Would luan mahogany plywood work...

[Smokestack Jack]

...for lining a closet humidor? I would think it would work, but have not seen any mention of it.

[Briandg]

sure it wood.

(heh heh)

that stuff is thin and porous, and it's not going to stop any heat or moisture migration. I suggest a couple of things. First, is this a closet with outside walls? If so, you need to insulate it. Whatever else you do, you need to use a wrap to help retain humidity.

first up, do not panel directly over drywall. lay furring strips, either 1x2 or 2x2 every 12" or so. Not 16" as would be standard for studs. then lay strips in between the furring strips, horizontally, every 16". Measure carefully and mark the locations on floor and walls so that you can nail precisely. You don't furring strip the front wall.

Insulate between those strips, maybe best done by foam boards, but you can use batts if you are crazy enough to try it. Staple up a layer of heavy poly as a moisture barrier, to retain humidity, and prevent dry spots. (do not use tyvek or other moisture permeable wrap)

Carefully measure and cut, then put up the wall boards, maybe you should varnish them, but it isn't necessary, since you will have a vapor barrier. You shouldn't need to seal corners or joints, but go ahead and put in corner moldings of some sort. Do your ceiling first, and I recommend that you replace your closet light with an LED strip rather than fluorescent. Lay down vinyl or ceramic, or pergo flooring, or you can use wood if you lay a vapor barrier, but no carpet. You will now have a relatively air/moisture tight room that will hold humid air. I'd try to mount a storm door or sliding glass door, or even a steel or fiberglass door, because any plywood door will be useless. Use a weather strip all around.

Seriously, using the furring strips is essential to success, and it's not going to add very much expense or trouble. Make sure you attach it to the studs, so it will not warp. Your most important step, IMO, will be to go get an air nailer, or even two. You need a brad nailer to hang the plywood, because nailing brads in by hand will be so damned difficult in a tiny room. Another nailer, capable of running 2-3" finishing nails will be needed to nail down the furring strips. Drywall and strips will be about 1-1/4" total, you will need at least 2" nails to get good holding in the studs, or you can use 2" screws into the studs.

It's going to be important to you that you measure your back wall for flatness, use a 4' long level or other straight edge to check for high or low spots, and do whatever you need to do, such as shimming, or use a belt sander, to fix as many high or low spots as you need to. obviously, you don't have to be absolutely precise. don't worry about a fraction of an inch off of flat.

My opinion on shelving would be to use shelves at each end, and then another along back wall. The shelves should be at least 9" deep to hold any size box up to a 7-1/2 8 " cigar's box. When mounting shelves, it will look far better if you use strips on the edge/wall to hold the shelves, use a removeable screw to hold the shelves in place on the strip. This will look far better than angle iron shelf holders, and you can put the shelves at any angle you choose. If you decide to run shelves the entire length of the back wall, you need to put a support board in the center, again, run strips. Obviously not needed if you choose to use metal hangers.

When you buy shelves, go to a lumber yard, and buy sheets of 3/4 to 1" plywood, and have the staff rip that into 4 9" sections on their panel saw. Get edge veneer if you want to. Get birch plywood if you want it to look great.

Of course, the simplest thing to do would be to just buy a pair of assemble it yourself book cases.

This is going to be about as good as you can get.

[Briandg]

I forgot. it is essential that you wire the room. a couple of options. Locate an outlet in the room, and then attach a new outlet in the room and feed off of the outer room. Use a single two opening outlet, but you will want a larger power strip or block. If your outlet is away from the closet and you can't just run it through the wall, get the surface mount conduit and use it. You will have to replace the original outlet, get conduit, put a box/plate inside and outside of the closet.

You can't just tap into the lighting circuit. That wouldn't be in code. If you find the thing getting far too cold in winter, which may happen, get the smallest heater you can find, which may be 2-400 watts, and set it on a timer.

You need to hear from doug, and maybe look at the threads about building a closet.

BTW, luaun is essentially a crappy grade of mahogany, porous, soft, and weak. from the phillipines. Spanish cedar is a high grade mahogany that is grown in south america. They are both mahogany, though, and will be fine.

If you find that your luaun is just as ugly as a hammered turd, by all means, stain it and finish it.

I suggest very strongly that you use an analine dye.

Here is from one of hundreds of sources. They come in many, many colors, not just funky ones. Do not use water based. Use alc based. After dying, you should use a light polyurethane coat to seal it.



Another color chart.

http://woodworker.com/pdf/clrcharth2o.pdf

[Briandg]

Oops, I forgot, I guess you will have to run your furring every 16 inches to hit the studs. You'll also have to run furring wherever you plan on attaching shelf hardware. If there are no studs where you are planning on hanging hardware, use strong glue behind the furring, and carefully use drywall screws to put it in place. The drywall screws will hold it in place, and the heavy wood glue will hold well enough to keep the shelving and plywood stable. If you tack the furring down well, use plenty of it, and hold the plywood to it well, you will wind up with an extremely stable wall.

In light of this realization, I will suggest that you run your full length furring horizontally, attaching them to the studs, and run smaller strips in between them, also attached to the studs.

Just like any other project, drywall is weak, and you must attach whatever you are putting on a wall to the studs/furring strips whenever possible to add support, strength, and rigidity.

If this whole thing sounds like too much work, go ahead and apply panels directly to drywall, but remember, part of this purpose is to provide insulation to outer walls, and to provide humidity retention. Don't leave out the heavy vapor barrier poly fabric, and if you can do it, go ahead with the insulated outer wall.

[Smokestack Jack]

Thankyou for the in-depth information. It is truly appreciated. I have most of the framework for my mancave complete. I had to box in the waterline that comes in through the concrete wall. That's the reason I have the idea of making part of this closet a humidor. This morning I was thinking about this and realized that if the water line had a leak or it burst, the cigar boxes would be too close, and be in danger of getting waterlogged! Maybe I'll just make that into a display area and display my ash tray collection and other memorabilia in that space.

[Rob G]

In other words, thanks for the information Brian, but I don't need it now.

Of course, I'm sure someone reading these forums can use that information. Plus, I'm sure Brian had fun sharing his wealth of knowledge.

[Smokestack Jack]

Originally Posted by Rob G

In other words, thanks for the information Brian, but I don't need it now.

Of course, I'm sure someone reading these forums can use that information. Plus, I'm sure Brian had fun sharing his wealth of knowledge.

Oh go smoke a cigar!


Brian's information is very helpful to me. I will use it to build a closet humidor in a different part of the room.