My heavy duty IKEA Expedit 5x5

We shift. It is a pain in the keester. No argument there!

Hank Williams, Luke the Drifter

Nick Cave and his various projects

CSNY vs CSN

 

Hey mesaboogie,
Those are some pretty sturdy Expedit's you've modded there.

I have 2 Expedit 1x5's stacked longways. Filled with records - not a bit of boogie for 3 years now. I also have a 2x4 with castors. Not a bit of sag or wobble. Love 'em. Just a pain to haul back home, but fun to assemble. The 2x4's were NOT fun. The dowels would break. But got that fixed with some replacement dowels and help from my Dad. Somehow he managed to do that puzzle. (But I'm better at casting a fly than him, so there.)

All together they hold 700 records safe and sound. I recommend these things.

The Malm drawers I use for cd's are another issue. I had to reinforce those with a brace and a thin plank of cedar for each drawer. Work pretty well.

 

My strategy with keeping a growing collection (~3000 LPs, 1/3 jazz and 2/3 classical) organized is that I pack my albums just loose enough to keep them standing up on the Ikea shelves. That leaves me some room to add a few records per shelf before they pack too tightly. Every once in a while I shift and reshelve them all loosely again. This way I don't have to do any kind of massive shifting every time I buy records. I have a Expidit 5x5 and three 1x5 shelved nearly filled with records, plus another 2 x 4 with some overflow.

 

Hope you don't mix them together. Mine were also separate during my live in girlfriend years.

 

Totally blended. We have been together long enough people think we are married.

 

Well my partner and I have been together for 28 years never married but she doesn't bother buying records.

 

Lol. Sometimes I buy more than him. And congrats on 28 years.

 

anyone have suggestions on material to use for alphabet card dividers? can you buy sheets of plastic?

 

I kinda like the process of organization. But sometimes it does feel a bit like the old joke: Why are you hitting yourself in the head with that hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop! Last time I moved, which was recently, I left a bit of extra space all along the way to help with growing pains. Like our mom's did buying clothes and shoes when we were little...buying stuff we'd grow into. And the last time I alphabetized it took me a half dozen or so full evenings to get the job done and it felt so good when I stopped! When I packed the last time, I bought some great moving boxes and numbered each one in order and once the shelves were set up, it took just a couple of hours to unpack and file away 37 or so boxes in perfect order. Last week I organized my music books by subject matter...which for the most part means Beatles, Beach Boys, Bob and Bruce...yeah I know all B's. There is a large section devoted to everyone who doesn't begin with a B. But the bulk of the books...B's. That also includes all the books about The Band.

 

Don't like dividers...they break up the look. Plus, they've always seemed unnecessary to me.
There is a small finite number of letters and I don't need to be reminded what order they go in.

 

Here's some pre made.

http://www.recorddividers.co.uk/

 

yeah the expedit is solid but it needs to be oriented correctly if you are going to load it up. and yeah, ikeas lack of bracing is dumb and makes it less stable, you could definitely take it out intentionally. But it's easy to solve either as the OP did using plywood, or using an adjustable metal cross brace which are easy to find. Actually there is a part for a different ikea product, that would work fine for the 2x4 expedits probably. I would recommend some sort of cross bracing esp. on the larger units and if you have kids or pets that might decide to do things.

 

I got to buying some custom cubes from a local unfinished furniture store, and now I'm committed, at least for a few more years. Your solution is where I'll go next because I can't fit any of my Classic Records 200g boxes into the cubes. I'm on a vinyl hiatus until I can get everything into a database, anyway.

 

Anyone have a rule of thumb about how many LPs these units will hold? I've got a constantly growing collection of about 350 records but don't know what size unit I should be looking for.

 

Depends on the thickness of the lps but you can get 75 or so in each cube. I have a little less in some and a little more in others.

A 2x2 would be to small for you so maybe get a 2x4 Expedit. That would give you room to expand your collection as well.

 

+1

My experience as well. I get roughly 70 or so on average, loosely packed, mixture of single and gatefold sleeves, all with 5 mil outer sleeves.

 

Same here.

70-75 is a good average.

 

I assume you never plan on moving, eh? Those things are a bear and 1/2 even without any permanent connectors!

 

not with the price I paid for my house and the interest rate I won't ever get again.

 

Thanks, all.

 

I set up my 5X5 about a year ago. I have one side anchored into a beam on the wall behind and the other using a Molly on the other end because the bracket could not be lined up on a beam. It is real sturdy and I have no concerns that there are any structural issues.

I only finished loading it up with all of my LPs this week. Work, health and other sundry things got in the way of working on it until now.


Over the years I built up different shelves and crates all over the place. Some LPs were deemed surplus when I upgraded to "new pressings" back in the 70's and early 80's . Others were set aside because I replaced them with CDs back in the late 80's . Other crates were LPs I never got around to listening to but were in piles "to be reviewed".


Well, I finally at least grouped them together by group, band etc so they make some kind of sense. It will probably take another year to organize them in any logical order. It won't be alphabetical

 

Uhhhh...how many copies of Led Zep II ya got there?

I love seeing one of these things packed to the gills with albums.

 

Here is my latest, packed to the gills. I also have a 2x4, but I am considering changing my configuration. Currently, this wall is a 5x5 and three 1x5 to make a total 8x5. I think I may replace it with two 4x4 side-by-side, and put two 2x4 on top of that, giving me a 8x6 configuration. I might go with the new gloss white finish. MY wife wants me to stay with the birch effect finish.

 

Very nice configuration! And agree with your wife! Stay with the birch....looks really good.

 

I used to have white with a different system and always liked it.