Build wooden box yourself - instructions with / without cover
- you need
- Costs and prices - it pays to build your own "> Colorful and stylish - your own box
- Instructions for box construction
- 1. Build a short sidewall - twice
- 2. Screw on the long side wall
- 3. Bottom of the box
- 4. One cover - many possibilities
- 5. Paint and protect
- Tips for quick readers
Hardly anything is more useful in a household than a box. Whether with or without lid, boxes are versatile. In the nursery, in the pantry or in the garage, boxes of various sizes simply store everything. How to build the appropriate boxes each with and without lid, we show you in the manual.
Order is half of life. Whether you take this saying to heart or not, with boxes you not only create order, they facilitate the sorting or retrieval of many different things. Above all, boxes should be as tangible as possible in every perfect size. This can be done easily if you build your new boxes according to our instructions even in the desired size. Here we show you changeable building instructions, to which you can also make a matching lid or even a table top. All you need is some wood and a few screws to build the box according to the instructions.
you need
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Costs and prices - is it worth it?
Even if it were not so cheap to build a box yourself, it would be worthwhile in any case. Because, the size of the box is absolutely freely customizable. The question of the shape of your box is up to you alone. Whether square or rectangular, there are many variants. Even a triangular box would be possible. However, this form requires a little experience and skill. This makes exactly the right box for each storage location. Even if you have no experience as a home improvement, you can always build a practical wooden box yourself.
Here are some (approximate) prices for different materials:
- Battens 2.4 x 4.8 cm - length 2.00 meters - 1.00 euros
- Boards / profiled wood 1.25 cm thick - 9.6 cm wide - length 2.10 meters - 10 pieces 5.50 euros
- Straight edge boards 1.8 cm thick - 9.0 cm wide - length 2.00 meters - piece 3.50 euros
- Wooden boards / OSB board 1.2 cm thick - 60 cm wide - Length 1.20 meters - Piece 9, 00 Euro
- Universal screws / Spax screws 100 pieces from about 5, 00 Euro depending on size
- Acrylic paint 750 ml from about 8, 00 Euro
Colorful and stylish - your own box
In order for the box to fit the particular room, you should paint the wood with acrylic paint. Boxes for the nursery can even be thematically adapted to the toys. But it's not just optical reasons why the box should be painted. The bare wood takes dirt very strongly and many boxes are now on the ground or are touched very often. After a short time your beautiful homemade box would look unsightly and dirty. That would be too bad. With acrylic varnish, however, the box can also be wiped off with a damp cloth.
Tip: If the box is to be used outdoors, you can use pressure impregnated wood for the construction. You still need to treat the wood again with wood preservation or a varnish, but it then already has some basic protection.
Instructions for box construction
If you want to use profile boards, the side walls and bottom of the box will be closed. A box for dirty laundry, for example, but should have a certain distance between the boards. Therefore you should use smooth edge boards for such a box and work in an even distance between the boards.
Tip: You can use such a box with ventilation slots between the boards in a larger format also great as a composter for the garden. But then you should pay attention to the wood protection as described above. In addition, the composter needs no soil, but a lid is useful so that the birds do not distribute the whole compost in the garden.
How versatile self-made boxes really are, they see at least at step 4 of the instructions. There we show you the various forms of lids that can turn the simple box into a practical and even chic piece of furniture.
1. Build a short sidewall - twice
Adjust the boards for the side wall on the workbench and put the profile boards firmly together. If you are building the variant with the smooth edge boards, you should saw a thin piece of wood sawing in between so that you can place spacers with the same width between all the boards. So the result will be nice and even around the box.
At the end, the slats are laid across the course of the boards. Lower the slats at the bottom as much as the strength of the floorboards will require. Apply a few drops of glue to the slats so that you can then turn and screw the sidewall. You should wait a moment for the glue to dry so far. This makes it easier to connect boards and slats together.
Tip: You can also omit this intermediate step and possibly use a clamp clamp. But the glue also serves the stability of the box and is therefore quite useful.
When you have turned the page, the screw holes are pre-drilled with a fine wood drill so that the boards do not break out. The holes should also be deepened with a Forstner bit. So the head of the countersunk screw will not look out later. If you have used glue, you only have to screw on every second board with profiled boards. In addition, of course, the top and the bottom board should be bolted, if your bill does not work out. With smooth edge boards, all boards must be screwed.
Tip: An OSB board, of course, only needs to be bolted to the top and bottom of the bar. No glue is required for this. However, a box made of OSB boards for children is not so good, because after some time splinters can break out when the little ones handle the box very roughly.
