Closets and Home Organization - Bulding a closet with storage area above

Doityourself.com community forum was created to provide answers to all questions related to home improvement and home repair. Doityourself community can help you find information about how-to topics on small fixes to large remodeling projects. With comprehensive how-to content and expertly moderated community forums DoItYourself.com makes it easy to tackle even the most complex home improvement projects.



PDA
marlisa
01-03-08, 01:21 PM
I am building a walk in closet in a bedroom and want to have storage area above the closet. I have high vaulted ceilings so I can make the walk in closet 8 feet high and still have 4 feet of space above it to store boxes etc. Because it is not supporting the house in any way but still needs to be able to support the weight of anything I store up there I need to know how far apart to place the 2x4's and how to connect the top part to the closet wall that i built and to the original bedroom wall in order to have it be as strong as possible. It is just a rectangle closet 11'x5'. Any help or even plans that would give me the basic idea would be greatly appreciated.

Wirepuller38
01-03-08, 02:11 PM
I would suggest 2x6's for the closet ceiling joists to support the storage area. Run them parallel with the 5 foot dimension spaced 16 inches on center. (Joists would be 5 ft.)

Build the closet wall in the normal manner with a double top plate to support one end of the ceiling joists. Install a header above the door with jack studs supporting the header.

One end of the joists would set on top of the 11 foot wall and be joined to a rim joist running perpendicular to the ceiling joists and resting on top of the 11 foot wall. Fasten the other end of the joists to the wall of the room with a ledger board and joist hangers.