I recently completed a closet renovation for my sister-in-law…and I must say I am both glad and sad with my choices for the products I used.
Unless I grossly erred in the installation, I remain puzzled about what I had to do to make the shelves come out plumb and level, using what I thought was a “closet shelving system”.
I am glad because the shelves themselves were quite nice. They were of the white “Melamine” type shelves available at most home centers. I did have to cut them to length, but otherwise they are very nice shelves.
I am also glad that the finished project came out just fine, but not without a little bit of retrofitting, as I’ll explain here.
I used a “Closetmaid” brand ‘hang-track’ (a horizontally mounted piece which accepts and suspends/supports ‘vertical-tracks’), ‘vertical-track’ and shelf-brackets, which work together to provide (allegedly) a simple solution for shelving. Basically, you install the horizontal hang-track, then the vertical tracks, then the brackets, then the shelves. Sounds simple enough…”OK…I’ll try it”, I thought.
The horizontal ‘hang-track’ is a metal shape designed to be installed horizontally somewhere at the top of your desired shelving area…using either strong moly-type anchors, or screwing directly into the wall studs (preferred). The ‘hang-track’ shape is designed to provide a hanging rail for the vertical-tracks made by the same manufacturer.
The vertical-tracks are designed with a cutout to fit the hang-track rail shape, so each vertical track suspends from the hang track, and can be positioned anywhere horizontally, as your shelving requires. The main support is provided by the ‘hang-track’ being securely anchored into the studs. And, as long as the ‘hang-track’ is installed level, the ‘vertical-tracks’ will be easy to keep ‘plumb’ as well.
Once the horizontal positions are chosen, you’re supposed to anchor each vertical-track into the wall using a moly-type anchor or by screwing directly into wall studs (preferred, but not critical).
My first disappointment (sad) came right about at this point!
After I installed the horizontal hang-track (nice & level & screwed into studs!), and suspended the vertical tracks where I wanted them to be (to evenly divide the horizontal length), I noticed that the hang-track shape actually caused the vertical-tracks to be set away from the wall by about one-half inch, where they suspended on the rail. Thus, the vertical-tracks did not hang plumb to the wall…thereby requiring spacers behind them in order to ensure they would be plumb.
I cut some 1/2 inch thick pieces of wood, moly-anchored those to the wall, then anchored the vertical-tracks to the wood. This allowed me to ‘plumb’ the vertical-tracks so the shelves would sit level on the shelf-brackets.
After everything was securely and neatly installed on the wall, I inserted the shelf-brackets and shelves to finish the job.
Everything did come out fine, as I said. But, I learned that I should have more thoroughly researched how the “Closetmaid” (and other) components are supposed to be used. I did some follow up research after-the-fact, to learn more about it.
What I discovered is that I had used Closetmaid hang-track and vertical-tracks, and another brand of shelf bracket. The Closetmaid shelf-bracket is designed to be used with the Closetmaid wire shelving and not the Melamine shelving I chose to use. But I ignored that fact, and I grabbed another brand of bracket that fit fine into the Closetmaid vertical-tracks. These shelf-brackets were not equipped with the “hook” that the Closetmaid brackets have (which is what the wire shelves lock into), so I knew they would work better with the Melamine shelving…they did…but not without some frustration and extra work on my part!
Yes…I learned some things doing this closet shelving project, to say the least. At least my ‘customer’ seemed happy with it, so I guess that’s really what counts!
“Word to the wise”…..I recommend sticking with one particular “system” when planning out your closet (or other) shelving projects; you will save yourself some frustration!
