Wardrobe cuttings

ComputeAngel

Hi all,

I have purchased IKEA wardrobes without measuring the height of the room. Unfortunately, the height of my room is smaller than height of wardrobes so need to cut the wardrobes.

My question to you guys. Is this something that can be done easily by a person who is not that good in DIY. and what tools do I need?

Many thanks for reading and replying.

Regards

getmore4less

can't you take them back and find ones that do fit?

If you want to keep them....

Which ones need to see the build the fixings?

How much shorter do you need to make them?
The first decision will depend on construction do you trim top or bottom

you could trim the uprights and move all the fixings into the new ends.
(depending how much it getting trimmed this may or may not work)
this may require drill bits to make new holes for the fixings.

or just trim the uprights and fix the other bits to them with chipboard screws, often furniture fixings or inset nuts work better.

The carcase will probably look OK but the doors may not as they tend to be finished top/bottom.


for trimming I find a circular saw works best(quick and with the right blade usually neat and straight.

Usefull to have a way to clamp them together and do them all with a single cut getting them all the same lenght

next best would be a good hand saw.

getting straight lines with a jigsaw is much harder.

Gloomendoom

getmore4less wrote: »

for trimming I find a circular saw works best(quick and with the right blade usually neat and straight.

Remember to have the "good" side facing down if you use a circular saw.

next best would be a good hand saw.

Good side facing up.

I bought some wardrobes that were too high for one of our rooms. My wife had measured the room without taking a ceiling beam into account. The top four inches or so of the wardrobe height consisted of a moulded ornamental cornice. Rather than notch it around the beam I cut the whole thing down by two inches with a hand saw. Looks fine.

Aylesbury_Duck

ComputeAngel wrote: »

Hi all,

I have purchased IKEA wardrobes without measuring the height of the room. Unfortunately, the height of my room is smaller than height of wardrobes so need to cut the wardrobes.

My question to you guys. Is this something that can be done easily by a person who is not that good in DIY. and what tools do I need?

Many thanks for reading and replying.

Regards

I'd exchange them. If you haven't got the DIY experience or the tools to do the job, it will be an expensive way to learn DIY.

Cisco001

I did it myself with no DIY experience few years ago.
tools I used was marker pen, right angle ruler, measuring tape and Jigsaw

It worth buying £20 cheap Jigsaw
I tried hand saw,not work for me...

Aylesbury_Duck

Cisco001 wrote: »

I did it myself with no DIY experience few years ago.
tools I used was marker pen, right angle ruler, measuring tape and Jigsaw

It worth buying £20 cheap Jigsaw
I tried hand saw,not work for me...

I'd question that. My grandfather and father always taught me that when you need to buy a new tool for a job, to get the best you can afford, not the cheapest. Cheap tools are a sure-fire way to a bodged job or worse, an injury. I've stuck to their advice and the tools I've bought over many years of car and home ownership have served me well and have lasted. Buy cheap, buy twice.

Cisco001

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

I'd question that. My grandfather and father always taught me that when you need to buy a new tool for a job, to get the best you can afford, not the cheapest. Cheap tools are a sure-fire way to a bodged job or worse, an injury. I've stuck to their advice and the tools I've bought over many years of car and home ownership have served me well and have lasted. Buy cheap, buy twice.

It depends on how often you use the tools.
I bought a cheap Jigsaw as I knew that I probably only use it by once in the foreseeable future. (I did use it 3 times within 5 years...)

I don't see the point of spending something like £50 on tools when a flatpack wardrobe are so cheap these day. £150 may be?

BTW, cheap tools doesn't necessary mean compromising safety.
It is depends on how you handle the tools!
A cheap power tool could mean it only has basic function, nothing fancy.

Witless

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

I'd question that. My grandfather and father always taught me that when you need to buy a new tool for a job, to get the best you can afford, not the cheapest. Cheap tools are a sure-fire way to a bodged job or worse, an injury. I've stuck to their advice and the tools I've bought over many years of car and home ownership have served me well and have lasted. Buy cheap, buy twice.

Very true. But use once? Buy cheap.

Aylesbury_Duck

Cisco001 wrote: »

BTW, cheap tools doesn't necessary mean compromising safety.
It is depends on how you handle the tools!
A cheap power tool could mean it only has basic function, nothing fancy.

True. I should clarify my comment. Some very cheap hand tools do compromise safety. Saw blades that break easily, screwdrivers that blunt quickly and cause slips, etc are things I've experienced when I've had to resort to using friends' or relatives' tools to help them out at short notice. I agree that a lower-priced power tool might just reflect its limited functions but I would argue it's better to think ahead to possible future uses so that you're not back at the shop buying another drill in a year's time because the one you bought cheaply last year didn't have a hammer action or a reverse mode or something else you now need. As Witless says, if you know you're going to use something just the once, fair enough, but that is surely a rare occurrence (unless you're very old! Even then, some of my best tools are hand-me-downs.)