The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
The Practical Built In Funiture
There are two general types of construction: the carefully jointed, glued and screwed assembly used by joiners and cabinet makers, and the rougher framing, boarding, and nailing of the carpenter. For the amateur — those men and women who like to do their own woodworking — a combination of both of these methods is usually simplest and best.
The built-in piece that is securely attached to the house structure is not subjected to the same stresses as a free-standing piece. It doesn't get pulled about or stood on end. When it is in position it stays there. This is one reason why many joints do not need to be as strong or rigid as those of a mov ble piece of furniture. It is only when you get to dealing with partition-type built-ins, or those that are only partially attached, that the extra strength and stiffness is needed. The point, then, is that building in simplifies construction, and fastening things to walls or other parts of a house calls for very little skill, once you understand the basic idea.
Ordinarily, the same outside appearance — and almost the same strength and rigidity — can be secured without the use of fancy joints, and reasonably careful planning of the construction can produce a satisfactory exterior that betrays no amateur workmanship. For example, instead of a mortiseand-tenon joint you can often use a dowel (or even a pair of dowels) and a little glue. For certain angle joints you can use L- and T-shaped screw plates or corrugated nails. Better results usually are secured with nailed or screwed joints in which the wood parts are fitted together without the need for extra devices. A number of joints are illustrated in Fig. 1.
The ability to put together a simple right-angle joint makes it possible to construct a neat frame to form the front of a cupboard or the frame of a door. The hardest part of such a job is getting the joints absolutely square. This simply means that you have to use a steel square, measure accurately to l/16th of an inch or less, and saw along the proper (waste) side of the lines to produce a tight fit. But before you cut anything at all, make sure the space you are building into is also square. So often, especially in older houses, the walls will lean slightly or be out of square with ceiling or floor. In such cases you will need to cut your framing to allow for the difference in angle or dimension, or cover the gap with your trim. All of this calls more for care than it does for skill. Just take your time.
The next important detail is assembling the parts to assure firm joints. How rigid any joint will be depends largely on the amount of leverage it is likely to be subjected to. Sometimes you can get away with nailing through the side of one board into the edge of another.
