How to Install a Wire-Type Closet Organizing System

RON HAZELTON: We’re here in West Bloomfield, Michigan a suburb of Detroit. We are here to bring some order to the lives of Betsy and Kurt Schneider.  At least to their bedroom closet.  They have asked for some help in making the most of the space they have. 

BETSY SCHNEIDER: There’s no order to it, there’s no structure to it.  There’s just something to hang and then a few shelves to put some things away and I really need more order so I can find things and put things away better.

KURT SCHNEIDER: It’s really in need of a little organization. 

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Come on in to my closet.  Here you go.

RON HAZELTON: Oh, nice big closet.  Yeah, lots of possibilities here, guys, you got quite a bit of wasted space, we can make this a lot better.  Are you going to keep all the shoes?

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Every single one of them.

RON HAZELTON: Every single pair?

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Every single one of them, yes.

RON HAZELTON: Okay, special shoe storage then, okay?

BETSY SCHNEIDER: You bet, you bet.

RON HAZELTON: All right, let’s grab some clothes and take these out and then we’ll get started.

KURT SCHNEIDER: Thank you.

RON HAZELTON: Are you sure we can’t eliminate some of these shoes?

BETSY SCHNEIDER: None, I need them all. 

RON HAZELTON: I’m climbing up here, okay.

KURT SCHNEIDER: I’ll grab a handful here too.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: There you go, trip number one.

KURT SCHNEIDER: You haven’t worn this dress in a long time.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: I’m still keeping it.  All right.

KURT SCHNEIDER: Look at these ties.  I probably wear like four of these.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: I think you should clean those out.

RON HAZELTON: Now, let’s take all the shelving out of here, all right?

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Okay.

RON HAZELTON: Just pop this with your hand, I think this is going to come out.

KURT SCHNEIDER: All right.

RON HAZELTON: Yeah, that’s actually cut into two pieces.  Push it out all the way. Muscle, okay.  Just drop that out there, Kurt.

KURT SCHNEIDER: All right.

RON HAZELTON: Let’s pull that one out Betsy.  Take, yeah, take this end out first.  Okay.  Push it up, all the way up, okay, we are free on this end, Kurt are you still attached? 

KURT SCHNEIDER: Yeah, I am still attached. 

RON HAZELTON: Okay. Let no hole in the wall stop me. Okay, pull it out, now drop it down, drop it down, that’ll release the nails on the end over there, there you go.

KURT SCHNEIDER: All right.

RON HAZELTON: Okay.  All right, now you guys know what to do?

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Sure do.

KURT SCHNEIDER: We’ll take it from here.

RON HAZELTON: This one’s all yours. 

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Okay, got it?

KURT SCHNEIDER: Got it.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: All right.

KURT SCHNEIDER: No splinters.

RON HAZELTON: Now, we want to scrape off these ridges right here where the paint was sort of up next to that wood that we just took off.  This is a paint scraper, nice and sharp.  This’ll do a good job knocking it right down. Okay, Kurt, give it a try on this wall, here.

KURT SCHNEIDER: All right, I’ll give it a shot.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Okay.

RON HAZELTON: Okay, Betsy come on over here, I am going to have you do the patching here. 

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Okay. 

RON HAZELTON: Let me just show you a couple quick things here.  This is spackle, interior spackle, the idea is you want to press this, using your, keeping your knife kind of flat, you’re going to press this into the holes, going all the way into the bottom.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Okay. 

RON HAZELTON: And then, holding your putty knife at about a 45 degree angle, just take off the top like this, so you’re not leaving any excess on here, okay.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Okay, uh-huh.

RON HAZELTON: Let’s try it over here.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: All right.

RON HAZELTON: Right in, try it right in here.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Okay. 

RON HAZELTON: Press it into the hole, good, and then, excellent.  Once the spackle is dried and we have sanded off the high spots, Betsy and Kurt roll on a coat of paint to conceal the wall repairs.  So, finally we are ready to put up the shelves.  Can you believe that it is actually dark outside?

BETSY SCHNEIDER: I know.

KURT SCHNEIDER: Great, I am ready.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: It is time. 

RON HAZELTON: Got a lot of prep work done here, okay, anyway so this is a completely adjustable shelving system we are going to install today which means you can adjust it up and down and sideways and it all starts with this hanging strip up here, so what I am going to ask you to do, if you could hold this end of it, Kurt.

KURT SCHNEIDER: Sure.

RON HAZELTON: And you were anticipating my next move Betsy.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: There you go, all right, sure.

RON HAZELTON: You hold this end over here.  We are going to attach this to the top thing.  There is a horizontal 2 x 4 running right along the ceiling up here in most homes and we are going to screw into that.  This is about a 2-inch number, oh gosh, at least a number 12 screw there, maybe even a 14.  We are going to go right up here.  I predrilled a little hole there because the wood is so dry in this house.  There we go.  Okay, now we are going to put one of these every eight inches along this strip.  Now, what makes this system by ClosetMaid so adjustable is this little adapter right here.  It goes into the top of the shelf standard, just clips right in here.  And then, this clips over that rail that we just put up a moment ago.  You see now this standard can slide back and forth like this, you can position this anywhere.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: So we can change that.

KURT SCHNEIDER: It goes the width of the shelves.

RON HAZELTON: Absolutely and they can be up to 24 inches apart into this standard goes the shelf bracket.  I’ll just put this up here temporarily.  And then, eventually on the bracket will go the shelf.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Oh, okay.

KURT SCHNEIDER: Great, I see how it works.

RON HAZELTON: Now, we want to keep these from swinging side to side, so we are going to put a screw in down here, not to take the weight, because that is all bore by the hanging track up on top, just to make sure that these are not going to move side to side.  So, let’s find level here, there we go, and we’ll (INAUDIBLE) just put a mark right in here, let’s see if you can hold, actually hold it back on this side if you would.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Okay.

RON HAZELTON: Now, we’ll do a quarter inch hole here.  Drop in the plastic anchor, swing this back over, put a screw through here.  And drive it in.  Betsy has the rest of the screws installed in a matter of minutes.  Next step, attach the shelf supports to the standards.  Now, here’s where Betsy and Kurt have to decide how to set their closet up so that it best meets their needs.  With the standards in place, the shelves can be set on top and locked into position.  A bolt cutter makes cutting the shelves a snap.  Now let me just point out something here, these ends, once you cut these are very rough, they can tear your clothes, so you get these little plastic tabs, they should come with your shelving, they slip right over the cut end, just like that, to give a nice finished detail.  For shoe storage, these triangular shaped plastic brackets support upside down shelves.  The upturned shelf lip keeps shoes from sliding off.  All that’s left now is to snap the hanging rods in place and roll in our sliding basket storage.  Can you believe it?  We’ve turned closet chaos into closet order in a matter of hours.  Betsy and Kurt, this is fantastic.  Look at the extra room you’ve got here.  Half the shelves we put in you aren’t even using right now.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: This is wonderful.

RON HAZELTON: And you, you’ve got a whole hanging rack over here that you haven’t used yet.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: This is wonderful.

RON HAZELTON: I just want to say it was a pleasure working with both of you.

KURT SCHNEIDER: Thank you.

RON HAZELTON: You know, you did a great job, really.  Very gratifying.

BETSY SCHNEIDER: Thank you so much for your help.