I wanted a shelving unit in my office really bad. Like
really, really, really, really, really bad. So Pinterested about a bazillion
ideas and ignored most of them and came up with what I hoped would work.
First of all, I had to order the pipes. Sure, I could’ve
gotten them all at the local hardware store if I wanted to go completely
bankrupt, but decided instead to go with an online hardware store and have the
pipes delivered. I used Midland Hardware, and will most definitely use them
again. Savings, even with shipping, practically halved the cost. Plus I needed
a lot of pipe fittings and nipples.
Breakdown of ¾-inch pipes:
60) 12-inch nipples
40) Ts
12) flanges
4) 90-degree elbows
4) 3-inch nipples
4) 15-inch nipples (These I had to get cut down to size at
Home Depot from one larger pipe. Lowes also does this. Both cut to size for
free.)
Plus:
5) 2x12x10-foot lumber
1) can of stain
1) can of polyurethane (optional)
40) 1-inch copper clips
80) ¾-inch wood screws
8) 2-inch wood screws
8) 1-inch drywall screws
Total Cost:
$425
Total Cost:
$425
I knew I wanted the shelves to be 12-inches deep, so I went
to [Insert Local Lumber Store Here] and loaded up five of these 2x12x10s into
my 2002 Hyundai Elantra, stapled a flag on a couple boards, secured the truck
to keep it from flapping up and down during the drive home, then proceeded to
move them into the garage, putting the last onto a pair of folding chairs for
sanding. I am sad I have no pictures of this, as I’m sure the manly men who
watched me load up my tiny compact sedan with giant boards must’ve been a sight
to see. Still, I’m a pro and shoving big things into tight spots. After
sanding, I loaded all the boards onto a pair of ladders and stained them,
starting with the bottom and flipping to the top. Because I didn’t notice a
difference in color between a quick wipe on and a ten-minute penetration, I
opted for the easier wipe on method. Since it’s cold here in the Pacific
Northwest, I had a heater going in the garage to help with the curing process.
Now the optional part is polyurethane. This can be quite
time consuming and finicky. Since this was only going to be a book and Lego
shelf, I opted not to poly the shelves. However, if we had decided to integrate
our aquarium into the unit, I would’ve done a full three coats. Again, I chose
the lazy option.
After the pipes arrived, I was giddy as all get out until I
realized I had to pry the stickers off of each of those nipples. Let me tell
you, stickers and galvanized steel are extremely close, like damn near
impossible to detach from one another. If you are planning on doing something
similar, get a hair dryer and heat those puppies up and the stickers will pry
off with one swipe of a box cutter and your thumb.
I cleaned off any remaining residue with acetone on a rag.
Key is to work fast since acetone evaporates really quickly.
After clearing the site in the office, a ten-foot wall, I scanned the wall for studs, marking each of them from one end to the other.
Also found another stud.
With the studs located, I had to decide where to place the
pipe “ladders” that would be going up. For this I had my husband come in and we
worked it out together. Yay! Teamwork! Then he left for a few minutes and came
back eight hours later after I finished the project. No joke. Anyway, I used
blue tape to mark stud lines for the lowest rung of pipes, as well as
temporarily anchoring them down to keep them from moving during assembly.
The trickiest part was getting the boards onto the pipes
without knocking them over. Thankfully the tape helped keep them in place, and
the ten-foot boards left little wiggle room once settled.
I screwed two 1-inch copper clips from the bottom of each of
the pipe the board rested on using ¾-inch wood screws. This may seem overkill,
but I wanted this to be as sturdy as possible, and also didn’t want the shelves
moving about since ten-foot boards are not really ten feet long.
Next step was creating another rung on the “ladders” that
support the whole thing. This can be tricky since screwing in opposite
directions doesn’t really work well. Here’s the trick: make the vertical pipes
tight with the Ts, and tighten the horizontal pipe into one T as tight as can
be, then loosen that one while tightening it into the opposite T. Totally
confusing, yes, and this means the support pipes are not tight, but they are
secure. The clips screwed into the board after this also help. Trust me. Or
don’t. I’m not the boss of you.
Repeat until finished.
The last step is attaching it to the wall. I knew I was
going to have large Star Wars Legos on the top shelf, so I decided to only go
with a 3-inch nipple for the final vertical length, but had to get four 15-inch
nipples cut to size at Home Depot (Thanks Jeff!) since that is a nonstandard
size. This I waited until I had the piece assembled since I wanted to make sure
I had the exact length I needed to attach it to the wall. Once in place, I
loosened and tightened with the remaining flanges, lining up two of the four
holes with the studs, and screwed the 2-inch wood screws into the studs and the
1-inch drywall screws into the other two holes. Yes, I pole danced to make sure
it was safely secured. No, I did not get photographical evidence of this. Yes,
I too am disappointed in myself.
Since the shelves were in a cold garage for a week and
brought into a nice and warm room, I decided to wait a couple days before
loading them up to let the stain settle. I also wiped off the excess with an
old rag, but there really wasn’t much that came off.
Finally I couldn’t wait any longer*, so instead of doing
homework like a good college boy getting his master’s in teaching, I started
putting books up. By color. Like they should be.
This project made me sore in places I didn’t realize muscles
existed, what with all the tightening of those pipes. Please note, a good
quality pair of gloves with rubber grips will be your best friend during this
time of strife. However, once everything was in place, I wish I had done this
earlier. Now the rest of the office needs to be rearranged, but that will have
to wait for another day.
* Yeah, I really should've waited. Despite "drying" for ten days in the garage and two days in the house, the shelves still had not absorbed all of the stain and a little has leached into a few books. I blame the humidity over the last few weeks.
* Yeah, I really should've waited. Despite "drying" for ten days in the garage and two days in the house, the shelves still had not absorbed all of the stain and a little has leached into a few books. I blame the humidity over the last few weeks.