Suggestions on the sheet wood for the fireplace shelving

[Raj Vaddi]

Hello everyone, have been out for a while. Howz every one doing? Hope everyone is safe and healthy. The lady of the house has been behind me to get the fireplace shelving finished so that we can have our books stowed away and art items put out on display. I have sketched the following shelving and got it approved by the boss. Any suggestions on what would be the best sheet for such a project ? Attached SketchUp rendering of what I am hoping to build. Boss wants a semigloss eggshell white for the final finish.

 

[larry merlau]

use a good birch plywood for the whole thing and use some face tape on the end grain you will see.. and paint away leave the back off to spray then attach the back painted separately

 

[larry merlau]

also looks like your toe kick is reversed, 3.5 up then out 3" is standard sizing

 

[Raj Vaddi]

also looks like your toe kick is reversed, 3.5 up then out 3" is standard sizing

Good catch Larry. I will make the adjustment.

 

[Charles Lent]

I would build them self standing, meaning not directly attached to the fireplace, and I would build them using a face frame with the face frame edge adjoining the fireplace scribbed and cut to fit the the brick/mortar tightly after the shelving is installed. Build the cabinets/shelves in the shop where you can cut, assemble, and glue them together accurately. Install all of the face frame minus the edge to be scribbed to the fireplace and do this piece during the cabinet installation.

If the cabinet goes all the way to the ceiling in your design, it will be impossible to build, and then install a one piece full height cabinet, since you need it to be short enough to allow tipping the finished cabinet up into place. Crown moldings are usually used at the top to help hide the needed gap at the top when cabinets are shop built and then installed. An alternative is to build each cabinet/book case in two stacking sections that in total height would equal almost the ceiling height. Even then, variations in floor to ceiling height makes it best to design the cabinet height about an inch or so short of ceiling height and then cover the gap between it's top and the ceiling with crown molding.

All of these situations are the "Gotcha's" of first time floor to ceiling cabinet builders. You just need to think them through and avoid them in your design, and not after finishing and attempting to install them. Larry's suggestions definitely apply as well.

Good luck with your build, however you go about it. Please post pics and comments of your progress.

Charley

 

[Raj Vaddi]

Charley, Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. I have built cabinets once before, but they are for the garage storage. You have given me some useful tips that I have not thought. As you mentioned there is a height difference of about 1/4 inch from one side of the fireplace (shorter on the left). I was thinking about how to address the issue and your pointers are definitely helpful. Off i go to find plywood as home depot and lowes near me have run out of plywood. Will start posting pictures on my progress once I secure plywood. Thank you a bunch.

 

[larry merlau]

you already have the separation point in your drawing the bottom section looks to be deeper than the top so that is where you make the split like charley mentioned

 

[Charles Lent]

Home Depot and Lowes plywood is crap. Find a real plywood supplier. The Wurth Group is one of them and they have locations all over the country. If none near you, ask a local cabinet shop where they get their plywood. Independent lumber yards that cater to builders even have better plywood than Home Depot and Lowes. Usually at better prices too. For cabinets, I always buy 3/4" Birch Cabinet plywood. It's even really 3/4" thick, with one good side and one with maybe a few small plugs. A/B quality. The last that I bought was $38 per 4X8 sheet. This stuff is a giant step up in quality from the Home Depot and Lowes junk. It's even flat. I've never found any metal in it either, and have several times with plywood from Lowes. It's really sickening when you hit metal with a nearly new $140 Forrest Blade.

Solid wood for making a face frame, even one that only covers the plywood end grain, can be made from poplar and produces good results for painted cabinets, or if you will be staining the cabinet, soft maple is a very close match in color and appearance to the birch used in the surfaces of the birch plywood. I use it frequently when making cabinets from the birch plywood. It isn't as expensive as hard maple either, usually running only slightly higher than poplar. Wherever you get the plywood usually has hardwoods too. Buy from them, not the big box stores. You will get better quality at lower prices. It's outrageous what Lowes charges for poplar, maple, and red oak hardwoods.

Use shims or make your toe kick area slightly different for the height difference. It will be less likely noticed there. For 1/4", just shims will be enough, Then apply a small molding to both to hide the shims and make the appearance the same.