2. Screw on the long side wall
Clamp the two short side panels on your workbench so you can safely place the boards on the long side panel. Ideal is also a drop of wood glue as an aid. Also drill these boards and lower the holes with a countersink. Make sure that the box is screwed together at right angles. Helpful is a big iron angle, which you can hang up while working. So you see immediately when the box slips out of the corner.
3. Bottom of the box
Place two slats in the bottom of the box. You can either insert them between the side slats or screw them in directly next to them. For the later filling of the box, it is always better if you fit the slats for the floor between the other slats. On the other hand, it is often better for the stability and carrying capacity of the crate when the slats are placed further inward. In any case, the floor should fit between the side boards and not look out below.
Tip: Instead of the profile boards or smooth edging boards, you can simply use a wooden board for the floor, because most of the time, beauty does not matter. If the box should get rolls, the plate is anyway a good choice, because the weight is better distributed.
For boxes where you want to pack a lot of weight, and if you want the box to be movable by rolling, you can also screw the slats or thick planks under the floor from the bottom. On these slats, the rollers can be screwed particularly well and durable.
4. One cover - many possibilities
The lid can make a box that you make even more diverse. The lid turns a box into a storage space, a coffee table or a stool. The simple standard lid for boxes have only a handle hole and not a special handle. This also makes it easier to stack the boxes in a whole range of boxes. Make sure, however, that you have enough grip holes so that you can easily insert your hand. Better you measure again, if the default values are indeed sufficient!
- Handle hole at least 8 inches wide and 2 inches high -
Tip: You can also install similar grip holes on the two short sides. But if you have used profiled wood, you should screw in a reinforcement from the inside in case of a very heavy big box. On the one hand, wearing it is not so unpleasant for the hands, and on the other hand, something of the wood may not break. Otherwise this could happen relatively easily because of the thin chamfered structure of the profile boards.
4.1. Cover plate with handle hole
The simple box lid with a handle hole is made of boards that completely cover the finished box. Thus the edges of the lid rest on the sidewalls of the box. The two slats must therefore be shorter than the width of the box on both sides by the thickness of the side walls. You should already cut the grip hole when sawing the boards. The saw edges should be rounded off carefully with sandpaper.
4.2. Tabletop for the box
Of course, to make the box a coffee table, the top should be bigger than the box. But not exaggerated, otherwise the box tilts when loaded on one side of the table. From a box of 60 x 60 centimeters but can easily make a table with a plate size of at least 80 x 80 centimeters. In order to be able to access the s of the box practically, you should screw the plate to a side wall of the box with hinges. This prevents slipping of the plate at the same time. You can either build the slab yourself with smooth boards and slats or use any other prefabricated table top. Such a coffee table offers a lot of inconspicuous storage space and may even house a complete bar.
4.3. Seating on the box
Whether in the bathroom on a box that receives dirty laundry or in the living and dining room, the box can be a comfortable upholstery not only an emergency seat, but a full-fledged bench. But you should pay attention to the height of the box during construction. If it is too low, comfortable sitting will only be acceptable for children. The height of the box with the pillow should not be less than 40 centimeters and not significantly more than 55 centimeters.
Tip: At the hardware store there are foam blocks from which you can quickly build a seat cushion in the right size with a simple fabric cover. For the cover, think of a zipper so that the cover is washable.
You can either cushion the box firmly and fasten the cover under the cover plate with a stapler or you can put on a loose seat cushion. If the box is a standard size, you can use the finished cushions for garden benches and do not need to make anything extra. Such a box is also perfect for the covered terrace. You can stow your garden chair cushions in the box all summer long.
5. Paint and protect
To protect a homemade box from dirt and stains, it is better to paint them. Acrylic paint is best for this. If you want to immortalize the purpose of the box in color, use small letter templates. The outlines of the letters are then drawn in with a pencil. So make sure that a word actually fits on the box and is painted there evenly distributed.
Tips for quick readers
- Record the size of the box
- Saw boards and pre-drill holes
- Sand the edges of the boards
- Slats below a bit shorter than crate
- Screw short side boards with slats
- set up and fix both sides
- screw long side boards at right angles
- Build floor from boards and slats
- Insert bottom and screw with box
- Saw up boards for cover - sand edges
- Slats for cover slightly shorter than box width
- Screw boards with slats from the bottom
- Screw on the handle or saw out the handle hole beforehand
- Screw plate to side wall with hinges
- Paint the box inside and out
