Bank Holiday Weekend Project : Sorting out the cupboard (Part 2)

In my previous article I had stripped out a cupboard at the front of my house next to the front door because it didn't provide the storage capacity I was required, nor did it look particularly good.

Shelves installed and coated with two layers of paint

In this article I will be documenting the build of a shielding / cupboard for the electricity meter and consumer unit(s). Prior to this re-design of the cupboard I had what felt like enough shoes for the third-world in my cupboard and occasionally they would flip a circuit breaker when thrown in. So I felt something neat to tidy it up was needed.

Project : hide this monstrosity

This part of the project took a lot of thinking about how I'd actually achieve the effect of boxing off the electricity meter, in SketchUp it took about 10 clicks to create the box, in practice I had to work out how I would physically build a robust structure. I decided I would use more of my 12x12 mm2 pine batons as a framework and 6 mm MDF as the walls.

I started with what would be the top, it was an easy start: a square cut. But coming back to the cupboard I quickly discovered the problems when master craftsmen are not employed to do tasks, the walls are not square!

The MDF sheet is from the corner of the larger sheet, I KNOW that's square!

Approximately 7 mm sliver to be removed

 A quick jigsaw cut later and it was time for a test fit.

That's a hell of a lot better.

Next I wanted to make the framework to support the other walls. I decided to just follow the outlook of the chipboard backing that the meters are mounted to, so I only need two vertices's.

Supporting batons installed

To provide support for the top face, I installed a baton along the front edge. The ends were cut with a simple rabbet joint.

The next step was to put the side face on. Again fairly straightforward, with the exception of cutting out some material to allow for the skirting board.

Mark up for the skirting board

Skirting board notch and baton.

Time for a test fit so far.

Top and side installed

The next step was to put the front on. I decided I wanted doors on so that I would be able to easily get in each month when I wanted to take a meter reading. To keep the doors neat I decided to use magnets to keep the doors closed and out of the way.

Magnetic door closers

With the door magnets installed, I could install the matching pair on the inside of the door.

First door installed

The second door was then installed, the hinges caused a displacement that wasn't factored in my initial measurements, you can see that I need to cut down the width of the doors slightly.

Doors are a touch too big

Now that everything fits together, its time to disassemble and paint. I wanted to make sure that the hinges and the magnets stayed free of paint so I covered those with masking tape.

Ready for painting

12 hours later the paint was dry ... no I didn't sit there watching it! So I assembled all the bits once again to get it fitted into the cupboard. The final result is below. You can see I clearly missed bits during the painting, but it will be getting at least two more coats yet. My thoughts? Norm won't be offering me honorary membership into the Master Craftsman's Guild, but its certainly practical and, in my opinion, a damn sight better than what was originally there!

Final result!