Desperately Need Carpentry Advice! (CLOSED THREAD)

Beverley75

Hi,

I'm a complete novice but I'm building a storage area under my staircase (boarded off with two slanted doors) and the carpenter suggested MDF - but I would like to match the beautiful solid Pine staircase. I'm happy to buy my own wood. 

The space is 200cm (H) x 220 (L) - with a sloping edge on the other side obviously.

What size Pine boards (are these called 'timberboard'?) do I need, please? And how many? (carpenter is supplying timber for frame)

What thickness of timberboard do I need please? 18mm? Or thicker? 

They all seem to be narrow planks like cladding in the the usual big name retailers? Am I missing something? 

(The lovely Carpenter I've booked isn't fluid in English, so doesn't understand my question.)

Thank you ever so much for any replies. 

HHarry

I don’t think anyone will be able to give you quantities based off of that description.  Do you just want timber for the doors.  Or to create shelves, or boxing in, etc, etc.

B&Q do Pine Furniture Board - 2 of those would fill a 200 x 220 hole.

https://www.diy.com/departments/square-edge-clear-pine-furniture-board-l-2m-w-200mm-t-18mm/3663602877462_BQ.prd?ds_rl=1272379&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIupKj_Of99wIVEoFQBh2J9gCBEAQYAiABEgI0KfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&storeId=1358

Murmansk

You tend to find that boards like MDF or plywood and chipboard which are all "man made" come in massive sheets but real wood comes in much narrower bits like you've seen. 

Your carpenter could probably make you what you want using pine boards but beware the grain/figuring that you like might not be so nice on the planks you get. You can get sheets of plywood with a nice veneer on the surface but probably not pine - not sure. That would get over the problem of having to allow for expansion and contraction which you get with real wood. 

The boards linked to in the previous post look good but you'd need quite a lot from your measurements as you'd need ten 200mm boards to cover a space 200cm wide

grumbler

I suggest good plywood. Mine was from BNQ

Beverley75

Murmansk said:

You tend to find that boards like MDF or plywood and chipboard which are all "man made" come in massive sheets but real wood comes in much narrower bits like you've seen. 

Your carpenter could probably make you what you want using pine boards but beware the grain/figuring that you like might not be so nice on the planks you get. You can get sheets of plywood with a nice veneer on the surface but probably not pine - not sure. That would get over the problem of having to allow for expansion and contraction which you get with real wood. 

The boards linked to in the previous post look good but you'd need quite a lot from your measurements as you'd need ten 200mm boards to cover a space 200cm wide

Thank you so much for answering! I'll go and have a look at the plywood :-) 

Bendy_House

Beverley75 said:

Hi,

I'm a complete novice but I'm building a storage area under my staircase (boarded off with two slanted doors) and the carpenter suggested MDF - but I would like to match the beautiful solid Pine staircase. I'm happy to buy my own wood. 

The space is 200cm (H) x 220 (L) - with a sloping edge on the other side obviously.

What size Pine boards (are these called 'timberboard'?) do I need, please? And how many? (carpenter is supplying timber for frame)

What thickness of timberboard do I need please? 18mm? Or thicker? 

They all seem to be narrow planks like cladding in the the usual big name retailers? Am I missing something? 

(The lovely Carpenter I've booked isn't fluid in English, so doesn't understand my question.)

Thank you ever so much for any replies. 

Hmmm, careful... :-)

I bet your staircase is lovely, but that doesn't mean that more pine will look even better.

This under-stairs cupboard will be closed off by two doors? And these will be pine? What - flat slabs of pine? That will not look good...

So, what instead - bespoke framed pine doors? Hmm, costly. And you'll still have a shed-load of pine to stare at :-)

Any chance of a photo of your staircase, also showing the area to be converted?

MDF can be boring, if it's kept as a flat sheet, but it's also dead easy to transform by adding an extra layer around a door to make a pretend 'frame', or to route V-grooves in the door panels to make them 'country T&G' style. And they can then be painted any colour you like, even just using a scrub-resistant emulsion paint straight on. 

Do a Google Images for 'under stairs cupboard', for example. Most of these are framed doors and T&G panelling. I think they'll look great alongside pine.

The below is 99.999% MDF - the only bit that's timber is the 'dado' moulding used along the worktop front edge (and that could have been MDF too). Flat panels of MDF, with 9mm-thick 'frames' of MDF glued around each door, and tackled with a router - even the wall 'panelling'. And you can change the colour any time you feel like a change...

Beverley75

HHarry said:

I don’t think anyone will be able to give you quantities based off of that description.  Do you just want timber for the doors.  Or to create shelves, or boxing in, etc, etc.

B&Q do Pine Furniture Board - 2 of those would fill a 200 x 220 hole.

Oh my goodness!

Thank you ever so much - the wood would just be for the doors and boxing in the last triangle by the skirting, I think. 

Is the 18mm thickness appropriate for understairs storage doors? 

Beverley75

grumbler said:

I suggest good plywood. Mine was from BNQ

This looks really good! A nice rich colour too - do you happen to remember the colour effect?

What thickness did you use? 

Beverley75

 This is my very ugly attempt at measuring ha! 

grumbler

Beverley75 said:

grumbler said:

I suggest good plywood. Mine was from BNQ

This looks really good! A nice rich colour too - do you happen to remember the colour effect?

What thickness did you use? 

I think it's just lighting and camera. Normal untreated plywood.

5mm I guess - it was 20 years ago. Something like this

Beverley75

Bendy_House said:

Beverley75 said:

Hi,

I'm a complete novice but I'm building a storage area under my staircase (boarded off with two slanted doors) and the carpenter suggested MDF - but I would like to match the beautiful solid Pine staircase. I'm happy to buy my own wood. 

The space is 200cm (H) x 220 (L) - with a sloping edge on the other side obviously.

What size Pine boards (are these called 'timberboard'?) do I need, please? And how many? (carpenter is supplying timber for frame)

What thickness of timberboard do I need please? 18mm? Or thicker? 

They all seem to be narrow planks like cladding in the the usual big name retailers? Am I missing something? 

(The lovely Carpenter I've booked isn't fluid in English, so doesn't understand my question.)

Thank you ever so much for any replies. 

Hmmm, careful... :-)

I bet your staircase is lovely, but that doesn't mean that more pine will look even better.

This under-stairs cupboard will be closed off by two doors? And these will be pine? What - flat slabs of pine? That will not look good...

So, what instead - bespoke framed pine doors? Hmm, costly. And you'll still have a shed-load of pine to stare at :-)

Any chance of a photo of your staircase, also showing the area to be converted?

MDF can be boring, if it's kept as a flat sheet, but it's also dead easy to transform by adding an extra layer around a door to make a pretend 'frame', or to route V-grooves in the door panels to make them 'country T&G' style. And they can then be painted any colour you like, even just using a scrub-resistant emulsion paint straight on. 

Do a Google Images for 'under stairs cupboard', for example. Most of these are framed doors and T&G panelling. I think they'll look great alongside pine.

The below is 99.999% MDF - the only bit that's timber is the 'dado' moulding used along the worktop front edge (and that could have been MDF too). Flat panels of MDF, with 9mm-thick 'frames' of MDF glued around each door, and tackled with a router - even the wall 'panelling'. And you can change the colour any time you feel like a change...

Excellent points!!

My main concern is that, in the space, having MDF painted white wouldn't look good? 

I'm really bad at DIY - and as a "working poor" single Mum, I just can't afford to not get it right, first time. 

These are the pictures of my staircase: