Engineering...
Jul. 2nd, 2018 01:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osodecanelaLast Thursday morning I awoke to another failure of my closet shelving, though not the same failure as last time. The repair I did there held, at least in part.
I have a large walk-in closet, 7’x7’, with heavy wire shelving that has a clothing rod built in. I had doubled nearly all of the angle supports and had switched to heavy plastic formed straps that were screwed directly into the studs, holding the back of the shelving to the wall. This way they couldn’t allow the back of the shelving to come up and out, the way the j hooks they’d previously been snapped into had. I thought at the timeline , “these aren’t going anywhere.” Well, the shelving on the outer wall held, sort of, when the upper shelf on the adjoining wall came off, pretty much the way the first one had. The upper shelf there fell, and it took out the one below, while the high shelf previously repaired was broken free, or more appropriately, thru the plastic straps, the repairs of which remained steadfastly bolted to the studs. The extra angled supports partially pancaked, but did hold up the shelving, keeping the bulk of what it held from falling to the floor.
Today I finally had the time to redo the closet and engineer a superior solution. The shelving remained undamaged. It was in surprisingly good condition. I emptied out the bulk of what was in the closet after coming in from the yard this morning. Morning chores here pretty much start outdoors. The potted plants and young trees must get watered daily it they’re going to survive and be productive. That often leads to at least an hour of yard work, if not longer. After all fire season is upon us, and with this much property, fIre risk abatement seems constant. This morning I pulled the bulk of the ‘pinks’; their flowers nearly all gone, the remaining foliage was rapidly withering, time for it to find its way into the composting bin. The biostack is now quite ful.
Finally, back inside and out of the heat, I got to work. This time I got metal straps to replace the plastic ones. I got the upper outer wall shelf bolted back onto the wall and repaired, then reattached each angled support. The adjoining wall then got done & after that the metal straps were added to the shelf that had not failed. Last, I notched the 2x2’s and bolted them on as added anterior support. Unless we’re hit by a major quake, these aren’t coming down anytime soon. (Perhaps, not the best choice of phrase in this case given previous experience.)
I’ve gotten probably 65% of my things back away. I’d hoped to finish, but I still had to make dinner & I’m afraid both my ankles and my low back are not pleased with me right now. I’ve taken a couple of Tylenol and will see how I fare in the AM.
I have a large walk-in closet, 7’x7’, with heavy wire shelving that has a clothing rod built in. I had doubled nearly all of the angle supports and had switched to heavy plastic formed straps that were screwed directly into the studs, holding the back of the shelving to the wall. This way they couldn’t allow the back of the shelving to come up and out, the way the j hooks they’d previously been snapped into had. I thought at the timeline , “these aren’t going anywhere.” Well, the shelving on the outer wall held, sort of, when the upper shelf on the adjoining wall came off, pretty much the way the first one had. The upper shelf there fell, and it took out the one below, while the high shelf previously repaired was broken free, or more appropriately, thru the plastic straps, the repairs of which remained steadfastly bolted to the studs. The extra angled supports partially pancaked, but did hold up the shelving, keeping the bulk of what it held from falling to the floor.
Today I finally had the time to redo the closet and engineer a superior solution. The shelving remained undamaged. It was in surprisingly good condition. I emptied out the bulk of what was in the closet after coming in from the yard this morning. Morning chores here pretty much start outdoors. The potted plants and young trees must get watered daily it they’re going to survive and be productive. That often leads to at least an hour of yard work, if not longer. After all fire season is upon us, and with this much property, fIre risk abatement seems constant. This morning I pulled the bulk of the ‘pinks’; their flowers nearly all gone, the remaining foliage was rapidly withering, time for it to find its way into the composting bin. The biostack is now quite ful.
Finally, back inside and out of the heat, I got to work. This time I got metal straps to replace the plastic ones. I got the upper outer wall shelf bolted back onto the wall and repaired, then reattached each angled support. The adjoining wall then got done & after that the metal straps were added to the shelf that had not failed. Last, I notched the 2x2’s and bolted them on as added anterior support. Unless we’re hit by a major quake, these aren’t coming down anytime soon. (Perhaps, not the best choice of phrase in this case given previous experience.)
I’ve gotten probably 65% of my things back away. I’d hoped to finish, but I still had to make dinner & I’m afraid both my ankles and my low back are not pleased with me right now. I’ve taken a couple of Tylenol and will see how I fare in the AM.
