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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

Not really home improvement, but I bought a golf cart from a course off of Facebook and have spent the last few weeks getting all the course crap off and pimping it out with an oversized suspension, rear seat, bigger wheels/tires, mirrors, battery gauge, and LED lights. And of course a Dukes of Hazzard horn.

What kind?
 
You could drill holes in the bottom of your verticals, insert Tee nuts and the screw in feet like are used on restaurant tables. They allow about an inch of adjustment.

You need to make sure the tops of your verticals touch the ceiling. Otherwise is will be at high risk of falling over if pushed. If you use the adjustable feet, you can make the top of your verticals snug against the ceiling. Use something to pad the top of the posts so you don't mark the ceiling.

If you go with your brother's design, you might be able to use 3/4 nominal plywood cut into 4 pieces each 8 ft by 11- 1/2 inches. Lumber places usually will do this for you. Plywood will flex less than 1x12

Also, you can keep the verticals to a minimum by using 1x2 or 1x3 horizontally under each edge edge of your shelves. That would add strength without a lot of visual mass. You could leave the cantilevered ends without this extra support. Just don't put anything too heavy out there.
 
Because you mention uneven floors, it is a good bet that your ceilings are also uneven. To beat this, not have the top look wonky and provide stability, as I mentioned before, run your verticals floor to ceiling with adjustable feet.

To construct and have your shelves straight and level, make 1x3 "ladders" that have the horizontal 1x3 under the edge of your shelves and the 1x3 cross pieces.

Then set the verticals on one side, making sure they are plumb in both directions (use a 4 foot level). Then attach a "ladder" to the verticals where you want it near the bottom, making sure it is level as you do. You will need another set of hands for this.

Next align and connect only the two outer verticals. Put the shelf on this ladder, then stack all the ladders and shelf boards, alternately on the bottom ladder. Align and connect the remaining verticals only to the bottom ladder

Now raise the top shelf and ladder to proper height, level it and connect to all verticals. Repeat for the rest. Friends help for this. Probably need two people to hold in place,, one to align, level and connect.

High five and open beer.
 
You can make everything much more stable if you are willin and able to put some screw holes in the ceiling and the ceiling joists run perpendicular to the long dimension of the divider, or if a parallel joist is in between the rows of verticals. Let me know if this is an option and I'll give details.
 
yeah, the stability/unevenness tradeoff is tough because I do get nervous about the stability with those adjustable feet

I'm also less than keen on putting holes in the ceiling and am more concerned with diving the room in a particular way than lining things up with the joist

I think I'd prefer to just sand down or lop off the tops if the unevenness looks bad -- I think I want to put supportive feet the more I think about it

redesign(just realized it's missing one 1x3 on the middle post):

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I like this because you can get a lot pre-cut lumber in 8' lengths

I could also put some L brackets to attach the plywood boards to the 2x2s in addition to the ladder steps
 
There is no way this is stable unless the top is so close to the ceiling that it can't go over. And even then it will tend to wobble.
 
That thing is immediately falling over unless it is secured to a wall, especially if there is any weight on the upper shelves.
 
yeah, I'm gonna need to secure it to the wall along one of the sides

preferable to the ceiling
 
yeah, I'm gonna need to secure it to the wall along one of the sides

preferable to the ceiling

The wall is tough though with the shelves cantilevering past the vertical supports, not much space or strength to tie into. I think I'd put another vertical support on the outside against whichever wall it is being secured to.
 
Does anyone have experience installing an in-ground basketball hoop? Our driveway is surrounded on three sides (retaining wall, retaining wall, and house/garage doors), so the ideal spot would be a little more than 4 feet above driveway/ground level, as indicated by the red stars below.

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I have no idea where to start. Any recommendations?
 
Biggest problem will be the height difference from the ground because you already have 4'2. Its a pain in the ass because you need a hole about 3-4 feet deep and a lot of concrete. I wouldn't worry about the retaining wall because you will add so much concrete that it will be extremely stable. I would say you will need a hoop adjusted to 6 feet, then where it connects to the base where the hole is needs to be 2 inches lower than the retaining wall. So dig out an area 2 inches, then dig a 3-4 foot hole from there. The other thing you can do is just get the hoop/backboard that they make that connects to basically any pole. Buy a pole and put it in the ground and then put the hoop at any height you want. Is there a reason you don't want a mobile hoop?
 
A mobile hoop is a consideration - I was just curious what a more permanent and pleasing (but more difficult) solution would entail. Thanks for your response.
 
A mobile hoop is a consideration - I was just curious what a more permanent and pleasing (but more difficult) solution would entail. Thanks for your response.

Just go with an adjustable height hoop setup. Dig hole behind wall, secure, adjust height, and profit.
 
Another consideration should be the distance the hoop and backboard project out over the driveway. The backboard should have extended arms so the plane of the backboard is several feet into the driveway from the plane of the wall face. Regulation court has the backboard four feet from the end line.

The wall looks to be about a foot thick. So the post behind it will be over a foot from the driveway. The arms should be at least five feet long for something close to regulation behind the backboard space.

For safety you should consider some padding for the wall. Unless you plan to forbid all game play (good luck with that) and only allow shooting practice.

If your garage doors have glass, raise them part way to protect the glass while playing.
 
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