Originally Posted by
Thomas McCurnin
1. Plywood will be stronger and will hold nails and screws better and will glue up better
2. I would get some "A" grade ply, preferably baltic birch 9-12 ply, and paint it. Go over it with spackle and fill any holes or divets, prime and a nice flat paint. The shelves seem very wide to me and will have to be edge-banded or have hardwood edges. Any width longer than 24" may bow under weight, so you may have to go to cheap solid wood like pine or alder.
3. For quality sheet goods, go to a cabinet supply house, where craftsmen buy their drawer slides and sheet goods. I'm not sure Home Depot carries cabinet grade (multi-ply baltic birch).
4. You are correct to build a base and attach them to the base and walls. I build a base of 1x4 material, even ply, and shim it to level. Add a base board to conceal the base and shims.
5. Not sure what you mean, if you mean the baseboard within the closet, I would remove it, and add it back when completed. You will probably not have enough from your demo, so I would go to a molding supplier and try to match as best as you can to the existing baseboard. Its a closet and no one will notice discrepancies between the room and the closet.
6. Your choice. Pocket screws (Kreig) are really easy and strong. No glue required. You could also glue and finish nail the ply. Screws (other than Kreig, which are concealed) will need to be countersunk and filled or plugged. Finish nails will have to be set and filled.
Comment: You may find that the materials are quite expensive and you may pay more building it yourself than if you had a closet organizer company come in and knock it out in a day. Granted they will use mdf and crappy hardware and drawer slides. But that may be good enough for you. Decent drawer slides will run $10-25 per pair of slides for full extension 100 lb self closing slides (Accuride, Blum). In addition, you'll have to build the drawers yourself, although its pretty easy with Kreig pocket screws. Your cabinet hardware supplier should have a sub-contractor to build custom drawers in whatever material (hardwood or baltic birch) or joint (dovetail, finger joints, drawer joints, or dowels) you want. The advantage is speed, usually under a week, and dead-on accuracy and quality. They will also pre-drill for Blum hinges.
That said, I enjoy projects like these because its fun, I have absolute control over the design and quality, and I have the self-satisfaction that I built something really nice.