Removing an in-built bedroom cupboard is similar to a minor demolition because of the drywall, plaster, and screws inculcated into the project during installation to create a perfect finish.
The inbuilt bedroom cupboard is the same as the inbuilt closet, has doors on the front and storage draws, shelves, and hangers-on on the inside.
How do you pull it apart? Stay with us and find out.
Removing an Inbuilt Bedroom Cupboard Overview
Anything that can be installed can also be demolished or dismantled. This is also applicable to inbuilt bedroom cupboards.
The question now becomes, is it a complicated job?
Demolishing fitted furniture is fairly easy if you are a hands-on person and have the tools for the job.
Ideally, you should dismantle the attached pieces of boards without inflicting serious damage on them.
Also, ensure that the walls and the floor where the cupboard stood escape with minor injuries.
Here’s the procedure overview:
- Remove the door hinges using a screwdriver or drill to dismantle the doors
- Dismount the drawers through their full extension drawer guides,
- Pry the shelves from the lock by engaging pressure or by use of a flat pry bar and lastly
- Demolish the cabinet structure by exerting the force of the heavy-duty hammer.
So Where Do You Start?
Like when installing the cupboard, the parts of the cupboard that were installed last will be the first ones to be removed.
Think of it as undoing a structured step-by-step until every bit of it is down.
This method ensures that you get a piece of the cupboard easily and correctly and ensures that you do not run into a glitch or multiple dead-ends simultaneously.
Start by making sure that you have the tools necessary for the job;
– A Heavy-duty hammer
– A Hand drill
– A Crowbar
– A Flat pry bar
– Goggles for eye protection
Things You Should Know About Dismantling A Build In Bedroom Cupboard;
- The cupboard is attached to the walls and floor for support, so it is not possible to pull it out of the wall as a whole. Therefore, the walls or outward structure of the cupboards should be the last to be removed.
- Most cabinet pieces are more likely not to be used because of the damage they will have sustained, given that they are dismantled piece by piece.
This Is The Procedure;
Step 1
Remove every single item stored on the bedroom cupboard to prevent any accidents or incidents.
Step 2
Prepare the floor in front of the cupboard by spreading material to protect the floor (especially wooden) from scratches and other damages.
Step 3
Because the doors to the cupboard are attached to the vertical frame of the bedroom furniture, those are the ones that should come off first.
Using the hand drill with a bit of a screwdriver if you choose to, unscrew the screws that hold the hinges of every door that the bedroom cupboard has and place them away from the working area to avoid clutter.
Make sure to have a container of some sort to put the hardware, such as old/used nails and screws.
Step 4
If there are draws on the bedroom cupboard system, it is now their turn to dismantle.
Pull the draw you are going to start without. Now, on both bottom sides of the draw are a full extension drawer guide that acts as the track to help the draw easily and safely slide in and out.
On the point where the drawer member goes into the cabinet member is a little plastic lever that could be black or of a different color. The lever is lifted up on one side of the drawer, and on the opposite side, the lever is pushed down.
While cradling the draw using your arms, simultaneously lift the lever on one side of the draw using one hand while pushing the other lever down with the other hand, then give the draw a little pull and witness it come off its notches.
Follow the same procedure and dismantle every drawer until all of them have been successfully removed and safely placed out of the way.
Step 5
Using a screwdriver or a drill, disconnect the other pieces of the drawer guides with notches that are still connected on the inner sides of the framework of the cupboard.
If carefully disengaged, these pieces can still prove valuable to be reused somewhere else.
Step 6
You cannot remove the vertical structure of the cupboard without first removing the shelves, and it is quite possible to do this without inflicting substantial damage on the structure.
Most shelves are mounted without the use of screws or adhesives. This means that they are free-standing.
To remove them, place one hand on the underside edge/corner of the shelf you are working on and give it a moderate upward push while firmly pushing away the vertical wall that is locking the shelf in place with the other hand.
This method releases the pressure in which the shelf is naturally locked into place, so continue applying pressure upward and outward until the corner of the shelf is dislodged, and the shelf can be dismantled.
Lift it out and place it on the floor away from the working area while you apply the same technique to the rest of the shelves.
You may use the flat pry bar to loosen the grip between the shelf and the cleat by driving it through the tight space from underneath the corner of the shelf and prying it upward one side first then the other until the shelf comes out.
Step 7
What is remaining of the bedroom cupboard now are the vertical partitions running from top to bottom and the top and bottom skeleton of the structure.
The screws on the top board are the key to connecting the cupboards’ skeleton in its present structure.
If the inbuilt bedroom cupboard runs from floor to ceiling, then the vertical board comes off first, and depending on the hardware used to hold it in place, the drill will be used if screws were used and the hammer if nails were used.
Because the structure of the bedroom cupboard is the strongest in terms of firmness, chances that the building material will come out unscathed are slim because a substantial amount of force will be applied to the firm structure to rip it apart.
If there is some space between the cupboard and the ceiling, it means the board on top is sitting and finding support on the rest of the structure and should be dismantled first thereof.
Step 8
Whether the floor of the bedroom floor is concrete or wooden, caution should be applied when removing the last piece of the structure, which happens to be the floor.
It is the first during installation and the last during demolition to be removed.
At this stage, it means that the job is successfully concluded.
Conclusion
Before you begin demolishing a bedroom cupboard, assess and understand the type of the cupboard and the dynamics of its connections to be able to carry out the job successfully.
This also ensures that the ceiling, all the connected walls, and the floor does not suffer damage that could have been avoided if proper and careful preparation would have been applied.