The cabinets that I've been making over the last few years have been for the NC Science Museums and are custom made Exhibits Cabinets. I do everything from concept to completion of the exhibits including electrical, hydraulics, pneumatics, programming, etc. but I don't do the graphics. They have a department for that. It's sometimes quite a challenge.

I volunteer my services for this. I'm a retired EE Automation Engineer that once created control systems for large scale high speed integrated circuit manufacturing.

Charley

 

[Don Baer]

I used to buy sheet goods from Ganahl Lumber when I lived in So Cal. I believe they have a location near you. Good products and good pricing.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

I used to buy sheet goods from Ganahl Lumber when I lived in So Cal. I believe they have a location near you. Good products and good pricing.

+1 for Ganahl. Another possibility would be Austin Hardwoods in Santa Ana.

 

[Raj Vaddi]

I used to buy sheet goods from Ganahl Lumber when I lived in So Cal. I believe they have a location near you. Good products and good pricing.

Don, they do not have any lumberyards in NorCal.

 

[Raj Vaddi]

Home Depot and Lowes plywood is crap. Find a real plywood supplier. The Wurth Group is one of them and they have locations all over the country. If none near you, ask a local cabinet shop where they get their plywood. Independent lumber yards that cater to builders even have better plywood than Home Depot and Lowes. Usually at better prices too. For cabinets, I always buy 3/4" Birch Cabinet plywood. It's even really 3/4" thick, with one good side and one with maybe a few small plugs. A/B quality. The last that I bought was $38 per 4X8 sheet. This stuff is a giant step up in quality from the Home Depot and Lowes junk. It's even flat. I've never found any metal in it either, and have several times with plywood from Lowes. It's really sickening when you hit metal with a nearly new $140 Forrest Blade.

Solid wood for making a face frame, even one that only covers the plywood end grain, can be made from poplar and produces good results for painted cabinets, or if you will be staining the cabinet, soft maple is a very close match in color and appearance to the birch used in the surfaces of the birch plywood. I use it frequently when making cabinets from the birch plywood. It isn't as expensive as hard maple either, usually running only slightly higher than poplar. Wherever you get the plywood usually has hardwoods too. Buy from them, not the big box stores. You will get better quality at lower prices. It's outrageous what Lowes charges for poplar, maple, and red oak hardwoods.

Use shims or make your toe kick area slightly different for the height difference. It will be less likely noticed there. For 1/4", just shims will be enough, Then apply a small molding to both to hide the shims and make the appearance the same.

The cabinets that I've been making over the last few years have been for the NC Science Museums and are custom made Exhibits Cabinets. I do everything from concept to completion of the exhibits including electrical, hydraulics, pneumatics, programming, etc. but I don't do the graphics. They have a department for that. It's sometimes quite a challenge.

I volunteer my services for this. I'm a retired EE Automation Engineer that once created control systems for large scale high speed integrated circuit manufacturing.

Charley

Charley, thank you for the suggestions. I have found an independent lumber yard locally and have ordered 3/4" birch. Also, like you said they are 3/4" thick, unlike the big box stores plywood. I found them for 43$ per sheet (i guess trade-off of living in NorCal) and they also offered me to deliver them home if I buy more than 10 sheets. so, I have got free home delivery for buying 15 sheets. Thanks for the suggestion on using hardwood for the face frame. I was going to do with the plywood itself but I took your suggestion and also ordered poplar. Waiting on them to deliver sheets and wood stock home. Honestly, I would have liked to apprentice under you if you are living anywhere closer to me .

 

[Charles Lent]

Sorry, I'm at the wrong side of the Country from you, and not doing much woodworking, or anything else much any more. I'm kind-of bionic now, with many metal and other foreign parts in me now. I even run on batteries, since they put a pacemaker in me last Fall. I still volunteer and build smaller exhibits for the NC Science museums, but they aren't asking much any more either. So I'm just happy to pass along my knowledge and experiences when I see that I can help someone in need.

Charley

 

[Raj Vaddi]

Sorry, I'm at the wrong side of the Country from you, and not doing much woodworking, or anything else much any more. I'm kind-of bionic now, with many metal and other foreign parts in me now. I even run on batteries, since they put a pacemaker in me last Fall. I still volunteer and build smaller exhibits for the NC Science museums, but they aren't asking much any more either. So I'm just happy to pass along my knowledge and experiences when I see that I can help someone in need.

Charley

Greatly appreciated Charley.