General Questions About Built-Ins

[Nick Shepler]

We are about 5 months out from moving into a new house and it will FINALLY contain plenty of room for a nice nice...finally! Anyway, the laundry list of projects I have to make is growing every week not the least of which are a few built-ins. Nearly everything I have built in my woodworking career has been free-standing furniture so my experience with actual built-ins is very limited and pretty much restricted to research only. It seems as though there are a couple of ways to go about it, i.e. build modules and set in place or build the project right on sight in its final destination.

There is a ton of information out there on designs and various "how-tos" for built-ins but where I struggle is the actual foundation, mounting, and scribing portions of the construction. What I would like to find is some good detailed information on these various items. Everything from finding the high spot in the floor and how to deal with it to mouting the structures to the foundation (frame work) and walls, and finally the whole scribing portion. I have watched Norm do a few installations and he will leave a bit of extra stock on face-frames that will adjoin a wall. What is the best way to go about that aspect of the installation?

A lot of general but necessary questions. If there is a nice piece of reference material, book, magazine, videos, etc. that someone can lead me to that would be great.

Thanks for the guidance everyone!

Nick

[Todd Burch]

I've done dozens of built-ins, from small to large. Every one has its differences from the others.

Some things you can count on are:


Floors and ceilings are never flat
Walls are never plumb
Corners are never square
Paint will never match
Replacement trim (casings, baseboard, etc.) will never match
Outlets are never in the right spot
Some contractor that was there before you will have taken a shortcut that you will have to deal with


So, when I design and build a built-in, I take steps to not depend on any of the above, and avoid the rest as best I can.

Built-in casework can sit proud of a wall, or can be flush or inset into a "hole" in the wall. What is yours?

A few nice things about built-ins are:

You get to "cheat" on casework - shelves can be glued and then screwed in from the outside of the casework if the outside of the casework won't be seen, and those screws don't have to be filled! (WOO-HOO for this one!)
When spray finishing, (or otherwise), the whole outside of the case can be used as a test area for your finish
You can hide wasted space - don't feel obligated to use the whole space (hole in the wall) for a built-in.
You can design your casework to leverage the fact that when screwed to the house, it will be very sturdy, so it doesn't necessarily have to be super-sturdy on its own right.


I've done built-in as "built-in-place" and "built-in-shop and set in place", and the latter, by far, is faster (for me). I might do closet shelving in place (cleats to hold shelves), but if it's going to be seen, I'll build it in the shop and then set in place and screw/nail it in.

I try to avoid scribing. Scribing is making my casework crooked to match a crooked wall. A common technique to avoid scribing is to wrap your case with trim to hide crooked surroundings. Cheap trim is small stop moulding, shoe moulding and quarter round. Trim that plays with the design of your piece is more classy and finished looking.

I've never sought out a high spot in the floor prior to an install. I have (every time) shimmed the bottom of my casework to keep it from racking on non-level floors. Remember, the floor is never level - get over it and don't sweat it.

I don't design a built-in to be removed. I assume it will stay where I put it for the next 30 years.

Give us more details of your situation (picture of the wall, drawing of your built-in).

Todd

[Howard Lacheen]

There is a softcover book published by Tauntun's called "Trim Carpentry and Built-ins" by Clayton Dekorne that has instructions on the design and installation of built-ins. It deals with most of the areas listed in your post. I could find no mention in it about dealing with high spots, however.

[Peter J Lee]

My impression is that most are sort of a combination of site and location. With all the great modern tools and jigs, I don't think there are many guys with a stack of lumber nailing it together on site to make a big built in. There's a bunch of it in the house i live in and its impressive in its skill level. I think the base is a common thing to build on site though.

The question about whether it sits proud or flush can be significant. Paint or stain can be a consideration too. What do you think your first built in will be?

[Nick Shepler]

Thanks for the great feedback guys! All of it will be a tremendous help going forward. I totally agree with the viewpoints in that nothing is square or flat so just deal with it. That is my plan and I also intend to look over the trim carpenter's shoulder quite a bit since he will be doing a number of things I will be interested in. Probably the first few things will include a typical mudroom bench setup and shop cabinets (floor and wall).

Howard - I do appreciate the link to the Tauntun's book as well. Popped it up on Amazon and there were a number of others to chose from.

I will try to pass along some progress pictures when the time gets closer.

[Thomas Bank]

This special edition magazine from Taunton is currently in the bookstores/newstands: http://store.finewoodworking.com/built-in-furniture-017020.html?source=WW001UPS

For $10, gives you something to start with.