Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 27

Thread: Built In Book Cases

  1. #1

    Built In Book Cases

    I am starting to plan out out some built in bookshelves or our office in our new home. This will be my first project of this size so I figured I'd come here to ask for some help.

    Here is the picture of the wall that we want to put the built-in on. We're thinking some simple bookshelves painted to match the trim in the room so I am leaning towards just using some good birch ply and some decent trim. The wall is about 10' wide and the ceilings are 9' tall. (I forgot to measure the distance from the window casing to the wall, but will do that when I get home).
    Wall.jpg

    What you don't see in the first picture is the cold air return that is on the leftmost side of the wall (it's behind the mid-sized bookcase that is pulled away from the wall so the air still gets in). Here is a picture of the left corner of the picture above. The cold air return is 32"x8" and uses the drywall cavity as the "duct."
    corner.jpg

    So the first question I am trying to figure out before going down the path of a design is what to do about the cold air return. The way I see it is I have a few options.
    1) Leave it where it is an build the shelves around it so that is remains clear for airflow. (Low amount of work by may make design strange)
    2) Move it high on the wall and build the built-in to maybe 8' and have the return in the last 1' above it. (low amount of work but puts a big return vent above a nice built in and prevents the built in from being floor to ceiling)
    3) Move the cold air return into the floor and perhaps do 2 of them. (moderate amount of work as basement is accessible, but means floor vents that can get things dropped in them, etc.)
    4) Move cold are return to another wall. (lots of work and not really worth it I don't think)
    5) Somehow figure out a way to get 1.7sqft of cold air return in the kick plate of the new built-in and routed to the existing returns. (no idea how hard this would be)

    Anyone have any thoughts on what might make the most sense? I know this might be an HVAC question as well, but I figured folks here might have a good feel.

    Thanks in advance for all your help and reading the post!

  2. #2
    How about designing your book cases so there's a base high enough to clear the vents? You could panel the front of the base area with louvers--work it into the design--and run them all the way across the bottom so it is a design feature. The ones to the right could even be removable and used as secret storage.

  3. #3
    Id bet with a little bit of a consult from an HVAC guy (maybe one here on the creek) you could open the wall, install a 3 1/2" x 14" elbow at the base of the wall, and then build a bit of a plenum into the toe kick of your shelves with a couple grilles on the toe kick where they wouldnt be seen and deal with it that way. Wouldnt involve much more than opening the dywall slightly at the base of the wall, installing the ell and putting a piece of drywall back, and then building a detached kick for the cases. Seal up the plenum area of the bases with caulk, and the grills on the front.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Richards View Post
    How about designing your book cases so there's a base high enough to clear the vents? You could panel the front of the base area with louvers--work it into the design--and run them all the way across the bottom so it is a design feature. The ones to the right could even be removable and used as secret storage.
    That is a thought, but I'm afraid louvers, may be a bit outside of my comfort zone at this point since I am so new to this. Plus I'm concerned about making sure I get enough airflow. I don't want to restrict it too much. Are there any good pictures out there of what you're suggesting to help me get a better visual?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    Id bet with a little bit of a consult from an HVAC guy (maybe one here on the creek) you could open the wall, install a 3 1/2" x 14" elbow at the base of the wall, and then build a bit of a plenum into the toe kick of your shelves with a couple grilles on the toe kick where they wouldnt be seen and deal with it that way. Wouldnt involve much more than opening the dywall slightly at the base of the wall, installing the ell and putting a piece of drywall back, and then building a detached kick for the cases. Seal up the plenum area of the bases with caulk, and the grills on the front.
    Yeah that is kind of what I was talking about as option 5. I would just have to make sure that I get enough airflow through the kick. If you do the math, I've got about about 1.5sqft of register now. I don't know that I can make it any shorter. Then again the wall cavity is only 1.75" deep so it can only handle so much air anyway. Not sure I understand why the register has to be so tall. Hmmm

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by David Dolloff View Post
    That is a thought, but I'm afraid louvers, may be a bit outside of my comfort zone at this point since I am so new to this. Plus I'm concerned about making sure I get enough airflow. I don't want to restrict it too much. Are there any good pictures out there of what you're suggesting to help me get a better visual?
    I don't know if there's any pictures out there but maybe I could do a quickie sketch when I get home from work.

