# plywood sheathing for shelves



## txn (May 28, 2014)

Hi all im new to the forum been lurking for awhile. Ive got some shelves to build for a customers closet ane was wondering how would plywood sheathing stand up over time she wants them painted so the finish isnt a problem they will all be around 25in wide 7ft tall and 14in deep. And will be assembled with dados


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## paxorion (Oct 19, 2012)

I've used plywood sheathing for utility shelves, and the wood is pretty poor quality. They also smelled like some serious pine resin. It'd veer away and just go for a birch plywood. I recall using 2 sheets when I rebuilt a pantry shelving for a friend.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

You'd probably be better off with birch, poplar or oak veneered plywood as they would be more stable, flatter and stronger. Do make sure that whatever the shelves are to store, the construction will support the weight.


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## txn (May 28, 2014)

its going to be for shoes in her closet i bid the materials at 300 and I'm finding out that if i go to 3/4 birch it will blow the budget out of the water


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## ChrisK (Dec 18, 2009)

If the shelves are not to big look at MDF. It will sag if a heavy load is on it. The shelf will need support along the back edge if it is long.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

Not sure what your design is , but if you got a sheet of birch plywood…if you cut the size of the plywood portion of the shelf to 23 7/8×13.25 you should be able to get 14 shelf pieces out of one sheet of plywood, and get to your final size by adding face frame. If you were looking at sheathing before, you'd probably consider 3/4" ply from the big box store, which goes for around $50/sheet. How many of these shelves do you have to build?


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## MT_Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

> its going to be for shoes in her closet i bid the materials at 300 and I m finding out that if i go to 3/4 birch it will blow the budget out of the water
> 
> - txn


Looks like you have miscalculated. Live and learn from your mistakes. This one is on you. Do it right and make your customer happy.

I would use birch…less than $50/sheet at my local orange box store. In fact, I just bought two sheets for some cabinets I am building that will be painted.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Another option might be to look at AC plywood, cheaper than birch or any of the others mentioned and only a little more than CDX sheathing. I've used it with success and I've had it warp on me before too, just luck of the draw.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

Unless you have access to some much better sheathing than I'm used to seeing, don't do it. All the voids and crummy veneer will make cuts and dados a nightmare, and even with a thick coat of paint, sheathing still looks like sheathing.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

Are you new to this sort of contracting? Seems you've missed your mark with the estimate, and like Mike said, you may have to bite it on this one. Not sure why you bid it using lowest quality materials, especially if you weren't sure if it would work. I don't do this as a job, but if I did, I would price materials for closet shelving and/or cabinetry using quality materials. If the lady wants a quality job at the material cost of sheathing, I would try to explain to her otherwise, or pass.


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## MT_Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

I did a quick workup and estimate of just the materials using 3/4 birch plywood from HD @ 49/sheet. Two sheets with some left over for the next project.

Two sides at 13.25×84 inches
8 shelves @ 13.25×23 3/4" 
1 Toe kick at 3 1/2×24 (white pine)

8 rails (white pine)

```
1 1/2 x 24<br />2 stiles (white pine)
```
 1 1/2×24

*$123 bux including 8.25% sales tax.*

Note: Final cuts may vary slightly.

I don't see where the problem is. This would result in nice shelves with a face frame to add to the appearance (and hide dadoes). The only thing left off is the cost of paint/primer and labor.

I say go for it.

It should come out looking something like this, just wider, taller and with more shelves. The ones in the pic are adjustable using shelf pins. 3/4 inch birch sides, top and bottom, half inch back. This is a wall cabinet ready to paint. the face frame is poplar.

I also applied edge banding to the shelves to hide the edge grain of the plywood and give it a finished look.


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

We routinely do all of our closet built ins out of FF'ed MDF shelving. Cheap, and paints great.


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## paxorion (Oct 19, 2012)

Just for better estimation, how much shelving are you on the hook to build?


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## txn (May 28, 2014)

it is 3 seperate cases, one 25in wide one 28in wide and one 24 wide, all of them 14in deep and 7ft tall, the two wider ones will have a shelf every 8in and the 24in wide one will have 5 drawers that will be 8 in deep and all will take up the bottom 5 ft of the shelf. I thought about mdf and just rounding over the edges once assembled but worried about the moisture, they are in her walk in closet that shares a wall with her walkin shower


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## ChrisK (Dec 18, 2009)

If you paint the MDF moisture will not be an issue. If it will see direct contact with a puddle of water there will be a problem. I used a piece of MDF to cap the top of my shower, cut an 8" wide dog leg from about a 42" sq. Painted it with three coats of indoor paint, been their 6 years no problems. No direct contact, but lots of moisture almost every day.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

txn, what is the customer expecting and what was quoted?


