I added some bracing as well. Plus, it gave me some places to mount the lights. It was pretty quiet before the drywall came, so I'm just a little surprised it's picked up so much noise with it gone. The bracing helped. I also thought a layer of foam might help reduce the noise inside the room, but those little two component kits you could buy have sky-rocketed in price.
Home Library Build (Pic Heavy)
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Last: 1 yr ago by BenTheGoodAg
Really impressive project.
Thank you!
Couple of updates:
- I did add bracing and spray foamed the gaps around the stairs. As AggieTaco mentioned, I think the bracing helped more than the foam, but I wouldn't discount the foam entirely. It did help in some areas where big cracks were present. Bracing will make it easy to install the drywall on the ceiling when that part comes.
- Got lighting installed. Went with four can lights. I found an Halo gimbal product that is meant to go in a can, but allows for really good pivot angles and plays well with a dimmer. Hard to get a pic that doesn't fisheye, but the spacing is perfect. I spot checked with a few books at several locations with many of the boxes, and you can read the spines really well.
So they do put a lot of light out, but I picked the quantity to spread them out and reduce shadows. To this end, think the quantity and locations are perfect, and I think once the cabinets are stained and the dark flooring is in place, it will reduce the brightness, but I went ahead and put a dimmer in the box that's on the front wall, just to manage the brightness if it's too much. Easy to do now.
- Also installed the extra bottom plates - went with non-treated.
Next steps
- Still need to build two more boxes, and I think I've worked out some of the finer details
- I decided to go ahead and stain outside of the closet. Once the boxes are built, will stain them
- I think once I pull everything out, I'll go ahead and install the tile. There are definite benefits to doing later, but I think it'll be much easier with the boxes out and having just a little more room to move around.
Couple of updates:
- I did add bracing and spray foamed the gaps around the stairs. As AggieTaco mentioned, I think the bracing helped more than the foam, but I wouldn't discount the foam entirely. It did help in some areas where big cracks were present. Bracing will make it easy to install the drywall on the ceiling when that part comes.
- Got lighting installed. Went with four can lights. I found an Halo gimbal product that is meant to go in a can, but allows for really good pivot angles and plays well with a dimmer. Hard to get a pic that doesn't fisheye, but the spacing is perfect. I spot checked with a few books at several locations with many of the boxes, and you can read the spines really well.
So they do put a lot of light out, but I picked the quantity to spread them out and reduce shadows. To this end, think the quantity and locations are perfect, and I think once the cabinets are stained and the dark flooring is in place, it will reduce the brightness, but I went ahead and put a dimmer in the box that's on the front wall, just to manage the brightness if it's too much. Easy to do now.
- Also installed the extra bottom plates - went with non-treated.
Next steps
- Still need to build two more boxes, and I think I've worked out some of the finer details
- I decided to go ahead and stain outside of the closet. Once the boxes are built, will stain them
- I think once I pull everything out, I'll go ahead and install the tile. There are definite benefits to doing later, but I think it'll be much easier with the boxes out and having just a little more room to move around.
LO EFFING L at that gif usage. What is that from, some old Star Trek show?
Haha yup. A pretty famous episode where Captain Picard was captured and tortured with four bright lights. The guy who was torturing him wanted him to admit there were five.
Not a fan of direct eye glare - you're going to be so happy having the dimmer. The room is going to need mood lighting and maybe a lava lamp.
Agreed. To be fair, that pic only has one gimballed lamp. The others are just normal A19 lamps. I didn't want to buy all four if it didn't work. I moved the gimbal to both ends and it definitely helps with direct glare.
We also had LED's and flickering and replaced the dimmer switch and that helped.Sea Speed said:
The house we bought has a ton of LED can lighting and I swear one in every room is flickering. I thibk I will need to replace them all at some point to keep it all uniform. Something to keep in mind. I'm not a fan of any lighting I cant replace anymore.
Early Cardassian a*holeness at its finestBenTheGoodAg said:
Haha yup. A pretty famous episode where Captain Picard was captured and tortured with four bright lights. The guy who was torturing him wanted him to admit there were five.
Did not see it mentioned, but to get the most out of the room it may need one of these:agz win said:
Not a fan of direct eye glare - you're going to be so happy having the dimmer. The room is going to need mood lighting and maybe a lava lamp.
https://purennatural.com/collections/cigar-lounge-smoke-eaters/products/cleanaire-ceiling-mount-electronic-air-cleaner
And maybe turn one of the shelving units into a humidor. Just a suggestion.
But honestly, it looks great and the final project is going to be awesome. Well done.
BenTheGoodAg
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dubi said:We also had LED's and flickering and replaced the dimmer switch and that helped.Sea Speed said:
The house we bought has a ton of LED can lighting and I swear one in every room is flickering. I thibk I will need to replace them all at some point to keep it all uniform. Something to keep in mind. I'm not a fan of any lighting I cant replace anymore.
No dimmers here. Maybe ill put led dimmers in and that will fix it.
Any cabinet makers/contractors willing to guess what a job like this would cost to shop out? I suspect the angle and building into the studs would get a lot of no-bids, given the extra time all of it takes.
Trying to justify a new tool purchase.
Trying to justify a new tool purchase.
Just go buy it and ask for forgiveness later.....BenTheGoodAg said:
Any cabinet makers/contractors willing to guess what a job like this would cost to shop out? I suspect the angle and building into the studs would get a lot of no-bids, given the extra time all of it takes.
Trying to justify a new tool purchase.
Haha, a bold strategy. 
One more box down:
The top shelf was probably one of the toughest joints to make on this project because it butts against the angled top. I couldn't quite figure how to make this gap work, but this was the best I could come up with:
Since the top is close to 55 degrees, and the widest cut I could make was 45, there's a 10 degree difference in these two surfaces. I ripped a 10 degree wedge off of the edge of a board, and used it to firm up the interface when I screwed the top to the box to the back of the shelf. It's a firm connection, and it butted pretty well on the top, but not the best joint on the project. There's a small gap from the bottom if you crane your neck down to look at it, but not really much you'll ever be able to notice:
But... this does lead my most boneheaded mistake on this project (so far)...
I was so focused on the angle, that I grabbed the wrong piece of plywood for that third shelf and the grains are running in the wrong direction compared to the bottom two shelves. Truthfully, once the shelves are loaded up with books, nobody will ever notice or care, but I'll know.
The top shelf was probably one of the toughest joints to make on this project because it butts against the angled top. I couldn't quite figure how to make this gap work, but this was the best I could come up with:
Since the top is close to 55 degrees, and the widest cut I could make was 45, there's a 10 degree difference in these two surfaces. I ripped a 10 degree wedge off of the edge of a board, and used it to firm up the interface when I screwed the top to the box to the back of the shelf. It's a firm connection, and it butted pretty well on the top, but not the best joint on the project. There's a small gap from the bottom if you crane your neck down to look at it, but not really much you'll ever be able to notice:
But... this does lead my most boneheaded mistake on this project (so far)...
I was so focused on the angle, that I grabbed the wrong piece of plywood for that third shelf and the grains are running in the wrong direction compared to the bottom two shelves. Truthfully, once the shelves are loaded up with books, nobody will ever notice or care, but I'll know.
So you're an engineer by trade .........
How could you possibly know that?
I was going to make a sarcastic joke about it being so horrible.
But once you see it, you can't not see it.
You should totally burn it and do it again. It's always quicker the second time.
But once you see it, you can't not see it.
You should totally burn it and do it again. It's always quicker the second time.
Thanks...
Kidding/not kidding, I may see if I can clad it with some leftover 1/4" oak veneer I have.
Kidding/not kidding, I may see if I can clad it with some leftover 1/4" oak veneer I have.
If it isn't easy to remove just slap another piece on top. No one will know.
I think we're saying the same thing. It's definitely not coming out of the sides.
Got the last box built! This last box was unique in that it allows for space for a couple of electrical boxes on the back side of the wall. It seems a little thin in the middle (6" deep), but big enough for typical small books (5").
Got all the boxes stained today. Ended up using a gel-stain because the color best matches our other built-ins. The first few boxes didn't go as smoothly. It just took time to figured out how best to do it. I ended up waiting too long between application and wipe up and they didn't clean up well. I did go back and clean up with mineral spirits and some reapplication in a few spots and it helped a lot.
Overall, the color and the grains look great!
Got all the boxes stained today. Ended up using a gel-stain because the color best matches our other built-ins. The first few boxes didn't go as smoothly. It just took time to figured out how best to do it. I ended up waiting too long between application and wipe up and they didn't clean up well. I did go back and clean up with mineral spirits and some reapplication in a few spots and it helped a lot.
