Hi Guys, it's Warren here. Do you have an attic room? Aren't they great!? But what you didn't
realise is you lose all that useful loft space to keep all your precious belongings you're certain
you're going to come back to use in the near future. So I'm going to show you how you can
make a really easy storage solution using a sliding door mechanism which takes advantage
of this useless space in the eaves of your loft room. Now first things first. Make sure
you clear and clean where you're going to be installing your sliding cupboard doors. Next,
assess the area. So the sliding doors are going to be incorporated into a wooden surround,
which I'll be building into the eaves. As you can see, I have this wooden support beam,
which is at an angle. So I'm firstly going to prepare the top part of the frame so it can
sit on the angled beam and then provide a level surface for the top rails of the sliding doors. I
simply do this by taking a piece of wood, which is the length of my eaves, then cutting out an angled
section measured to the correct angle to make sure it fits nice and snug on the angled beam.
Then check it's nice and level on all sides and secure it into place using lots of screws. Now
that's sorted, we now need to measure the height at either end of the eaves and in the middle as
well so we can build our vertical supports on the left and right hand side and in the middle.
Once measured, take your timber that you're using to frame the eaves. Mark these measurements,
then cut your three vertical support pieces. Also, if the support pieces on the left and right hand
side have to go over skirting, be sure to use a coping saw to cut out the shape of the coving at
the bottom of the timber. Now simply make sure each of the three vertical pieces of timber you
cut fit into the space, then securely fasten them into place. You can do this using either screws,
using raw plugs (if you're screwing into a brick wall) or plenty of No More Nails which
will work really well for the supports that are going on the left and right hand side.
Again, when you're fixing them into place, it's really important you make sure they're level on
all sides. When they are, and if you're using No More Nails, leave them to dry so they're nice
and secure. For that centre support, in order to securely fasten it into place on the floor,
you might want to use a block of wood and some screws to keep it in place on the bottom.
Next, I'm placing a thin piece of wood at the bottom as shown which we'll be
screwing the bottom rail of the sliding doors on to. Now you could just fix the
bottom rail of the sliding doors straight onto the hardwood floor. But by doing this,
you're future proofing if you ever wanted to have a carpet installed in the future because
then a carpet would sit up flush with the wood, as opposed to up flush with the sliding doors track.
Now, with that job done, it's time to fill. So take some builders caulk and some filler and
fill in all the gaps, then leave to dry. And in the meantime, whilst that's drying, we can
cut all the metal pieces for the sliding doors. For this, I'm using two sets of the Rothley Ares
3 runner system. One for each side of the eaves. Each kit contains all the wheels needed as well as
the upper and lower tracks and some profiling for the top, bottom and sides of the doors as well.
So firstly, we need to measure how long the upper and lower tracks need to be for
each halves of the storage area and then cut those to size. You can do this using
either a hacksaw or an angle grinder, making sure you're using eye protection as well.
Once you've carefully cut the bottom track to just the right size, then smooth off any sharp
bits of metal that might be sticking out where you cut, then follow exactly the same process
for the top piece of track, cutting to size then smoothing off, as well as cutting any of
the profile pieces as per specification to fit onto all four doors which we'll prepare next.
For your doors, all you need to do is measure the width and height of each half of your
storage area. For each half I want to have two doors, so divide the width in half plus one inch,
so the doors overlap slightly - For your door width. And measure the height minus the space
required to account for the sliding door wheels - For your door height. Then simply get your
timber merchant to cut four pieces of 18mm sheet MDF to this size. Then with your 4 MDF doors,
give them plenty of coats of interior wood paint, painting them the colour of your choice. Also,
once the builders caulk and filler you used on the frame around the eaves has fully dried, be sure
to sand it so it's nice and smooth. Then paint the frame, the colour of your choice as well.
Now, once the paint has dried on all four doors, we're then going to attach the wheels
and profiling. So in order that we don't scratch them whilst doing this, I lay down a bath mat,
then flipped each one over on top of it. Each door requires four wheels. Two at the top and
two at the bottom. Then, according to the instructions that came with the Rothley Ares
3 set, securely fasten each wheel into place at the specified distance away from the door edge.
Do this with four wheels on all four doors and then attach any profiling you may have
to go on the top, bottom and sides of each of the doors that you cut to size earlier.
And it's this profiling that will make your doors look really nice and neat.
Okay. So once you've prepared all four doors, we then need to attach the upper
and lower tracks for the sliding doors into the frames we put into the eaves.
So of course, we measured and cut all of the tracks out earlier. So simply all you need to
do is securely screw the top track into place as shown and do exactly the same for the bottom
track as well. Making sure both the top and bottom tracks align horizontally, which will
ensure the doors will sit straight when they're on the tracks. Now, once you finish screwing all
the tracks down, it's then the moment of truth - It's time to fit the doors. Assuming you measured
everything correctly, they should simply slot into place. Now, you may need some minor readjustments
with the screws that you'll find on the top of each of the wheels. But once they're in place,
they should glide nice and freely like this. Once you've inserted one, then insert the other three
doors, making sure they all move freely on the tracks as expected. And there you have it. That
is how easy it is to make your own storage solution in the eaves of your loft room,
simply using sliding doors. It's so much easier and cheaper than having custom made in-built
cupboards, and it's the perfect way to store away all your things nice and neatly and discreetly.