Advice on building a sliding wardrobe?

jack of all

Hi all, looking for some advice on building a "sliderobe" type sliding wardrobe. I priced a unit with a "Slidrobes" competitor, just to get a ballpark on what these things cost, fitted. Obviously I want to do this myself and once I've sourced the actual sliding doors I reckon I can put together the remaining carcass pretty inexpensively. I've seen some sliding doors I like in Homebase, "wenge" laminate with an opaque glass centre strip. These doors are pretty expensive, about €170 for a 910mm door, I'll be needing 3. I assume track is included in this price. Anyone recommend another approach to this, do Woodies or B&Q do anything similar? I'm in the midlands so Panelling Centre etc ain't an option.

trad

I know you are in the midlands but IKEA have plenty of food for thought, you can bring the whole family and even get fed as well. Have a look at their website.

B&Q had some specials last week in Liffey Valley on slide robe type wardrobes but if you are going that far you might as well have a look at ikea.

spender.j

B&Q are a good source for that kind of thing, I'd nearly suggest that you just try and get a track though, MDF doors with laminated glass would be simple, waxed on the bottom to slide...

jack of all

Cheers, I'm going to check out B&Q in the next week or so.

jack of all

I've ordered my sliding doors, track and accessories from B&Q, expecting delivery this morning. They have a 1/3rd off sliding doors at the moment, plus a further 10% of this month, which makes them a good buy I reckon. I'll be busy for a few days, I'll post pics up, if it turns out according to plan! Great opportunity to use my new Lidl shop vac too...(I told herself it was an essential buy!).

jack of all

Well I finally got the wardrobe finished and I'm pretty happy with it. I did cheat a little though- I used 2x flat pack drawer packs from B&Q for the interior. The (heavily discounted) flat packs were so cheap, predrilled and edge banded etc that I couldn't justify the time and cost in making my own- The materials alone would cost as much as the flat packs. As a trade-off I decided not to use any power tools, except for a cordless drill and driver. This cut down on the noise and dust in the house but it probably doubled the time required to get the job done. Hardest part was getting a good finish on the MDF and planed softwood carcass/ enclosure. But some time spent on hand planing and careful painting with a 4" glossy roller sleeve gave me excellent results. The MDF end panel in particular came up very well; I wanted to get a "sprayed" look on this. Total cost of materials (Sliding doors, track and fittings, interior drawer packs, MFC panels, MDF sheet, various planed timber, paint, glue, caulk, screws and all fixings) came to just under €460. Not a huge saving when you factor in labour but I got a "professional" looking result and I enjoyed it. It's not fine furniture or cabinetry but I haven't made anything in a good while so it was nice to put all those hand tools to work.

aerosol

Looks great jackofall, like the clever use of shelves to the side of the chimney?

jack of all

Cheers Aerosol, I played around with lots of sketches to try and maximise the storage capacity of the unit, the recess beside the chimney breast was only 460mm wide, too narrow for a hanging rail.

Robbie71

Looks very neat , looks clean and "pro"

Spot on getting the flat packs ,it can take ages making your own.

Are the runners screwed to the ceiling joists?

jack of all

Hi Robbie71
Cheers for that. The top track is fixed to a studwork frame of 3x2", which is sheathed with 18mm MDF, screw and pellet fixed. The B&Q doors are only just over 2.2m high, so come well short of standard 8' ceiling height.