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## txn (May 28, 2014)

I went with 23/32nds sanded plywood instead. I got all 57 dados cut, all 9 rabbits and all shelves cut today. I only wemt over budget by $75. I let the customer know about the blown budget and told her id take a hit on profit but she insisted that she would gladly pay. All in all it was a good day. These are pics of the pne that I got dry fitted this evening before calling it quits


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

Looks good! Nice fitting dadoes. Are you going to do a face frame or hardwood edging?

$75 is a small price to pay for experience and learning here, and a much better result. Taking a $75 hit here to do a better job might pay back twofold later on when people see the job done right. It sounds like you know this customer personally? On future projects, if you overrun, you may want to keep that information quiet. Bidding correctly is your responsibility, and you don't want to give the impression that you don't know what you're doing (I'm not saying you don't, those shelves look great). Kudos for doing it right and not cutting corners.


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## dhazelton (Feb 11, 2012)

She has too many shoes.

I always do time and materials. No one gets hurt that way. To me an estimate is just that. It might have been a good idea to roll primer on the sheet goods first, but if you have a sprayer that probably doesn't matter.


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## txn (May 28, 2014)

I do know her peraonally and ive got 1×6 that im going to cut into 3/8ths pieces and nail them then round over all of it I didnt want to do harwood edge banding fo something thats going to be painted. And I know the $75 doesnt sound like much but im also not charging her very much in the first place I will only make $200 on these because she is a friend


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

Sounds good. If I came across critical, I didn't mean to. Estimating is hard. Pretty much every time I tell my wife a project is going to cost X, it usually costs X * 120%. But, I never really give her an estimate based on any thorough planning. The 1×6 sounds like a good plan.

I built something similar, a closet organizer a couple years back. One time saver I found was using the iron-on edge banding from the big-box store. It works well for applications like this. Once you get your vertical and horizontal pieces cut, iron on the edging of all edges that will be visible, and trim flush with a block plane. Then cut your dadoes and rabbets. When you assemble it, all of your visible edges will have the plywood edges hidden. It takes about 1 minute to apply the iron on stuff to an 8-foot length, and a couple minutes to set. Added bonus is that you don't have to calculate the depth of solid edge banding into your plans, and from what I've seen, it takes paint & stain (well, I used aniline dye) about the same as plywood does.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Glad it all worked out for you. I was close to being in a similar, but worse situation a few years back. Quoted a friend for making a breakfast nook like one she had seen in a magazine, built to fit her space. I miscalculated on the material and was already giving her a great deal on labor as she was a friend. I would have ended up loosing money on the deal, but I never eluded to or even mentioned it. Luckily she decided not to do it as the project would have taken me over 40 hours and I would have lost ~ $400 on the deal.


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## txn (May 28, 2014)

Ya im glad I went with the better stuff I always try to build things the right that will last for years to come. I will post up some pictures along the way I got one glued up last night and it turned out pretty good so far.


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

I have a friend that was in the building business for 40 years. Every once in a while he would make a mistake in his calculations and under bid something. Sometimes he told the customer and sometimes he didn't. He would bite the bullet and move forward. He had a reputation for always doing the right thing and building a quality product so he was never out of work even when times got slow. Your name is on the line so you have to remember that. Great job and a good decision.


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## dhazelton (Feb 11, 2012)

As an aside whenever I've had to hire a trade I've NEVER had anyone say 'my estimate was too high - you owe me less.'


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

My take on this. No to the sheathing plywood. If fact no to anything you have to paint.

Look at the successful closet companies (California Closets and Closet World) to name a couple. The use melamine type covered particle board. No painting is a big time saver in your labor. Forget the dadoes and glue and use butt joints and comfirmat screws.

That being said, I speak from experience. I have use this type of construction for an number of years with success. The only real difference between the closet companies and what I propose is they have the equipment to use dowels or KD hardware instead of the comfirmat screws.

With the spans you building unless you know their going to have heavy loads you should be good to go. I you just want to be sure you can beef up the shelves with 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 edging front and back on the shelves.


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## txn (May 28, 2014)

Got them all put together and trimmed out it turned out pretty awesome.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

Glad it worked out for you, nice looking cabs BTW.


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## txn (May 28, 2014)

And done finally painting took just as long as building if not longer.


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