similar to this: http://www.justpoles.com/product.asp?P_ID=8754

I need something along them lines but one that extends further as this only reaches about 13cm.

Any ideas where I can find what I'm looking for, or any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Andy

 

[Burnerman]

Have you considered supporting the pole from the floor?
Much less stress involved that way.....supporting from behind would likely pull screws from the wall.
John

 

[arobinson1984]

Thanks for your reply.

I should have been more clear, I also plan on having 2 or 3 full length shelves along the bottom of the wardrobe which aren't a problem as they will be fitted using shelving brackets, but it does mean that access to the floor for supports isn't possible.

One idea I had considered was using large L brackets upside down to sit the clothing rail on to support the weight, although I'd be surprised if I couldn't find something more suitable, although searches on google etc are proving fruitless.

Andy

 

[foxhole]

The problem is with your design, clothes rails are best kept short as are the shelves, two uprights which reduce shelf and pole length will sort the problem or are you storing a canoe on the shelf?
If you must, you can use brushed steel hand rail to span large gaps, far stronger than clothes rail. I can think of no reason not to fix to ceiling, it can easily take the weight.

 

[arobinson1984]

thanks for the reply foxhole.

I'm starting to think that dividing the wardrobe up into section with upright supports is the way to go.

It would mean that to fix the uprights to the floor, I would have to screw them into laminate flooring with brackets. This possible?

As you can probably guess, I'm not the most diy savvy person going lol

Andy

 

[JohnD]

you could fix them to the walls, then they only need to stand on the floor.

 

[kenmac]

Have you checked in the loft to find out if you could get a fixing in to a joist as the you could spread the weight with a couple of supports

 

[arobinson1984]

The bedroom is a converted garage so doesn't have a loft. It does have beams up in the rafters but no way of finding where they are without drilling hole in ceiling to get mirror and light in.

Thinking I'll go with a high shelf, supported from the 3 walls and 2 uprights, effectively splitting the wardrobe into 3 sections, me, gf and baby.

I can then fix the 3 individual lengths of clothes rail to the underneath of the shelf and still give enough space for full drop which is a must as current wardrobes are not high enough for trousers to hang fully down.

Andy

 

[JohnD]

It does have beams up in the rafters but no way of finding where they are without drilling hole in ceiling to get mirror and light in.

drill a small hole and send in a special steel joist-finding tool (made by bending a wire coat hanger)

 

[rob5]

It would mean that to fix the uprights to the floor, I would have to screw them into laminate flooring with brackets. This possible?

I used wickes aluminium channel to screw to the floor and then slot the uprights into, I thought it was a neater and stronger job and holds the
upright all across the board rather then just at the bracket .
I also fixed the rail to the underside of the shelf but beware the shelf bowing. You might need a thicker/stronger shelf or shorter span to prevent this.
Good luck with the project.
Rob

 

[arobinson1984]

Thanks rob5,

Didnt think of the aluminium channel things so will look into that.

The high shelf will be fastened to all 3 walls as well as having 2 upright supports, I'll also use some long shelf brackets fastened to back wall at different intervals along the shelf so this should hopefully help prevent any chance of bowing.

Andy