ClosetX
Bank of closet drawers installed in a finished closet

Process

What Happens on Closet Installation Day

Hour by hour, what we do, what you need to do, and what a good installation leaves behind.

Process

A typical single-closet installation takes four to eight hours in one visit; you need the closet completely empty and one parking space near the door.

Installation is the day the drawing becomes cabinetry. It goes well or badly depending almost entirely on what happened at the measure, weeks earlier.

Before we arrive

  1. Empty the closet completely — including the floor, the shelf above and anything hanging on the back of the door.
  2. Clear a path from the door to the room. Panels are long and rigid and corners are where damage happens.
  3. Reserve a parking space near the entrance if you can.
  4. Keep pets in another room. Doors stay open and tools sit on the floor.

The sequence

StageRoughlyWhat is happening
Protect and lay out30 minFloor protection, panels sorted against the wall
Remove old shelving30 – 60 minOld wire or shelf stock out, wall anchors patched
Set the level line30 minA laser line around the run — every cabinet references it
Set towers1 – 2 hrTowers positioned, scribed to the wall, fixed to studs
Rails, shelves, drawers1 – 2 hrRods set to your garment heights, drawers hung and aligned
Doors and adjustment1 hrHinges adjusted, gaps evened, soft-close tested
Clean and walk through30 minDebris out, surfaces wiped, everything demonstrated
Drawers are hung and aligned last, after the carcass is level — aligning fronts to an out-of-level box is why cheap installs look wavy.
Drawers are hung and aligned last, after the carcass is level — aligning fronts to an out-of-level box is why cheap installs look wavy.

The level line is the whole job

Floors in metro Atlanta houses are rarely flat; a 3/4-inch fall across a 10-foot run is ordinary. Every cabinet gets shimmed to one laser reference line, not set on the floor. This is the difference between drawer fronts that line up across the run and a run that visibly follows the floor.

What we leave behind

  • The old shelving removed and taken away.
  • Anchor holes patched.
  • Every drawer and door adjusted and tested, not just installed.
  • Rods set to the heights from your measure, not to a default.
  • The floor vacuumed.

Afterwards

Melamine needs nothing but a damp cloth. Soft-close runners may want adjustment once after a season of use as the house moves — that is a phone call, not a callout charge. Shelves stay adjustable, so the closet can be re-planned as the wardrobe changes without new parts.

Keep reading

The ClosetX design team

Quick answers

About this topic.

  • How long does a custom closet installation take?

    Four to eight hours for a typical single closet, in one visit. A large walk-in with an island can run into a second day.

  • Do I need to empty the closet before installation?

    Yes, completely — including the floor and the shelf above. We cannot work around stored items.

  • Do you remove the old shelving?

    Yes. Removal, disposal and patching the anchor holes are part of the installation.

Start here

Tell us the room. We will tell you what fits.

A field measure, a dimensioned drawing and a fixed price — in that order, before anything is cut.