Overall, the color and the grains look great!
Looks great!
This looks awesome. I am currently working on built-ins for my study, but we are going the Ikea Bibbly-bookcase mod method. So far it looks pretty decent but I will probably do a build thread on here once I am finished in case anyone else considers it. We have run into some fun problems that required some interesting solutions.
Thanks y'all!
I did get the tile laid. I don't have a lot of tile experience, and I stressed a little trying to get the thinset troweled correctly. But I got it, the lines are straight, and the colors match really well.
But... the sheen of this new tile is more matte than the existing tile... I know that there can be some differences between batches, but it's a little surprising how different they are at certain angles. Anyone familiar with a product that can add more gloss to a porcelain tile? I've looked a few gloss sealers online, but not sure what, if anything, they can really do to improve it.
Wife says it looks fine, but I'd like to see some options.
I did get the tile laid. I don't have a lot of tile experience, and I stressed a little trying to get the thinset troweled correctly. But I got it, the lines are straight, and the colors match really well.
But... the sheen of this new tile is more matte than the existing tile... I know that there can be some differences between batches, but it's a little surprising how different they are at certain angles. Anyone familiar with a product that can add more gloss to a porcelain tile? I've looked a few gloss sealers online, but not sure what, if anything, they can really do to improve it.
Wife says it looks fine, but I'd like to see some options.
Sealer won't do anything for porcelain or ceramic, those are impermeable unlike stone.
Yeah... That's kind of what I figured.
I do not own a shop, but I do woodworking and have friends that own shops. As for cost, the angle would not add as much as you think as shops deal with that regularly. I would think these would be between $300-400 a linear foot.
As mentioned, do not apply sealer. This is just a guess, but some of the matte appearance may be leftover from the manufacturing process and will "buff out, polish" over time and cleanings.
To be honest though, from the pics it looks great and its not discernible, nice work!
To be honest though, from the pics it looks great and its not discernible, nice work!
What tool are you looking to buy. There are a few woodworkers on here, so we may be able to recommend options.
Agree that the pictures look good, you might make sure you removed all of the glaze from grouting before you mess with anything else. If they are as clean as they'll get, you can try one of the floor cleaner/polishes that create a shine. Nothing will last forever, but you might get 6-12 months out of a seldom trafficked surface.
Thanks all! I may try some cleaners, but I'll probably just end up having to live with it. It's not grout haze - I haven't put the grout down yet, and I pulled up a scrap piece from the box and it looks like it's pretty consistent in this batch. It almost seems like they're not glazed (I'm sure they are). Just a slightly different texture and they dry from being wet a little faster than the existing tiles around them.
Here's a pic from a different angle I think shows the issue a little better, but it's not obvious at all angles:
My wife told me "I used to think I'm a detail-oriented person. Now I know that I'm not"
Here's a pic from a different angle I think shows the issue a little better, but it's not obvious at all angles:
My wife told me "I used to think I'm a detail-oriented person. Now I know that I'm not"
Yeah - I'm not sure we have enough cabinet-makers here in our small market. Seems like they're all tied to various builders and they're not much interested in custom work unless it's for a new build. But I'm happy to do a project like this, so it works for us.GrimesCoAg95 said:
I do not own a shop, but I do woodworking and have friends that own shops. As for cost, the angle would not add as much as you think as shops deal with that regularly. I would think these would be between $300-400 a linear foot.
I assumed $300/lf, so that checks out. Of course, that's just the cabinet work and doesn't include tile, electrical, drywall, paint, etc. I bet this would be a pretty pricey project to shop out. I'll share my costs when I'm done, but I think I'm closer to $3.5-4k all-in.
Thanks!
The biggies for me are to custom build a couple of outfeed tables, but I think a track-saw is something I've got my eye on sooner than later. Would definitely welcome input on brands.GrimesCoAg95 said:
What tool are you looking to buy. There are a few woodworkers on here, so we may be able to recommend options.
I'd actually really like to have a contractor's table saw I can store easy and use for small jobs and take with me. Definitely think some high quality chisels are in my future. Soldering station, upgrading my drill bits, a whole collection of Knipex tools, a second 3D printer, another router... the list goes on.
What can I say? I don't need any of this stuff, but I love tools.
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