Hi back again,
This month I would like to talk about closet shelving. There are principally 2 types of material for a closet shelf, wood or steel. You can buy laminated shelving, usually chip board with a melamine finish. The cons with this type of material, not very strong, must be supported every 24″ or it will sag in time.
You can use real wood or plywood, much stronger than particle or chip board. There is a lot of work painting afterwards. If you want to hang clothes with any of the wood products you must install a closet rod.
There are steel wire and plastic coated shelving systems. They are quite good, there is natural ventilation with the openness of the wire shelving. This system is strong, no finish required and you can hang clothes on the lower rung.
At Z-Design Lab we came up with our own solution, 3mm punched & bent steel with 20mm x 20mm holes for ventilation and a downturn bend at the front. This adds strength and is a natural place to hang clothes.
Closet shelving, great to hang up clothes 
Storage on top of shelves 
Walk in closet with the shelving
We used wood supports for the shelves to rest on, these can be painted the same colour as the wall. The shelves are placed on these and screwed in place in the pre-punched holes.
To make it easier to install we boxed out each corner 13″ x 15″, because our closet was approx 9 feet long & the steel was 8 feet there would have to be a connection of some description.
The shelves that will be used with a clothes hanger must be rounded slightly with a file where the hanger rests. As the punched holes have a square edge they can be sharp.
With some material left over, we added in some shelving into the utility room too!
Utility room with added shelves 
Strong and versatile 
Great for any use
The cons of this system: drawings must be produced for a fabricator with a punching machine. A lot of metal fabricators would not do a small job, so you must hunt for a small shop that has this capability and also powder coating.
The pros of this system, very strong 8 foot unsupported sections. Wide range of powder coating colours that last a lifetime. A unique solution so it will not look like off the shelf systems. Drawers fronts can also be made.
Well, that’s all for now à bientôt!
John
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