Joe90
Established Member
Hi
See pictures below if you don't like to read long posts... :shock:
I'd love a bit of advice on the best way to carry out some work. The client would like an extension made for an existing wardrobe. The existing wardrobes are quite old and a bit dodgy really but all the same they are in keeping with the house and I think they should definitely stay.
The house is in the center of Dublin city and is a really nice old house, with 10ft ceilings and large plaster mouldings and other features not to be found in modern homes. The house would be worth 1 million Euros if not 2 million... but houses are expensive in Dublin. I'm not sure of the architecture but it is typical of 18th (maybe 19th) century Dublin homes.. i.e 3 or 4 storeys with a basement, and expensive exterior stonework, 12ft inner hall, etc.
Basically the existing wardrobes were built around a fireplace (on the second floor), the fireplace has been removed and the client would like four new doors to be added and shelving etc behind them. Ideally the new doors would have to be in sympathy with the older stuff and ideally the faceframes would be continous, i.e the new doors should be the same size etc and not look like 'bodged in' recent work. The removed fireplace has left a concrete bumpy mess about two foot sqaure and maybe 2 to 3 inches tall, very uneven.
The old cabinets were bowing in the center in a 'U' shape, her husband added new pieces around the side and top to level this off... i.e the new (horizontal) top piece was installed, this left gaps from the center to the left and to the right, these gaps were 0 at the center and increasing to maybe 10mm at the left and right, these gaps were then filled and painted.
(The center was bowing by more than 10mm so the new piece is probably bowing slightly too...)
We discussed the options for an hour or so, she would probably like the remedial work removed and the new additions to be added in the same way they would have been done originally...
Here is the text of an email discussing the options.
email....
.
.
.
I am still thinking about the best way to carry out the work. The options are as we discussed.
Option 1) Pull out the additional remedial work, push up the bowing cabinets using an 'Accro' (a builders support for holding up walls while doors are being knocked through etc.), put in a permanent support to hold up the cabinets, remove the 'Accro', hang the leftmost and rightmost new doors on the existing cabinets, hang the two new central doors on the new supporting piece, fix a new skirting board along the entire length, then install shelves and hanging space behind the new doors (basically in a similar way as to how the existing shelves have been installed). The new central support to hold up the bowing cabinets will need to be full depth, i.e from the front to the back... this would be difficult to do because of the bumpiness of the floor so I think I'd have to put in a false floor about 100mm high, once this is done it should be ok. I have leveling feet which I'd use to level the false floor, I'd also use wooden wedges in places probably.
Option 2) Leave the existing cabinets as they are, insert two new freestanding cabinets with doors in a very similar style (although they'd be smaller) into the alcove, level the new cabinets, the new cabinets will have to be slightly smaller than the alcove, so even more trims would have to be added to close up the small gaps remaining,( i.e you'd have existing wardrobes, later remedial work and trims, new trims, and finally new cabinets and doors)... then the skirting board would have to be done, basically as in option 1, a new full length skirting would be attached along the base.
Option 1 is probably best.
The choice of material is really between solid pine, large pine panels are made from individual planks edge glued together ---- or high quality multi core Birch faced plywood (which is also solid wood but made from thin layers with the grain alternating in different directions, about 16 layers per 18mm). Even if you go for the plywood I would still use pine for the trims and possibly some other parts. The plywood is more dimensionally stable than the solid pine.
end email...
I have some pictures below... I would appreciate any input into this... Sorry for the length of this post, must be a record... :shock:
Cheers
Joe
See pictures below if you don't like to read long posts... :shock:
I'd love a bit of advice on the best way to carry out some work. The client would like an extension made for an existing wardrobe. The existing wardrobes are quite old and a bit dodgy really but all the same they are in keeping with the house and I think they should definitely stay.
The house is in the center of Dublin city and is a really nice old house, with 10ft ceilings and large plaster mouldings and other features not to be found in modern homes. The house would be worth 1 million Euros if not 2 million... but houses are expensive in Dublin. I'm not sure of the architecture but it is typical of 18th (maybe 19th) century Dublin homes.. i.e 3 or 4 storeys with a basement, and expensive exterior stonework, 12ft inner hall, etc.
Basically the existing wardrobes were built around a fireplace (on the second floor), the fireplace has been removed and the client would like four new doors to be added and shelving etc behind them. Ideally the new doors would have to be in sympathy with the older stuff and ideally the faceframes would be continous, i.e the new doors should be the same size etc and not look like 'bodged in' recent work. The removed fireplace has left a concrete bumpy mess about two foot sqaure and maybe 2 to 3 inches tall, very uneven.
The old cabinets were bowing in the center in a 'U' shape, her husband added new pieces around the side and top to level this off... i.e the new (horizontal) top piece was installed, this left gaps from the center to the left and to the right, these gaps were 0 at the center and increasing to maybe 10mm at the left and right, these gaps were then filled and painted.
(The center was bowing by more than 10mm so the new piece is probably bowing slightly too...)
We discussed the options for an hour or so, she would probably like the remedial work removed and the new additions to be added in the same way they would have been done originally...
Here is the text of an email discussing the options.
email....
.
.
.
I am still thinking about the best way to carry out the work. The options are as we discussed.
Option 1) Pull out the additional remedial work, push up the bowing cabinets using an 'Accro' (a builders support for holding up walls while doors are being knocked through etc.), put in a permanent support to hold up the cabinets, remove the 'Accro', hang the leftmost and rightmost new doors on the existing cabinets, hang the two new central doors on the new supporting piece, fix a new skirting board along the entire length, then install shelves and hanging space behind the new doors (basically in a similar way as to how the existing shelves have been installed). The new central support to hold up the bowing cabinets will need to be full depth, i.e from the front to the back... this would be difficult to do because of the bumpiness of the floor so I think I'd have to put in a false floor about 100mm high, once this is done it should be ok. I have leveling feet which I'd use to level the false floor, I'd also use wooden wedges in places probably.
Option 2) Leave the existing cabinets as they are, insert two new freestanding cabinets with doors in a very similar style (although they'd be smaller) into the alcove, level the new cabinets, the new cabinets will have to be slightly smaller than the alcove, so even more trims would have to be added to close up the small gaps remaining,( i.e you'd have existing wardrobes, later remedial work and trims, new trims, and finally new cabinets and doors)... then the skirting board would have to be done, basically as in option 1, a new full length skirting would be attached along the base.
Option 1 is probably best.
The choice of material is really between solid pine, large pine panels are made from individual planks edge glued together ---- or high quality multi core Birch faced plywood (which is also solid wood but made from thin layers with the grain alternating in different directions, about 16 layers per 18mm). Even if you go for the plywood I would still use pine for the trims and possibly some other parts. The plywood is more dimensionally stable than the solid pine.
end email...
I have some pictures below... I would appreciate any input into this... Sorry for the length of this post, must be a record... :shock:
Cheers
Joe