    Louvers don't have to be that fancy and aren't difficult to make.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by David Dolloff View Post
    Yeah that is kind of what I was talking about as option 5. I would just have to make sure that I get enough airflow through the kick. If you do the math, I've got about about 1.5sqft of register now. I don't know that I can make it any shorter. Then again the wall cavity is only 1.75" deep so it can only handle so much air anyway. Not sure I understand why the register has to be so tall. Hmmm
    Thats my point. You only have the flow through the opening in the stud bay anyway. All your doing is lengthening the duct run by the depth of your shelves (12" or so) and adding a turn. Doesnt even really have to be a sheet metal ell. You could just open the wall, cut out that small portion of bottom plate if necessary, then when your in the base of your shelves open up the plenum area to the width you need to have the same area in square inches on your kick as you have on the grill. Done.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Richards View Post
    I don't know if there's any pictures out there but maybe I could do a quickie sketch when I get home from work.

    Louvers don't have to be that fancy and aren't difficult to make.
    No biggie on the drawing. I think I get the gist of it. It does mean making and hanging doors though right? I was looking doing a simple bookcase. This would be a lot more complicated (although very cool too).

  9. #9
    No doors unless you wanted them. I was thinking of louvered panels fronting a open space above which the bookcases start. The louvers could be held on with magnets or they could be hinged or, if you don't ever intend to clean underneath, you could glue them on. If the entire base section was open inside with louvers across most of it, I think you have the potential to move more cold air than the current ducting would take.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Richards View Post
    No doors unless you wanted them. I was thinking of louvered panels fronting a open space above which the bookcases start. The louvers could be held on with magnets or they could be hinged or, if you don't ever intend to clean underneath, you could glue them on. If the entire base section was open inside with louvers across most of it, I think you have the potential to move more cold air than the current ducting would take.
    That makes sense. I know my wife would want access to some of the area though so I would think I would have to do doors across the whole thing and just makes sure we don't put anything across the front of it. I'll have to take some measurements and try to do a SketchUp and see how it goes. It's been ages since I've used SketchUp, but I'll give it a go :-)

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    Thats my point. You only have the flow through the opening in the stud bay anyway. All your doing is lengthening the duct run by the depth of your shelves (12" or so) and adding a turn. Doesnt even really have to be a sheet metal ell. You could just open the wall, cut out that small portion of bottom plate if necessary, then when your in the base of your shelves open up the plenum area to the width you need to have the same area in square inches on your kick as you have on the grill. Done.
    Yeah I just thought about it some more and it's actually 3.5" deep (I'm a dope) so the returns would need to be 3.5x28.5 (16 on center studs cover two voids) which means the kick would have to be about 15 or 16" wide right (assuming the kick is 3.5" tall and allowing for a little overlap).

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by David Dolloff View Post
    Yeah I just thought about it some more and it's actually 3.5" deep (I'm a dope) so the returns would need to be 3.5x28.5 (16 on center studs cover two voids) which means the kick would have to be about 15 or 16" wide right (assuming the kick is 3.5" tall and allowing for a little overlap).

    Sho thang chicken wang.. get building!!

  13. #13
    David, these are just real quick sketches to give the idea of what I'm talking about.




    Obviously I didn't add in the dressy stuff you'd put on like a molding along the floor and probably a face frame of sorts to match the rest of the case. If you moved the openings down onto the floor, you could reduce the height to maybe half.

    Starting your built-ins with a base frame gives you a good opportunity to create a level surface onto which your bookcases go so you aren't trying to level the cases themselves.

    Just an idea, anyway.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Richards View Post
    David, these are just real quick sketches to give the idea of what I'm talking about.




    Obviously I didn't add in the dressy stuff you'd put on like a molding along the floor and probably a face frame of sorts to match the rest of the case. If you moved the openings down onto the floor, you could reduce the height to maybe half.

    Starting your built-ins with a base frame gives you a good opportunity to create a level surface onto which your bookcases go so you aren't trying to level the cases themselves.

    Just an idea, anyway.
    Wow. That looks really good! Now for some other not so great news. I measured the distance to a window which is on the other wall and the casing is only 5 inches or so from the intended installation wall and the window itself is about 12 inches away from the wall. Any thoughts on this one? I didn't measure this initially because I requested when the windows be installed that they be installed 18" away from the wall. I should have measure that.....

  15. #15
    I'm not quite getting what you're describing but maybe you could do a sort of step thing with the side cases slightly shallower than the middle two?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •