Sunday, January 19, 2014

How To Build Free-Floating Wall Shelves

How To Build Free-Floating Wall Shelves

By Hedrick Lepsch


So you need a shelf in the house but you are looking for something more permanent and probably more eye catching than an Ikea box set. Here is how to build your own free floating shelves.

1. Turn off the Water This is the obvious place to begin to avoid a huge mess. To turn off the water there are a couple different options. Take a look underneath the sink to look for the water valves. They should be simple valves that you twist to shut off the water to the sink (generally these will be quarter turn valves). If they look like very old valves don't touch them as they may have been rusted and twisting them may end up breaking them spilling water everywhere. Instead, head down to the basement and turn off the water from there. Then head back upstairs and take a bowl and place it underneath the valve beneath the sink as some water will spill. Grab a pair of adjustable locking plyers and remove the flexible hoses from the valves.

2. Disconnect the Drain. Directly beneath the sink you will find a drain pipe that goes down from the sink into a u or s bend pipe called the trap. Slide your bowl underneath the trap and take your adjustable plyers and loosen the bold holding the drain pipe to the trap. Now that the pipe is loose you will be able to move the vanity of the bathroom up off the trap pipe and out away from the wall. Check for any screws that may be holding the vanity to the wall. If your vanity does not move hopefully you can completely remove the trap pipe from the pipe flowing into the wall to give yourself some room to maneuver the old sink upwards. Be aware that some water and probably a good amount of filth will come out of the trap pipe as you remove it.

3. Lay the Flux Take a brush and dip it into your flux dish and rub flux around the outside edge of both pipes (I usually use my finger and a rag instead of a brush but a brush leaves less mess). Also place some flux on the inside of the fitting where the two pipes will be inserted. You can also use your steel wool on the fitting before laying down the flux if you wish.

After you have the right width for the shelves you will need to cut the doors again to get the right length. This will leave one end of the shelf with an unattractive opening. Grab the excess door you cut off with the end still intact and chisel out the particle board end piece. Then reinsert the end piece into your newly cut shelf and glue it in, clamp it and let it dry. You will be attaching the shelves to cleats you will install in the wall. In order to install them you will need to chisel back the cardboard inserts in the open end (lengthways) of shelf about 1.5 inches. This will allow the shelf to fit on the cleats snugly.

5. Place the Sink Back Now that the faucet, drain, and wire lines are attached to the sink place the sink back on the vanity base and dry fit it to make sure that everything lines up. If it looks good remove the sink and then add adhesive to the top of the vanity base and place the sink along with top vanity back onto the vanity base. Let the glue or other adhesive dry.

5. Mount the Shelf Once your cleats are mounted and your shelves glue are dried (you can obviously paint or finish your shelf before this last step) apply glue to your shelf. You want to apply your wood glue to the top of the cleat on the wall and the bottom of the insert on your shelf. Take your shelf and slide it onto the cleat making sure it fits smoothly against the wall. Use a square to make sure that the shelf is ninety degrees to the wall and then use a mount to let the shelf dry straight; you can also nail the end of the shelf down into the cleat if you wish to make sure it stay firm.

7. Turn the water back on. First remove your air filter from your faucet. Place your bowl back beneath the pipes and slowly begin to open the valves checking that nothing is leaking. After the valves are open go ahead and open your faucet and watch the water flow into the sink, down the drain pipe, and out of the bathroom without any leaking. Check that the faucet works and the water flows well. Screw back on the air filter, and viola, the job is done. You may find that there is an issue with the plumbing and if that is the case check with a general contractor or plumber before you start playing with the pipes, especially if this is your first time.




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