Ladder Base

[Scott Welty]

I want to build a ladder base for some cabinets/drawers under a basement stairway. As discussed here before, this is for leveling and separation from possible moisture in basement. I've not built a ladder base before. I'm assuming the 'rungs', for and aft pieces of the base are to match location of the cabinet partitions? I can then attach cabinets to base with pocket holes in the partitions. How's all this sound?

[Jamie Buxton]

The loose toekick is not tricky at all. You can put the "rungs" anywhere that you like. If they happen to fall under cabinet partitions, that's good, but they can be inches away without severe consequence. If you get your leveling shims below the partitions, the weight just goes straight down to the floor through the toekick's rails. There's no reason for pocket holes in the partitions. Just go straight down through the cabinet bottom with flat-head screws into the toekick rails. You're covering up the screw heads with the drawers, so nobody will see them. You'll likely want to brad on some base shoe to cover the gaps between the toekick and the floor.

[Scott Welty]

Jamie - Good stuff thanks. Do you think I need to screw the ladder to the concrete floor? This is a basement, under the stairs install. I'm thinking of the cabinets are screwed to the ladder base and then anchored to cleats under the stairs and to each other that anchoring to the concrete won't be necessary? Waddaya think?

Scott

[Jamie Buxton]

I generally secure the loose toekick to the floor. I place the toekick on the floor, and work shims under it to level it. The shims also take the weight of anything you put on top of the toekick. My usual practice is to run screws through the toekick, through the shims, and into the floor. That way, nothing is going to be moving around while I'm putting the cabinet boxes in place.

I agree, drilling concrete seems like a lot of work. On concrete, I might use short leg levelers instead of loose shims. They fasten to the toekick, and you screw them up or down to level the toekick. Because they're fastened to the toekick, nothing is going to move while you add the cabinet boxes. Here is a short leveler that would likely do your job: http://www.wwhardware.com/pmi-metal-furniture-leveler-pmi300-leveler

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Scott, I build the ladder base with T nuts in the bottom with 3/8-UNC threads. Then I put 3/8-UNC bolts in the t nuts and level the ladder by extending the bolts as required.

I do not fasten it to the floor.

The bolts level the ladder, and keep it off the floor in case of water.

The cabinets go on top the ladder, not normally screwed to the ladder, I just use a few blocks secured to the cabinet base to make sure it doesn't move around (they fit inside the corners or edges of the ladder frame.

Regards, Rod.

[Scott Welty]

Rod,
This might be a good solution for me. In leveling the base yesterday I found I had to bring up the front edge about 1 1/2 inches off the floor to level! It's a basement. Is this too far to go with the bolts?
Scott

[Rod Sheridan]

Rod,
This might be a good solution for me. In leveling the base yesterday I found I had to bring up the front edge about 1 1/2 inches off the floor to level! It's a basement. Is this too far to go with the bolts?
Scott

No, my basement floor required bolts ranging from almost no height to about 1 1/2 inches, no problem with my cabinets with hundreds of pounds of tools in them..........Rod.